Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dear Pirate


In many countries music sales to consumers have fallen by more than a third. Even Apple’s popular digital iTunes store is little more than a niche service: fully 95% of downloads are illegal, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a trade group…The music business is now doing two things right. First, it has built a better stick. Most countries have virtually abandoned the practice of suing people for downloading copyrighted files. The favoured approach these days is known as “graduated response” or “three strikes and you’re out”. People who are suspected of trading media illegally are sent warnings. If they fail to stop, their internet-service provider (ISP) may slow their connection. If that fails to deter, they may be temporarily cut off…Graduated-response laws appeared this spring in Taiwan and South Korea—an advanced market where digital music has overtaken sales of CDs and DVDs…Almost everywhere in the developed world, such laws are being debated. Even where they are not (America, for example), ISPs are working quietly with the record industry to similar ends.

I would like to thank piracy for giving us, the consumers, power. Those records and movies were way overpriced before piracy hit it big. Now, the market offers competitive and cheap reasonable prices, more services are being created and made available to the public to curb piracy (digital music services, streaming, other pricing/purchasing schemes), and music and movies that are worth paying for.

This kind of piracy has already done so much for us, and I think it is time that we let it go. It has reached it’s maximum good. Any more of it would be destructive. We have achieved our goal of fixing the price, now we have to start recognizing that we do not own these music and movies. The law should now step in. Filing suits proved ineffective, but lawmakers have used their creativity coming up with the graduated response. The approach seems logical and fair- give proper warning, and when that does not work, nip it in the bud. When user behavior can no longer be controlled, then do not allow them such use by controlling access.

 Though the graduated response sounds promising, I think most of us are not yet ready for it. But we’ll get there, promise! 

Source: http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14845087

1 comment:

Owen Ricalde said...

i disagree. i think it's not about controlling access but the evolution on the concept of property go lawrence lessig!!). like the other entry on privacy norms being relaxed, i think norms are also evolving and legal issues connected with these norms must also change.