Bakustra wrote:But what proportion of pirates are they? Waving about total piracy figures is less than worthless because it incorporates people who wouldn't buy the product normally, falsely inflating the market. There is an impact, I am sure, but what is the impact? Furthermore, what is the impact by industry? Musicians see less of the profit than do film crew, so piracy affects them less, as an example.
What's also glossed over is the positive impacts of file-sharing and fair-use. It's not a zero-sum game, no matter how the execs and wealthy big-names portray the matter; having your music or any other creative work freely available is quickly becoming a way to increase exposure and connect with fans, which isn't factored into the equation at all.
Put another way, if a guy downloads your album and then proceeds to spend $300 on merchandise and concert tickets, you're still ahead. The problem is that this business model cuts out the superfluous promotion/distribution aspect that the big media companies always relied on to get their cut.
All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain...
Netko wrote:What can you say except that those people are nutters living with a distorted view of reality.
They live in a world in which the only true crimes are those against absolute profit.
Studios and large content creators' profits are not the only things affected by piracy. For example, in the union production environment, employee health care and pension fund contributions from the studios etc are calculated in part based upon the income drawn by the products produced. So by taking content without paying fot it, you are not only striking a heroic blow against studio executives making their figures, but also against the paid-by-the-hour workers whom they employ.
I figure most people probably feel that's fine - I mean, after all, who the fuck are these workers, to think that they should have access to pensions and health care plans? - but strictly in the interest of accuracy it's worth mentioning that it's individual workers getting fucked over along with the majors, so that people can enjoy valuable stuff that they don't feel like paying for.
And all this bears upon the issue of the SGA insisting upon a radical and completely disproportionate shift in law enforcement priorities... how, exactly?
When ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there can be no successful appeal back to bullets.
—Abraham Lincoln
People pray so that God won't crush them like bugs.
—Dr. Gregory House
Oil an emergency?! It's about time, Brigadier, that the leaders of this planet of yours realised that to remain dependent upon a mineral slime simply doesn't make sense.
—The Doctor "Terror Of The Zygons" (1975)
how about instead we make the Record, Movie and software companies do something about piracy that is an actual threat. That's right RIAA go take a boat to Somalia
The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin
You KNOW that there's not a single legitimate copy of any media being sold to those Somalis who are rich enough from investing in piracy to have TVs or computers. There's a vast market going untapped there!
"The 4th Earl of Hereford led the fight on the bridge, but he and his men were caught in the arrow fire. Then one of de Harclay's pikemen, concealed beneath the bridge, thrust upwards between the planks and skewered the Earl of Hereford through the anus, twisting the head of the iron pike into his intestines. His dying screams turned the advance into a panic."'
Patrick Degan wrote:
And all this bears upon the issue of the SGA insisting upon a radical and completely disproportionate shift in law enforcement priorities... how, exactly?
I was responding to Patrick's suggestion that the only dimension to the matter is distributor profits.
I find myself endlessly fascinated by your career - Stark, in a fit of Nerd-Validation, November 3, 2011
Patrick Degan wrote:
And all this bears upon the issue of the SGA insisting upon a radical and completely disproportionate shift in law enforcement priorities... how, exactly?
I was responding to Patrick's suggestion that the only dimension to the matter is distributor profits.
Compared to actual, material crimes which inflict real harm upon tangible property and persons up to and including murder, it is.
When ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there can be no successful appeal back to bullets.
—Abraham Lincoln
People pray so that God won't crush them like bugs.
—Dr. Gregory House
Oil an emergency?! It's about time, Brigadier, that the leaders of this planet of yours realised that to remain dependent upon a mineral slime simply doesn't make sense.
—The Doctor "Terror Of The Zygons" (1975)
Kanastrous wrote:So what? The practical end of the problem is with people who steal rather than buy a ticket for (or copy of) stuff they would see. Or do you believe that such people do not exist, and therefore have no impact upon content creators and distributors?
Have they proven that they are losing any revenue? That piracy has any negative effect at all?
I'm not denying that it may - but I'm not taking it as a given without any evidence.
