Steal This Post!

Last month, Radiohead released In Rainbows as a ten track digital download packaged in a ZIP file. It was the first album ever to be sold on an "honesty box" system; that is, purchasers were laden with the task of deciding how much they thought the album was worth. Surveys show that over a third of the buyers paid nothing at all, while a majority of those who did pay shelled out an average of $6 with the odd fanatic or two paying up to $60, somewhat evening out the numbers. 

While the album's commercial success remains questionable, the payment system did remind me of the research analyst turned "bagel man" mentioned in Dubner and Levitt's Freakonomics.  He would bring bagels and doughnuts every morning to several office blocks and leave a payment box which he would come back for later in the day. Although he got paid only 89% of the time, it shows that given the chance, most people will choose to be honest even when no one is watching. Perhaps the anonymity in online piracy doesn't outweigh moral or economic incentives as much as we think. But don't take it from me--I've got Azureus, Limewire and Soulseek on right now.