It is a fundamental aspect of human nature that most people will steal something if there is no danger of getting caught. And this is what has happened to the recorded music industry. Most music residing on MP3 players in the world is stolen, it has been downloaded over the internet using peer to peer filesharing. In fact most young people today think that it is quite normal and acceptable to steal in this way and they kick up a fuss when someone tries to stop them.
With the advent of broadband this stealing spread to movies. So now every movie is available online before it is in the cinema. And many millions of people are regularly stealing from the film industry. To these thieves it is the acceptable norm.
Which brings us to games. To a large extent these have the DRM protection of being on a console. Where this breaks down, as in boxed PC games, the market is decimated and the supply of new products dwindles to a trickle. http://www.bruceongames.com/2008/04/23/game-piracy/
The thieves make lots of excuses for their thieving. Such as the fact that one incremental copy does not cost the producer anything. But they miss the fundamental moral point that they are benefiting from another person’s work without contributing towards it. And if everyone steals, then who will pay for new music, films and games to be made?
The only way to stop this stealing is to stop the illegal traffic on the internet. It currently comprises well over a half of all internet traffic, so widespread is the stealing. The French have introduced a law that thieves will have their internet connections stopped if they offend repeatedly. This approach is what a lot of governments and a lot of the industries involved want. So if it works in France it will be rolled out to other countries.
This stealing is not victimless, the recorded music industry has been decimated, the film industry is suffering from a huge loss of revenues and the games industry has just about deserted several gaming platforms. All this means people losing their jobs and less content being produced.
In the UK the creative industries contribute £112.5 billion (or 8%) to the economy and provide 1.8 million jobs. It has been researched that half of this is at risk from illegal file sharing. So something has to be done. Peer to peer downloading is the biggest epidemic of theft in the history of mankind. The law has not kept up with the technology and everyone will be a lot worse off until it does.
I have well over 500GB's of stolen content between this computer, my laptop, and over 600 dvds and cd's. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? BTW this blog is pointless, no one can stop illegal internet traffic, it will ALWAYS exist in one form or another.
I wish you would provide links to back up your claims. "Most music residing on MP3 players in the world is stolen" this is interesting if true, where did you read/hear that?
"The only way to stop this stealing is to stop the illegal traffic on the internet." It is extremly difficult for ISPs to prove what people are using their bandwidth for if the data is encrypted, like what torrent apps do. Also people who want to download stuff will move to ISPs that dont give a shit about it.
You would be surprised how easy it is and how much 360/Wii/DS and PSP games are pirated.
You dont seem realise that most people who download games/movies/music wouldnt have purchased it in the first place.
Finally, DRM dosnt help anyone, and everything is crackable. EA seems to realise this nowadays...
Why is some old fogey reposting his blog in this corner of the internets? I really don't think this is the kind of place youl'd be looking for comments from, so that cant' be it.
Also everything you say is irrelevant anyways because you actually buy into the absurd 3D gaming/movie rubbish (hint, it's a gimmick that will all be gone again in a year or two). So for someone whose career is marketing and consulting, you've obviously fallen a bit off the wagon.
Copyright is the ability for someone to package something of no value, and sell it to you on the belief that information is somehow a priced commodity, when it is basically free to duplicate. Entertainment is not needed, and never will be. And as such, the producers of said entertainment must learn to deal with making as much money as the general public feels they deserve.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I think you are wrong. Copyright infringement was a law made for a way of trying to tackle something that is beyond the law of any nation. Piracy, like other age old things, will always exist.
On the net, to be honest, no one really cares much about laws to a degree. So long as they aren't terrorists, paedos or right wing nut jobs etc.
I disagree with the lost revenue arguement, especially with regard to films, music and tv series. The internet offers great opportunity for those that embrace it, instead of fearing it. Do your homework, sir. From the time Rio launched their first mp3 player, the music industry was warned several times of the coming digital age of music etc, and they plugged their ears and covered their eyes, with this is just a fad, it will die out etc.
Then came the Napster. People were sharing music via cassette tapes and recording off the radio etc, long before Napster came along. Its years later that it become a problem for them (they missed the boat, until iTunes turned up). Even after the rise and fall of Napster, they think this is going to go away, but tech people know different. The advance in technology waits for no man or man made law, and such will never be bound by their shackles.
Its crap to say that most mp3s, on mp3 players are pirate copies. You'd have to prove it, which you can't do. And if you did your homework, you'd know that its possible you buy/borrow a cd, and rip convert it to you PC, via various formats, then dump it on your player. Feel free to get into the legality of that, but overall its pointless. Borrowing doesn't count as a potential lost sale.
Piracy of games is a different kettle, because games are format specific and have more incentives for you not to pirate, artbooks, models soundtracks etc. With games you are always given much more for your money value, than films and music. Some will pirate regardless. As the games industry has been smart to embrace DLC, it stands to benefit more from both digital and physical media. The trick is not to DRM lock and post court summons, but to turn that pirate into a potential customer. The creators of Zeno Clash (the Chile developed PC game) did this, and through it, I'm sure got a lot of pirates to buy their game than pirate it. Valve also have this similar kind of philosophy. If I do look for such games online, its old obscure stuff, that no one cares about.
If the same were done with film, tv and music content more, and have global paid access, things would change in their favour. Just a shame they lack the will and vision, to try and make themselves this money they are supposedly missing, by adjusting their business model, to meet customer needs. Then there'd be no need for supposed job losses etc.
Even if other places do what France is doing, clever people will find ways around it and much of the net will go underground. Like Jeff said in Jurassic Park, ''Nature always finds a way''. A seasoned PC user is a smart species of human, that always will.
If I see or watch a tv show, I like, I'll invest in that series via purchased dvd. I'm sorry, but this arguement will always be very one sided, because those in the media, push for more time and coverage of their view, ignoring those that share online, thus they are presumed right. What's also pretty clear, is how the cassette tape arguement is hardly ever raised. Did the music industry suffer a death because of that? No, its still here, through adjusting to change. Did taping lose them sales? I doubt it.
Lastly, many who are in the games industry earned their spurs thanks to piracy. Be it a dodgy Speccy game or a dogdy copy of 3D Studio, these people are out there and they'll never admit it out of fear. Sometimes the games industry harping about piracy so much gets a little hypocritical.
This reminds me of the old arguments that the radio would eventually kill the recording industry, and that television would destroy the movie industry.
It's all about perceived value. I'm willing to pay the extra $7.00 to see a movie in a theater, and I consistently purchase albums instead of listen to the radio.
In short, the various industries should adjust to emerging habits of people if they want to stay profitable.
After all, Individuals don't serve the entertainment companies, and any legislation that puts the rights of the producer over the consumer is absolutely insane.
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"The only way to stop this stealing is to stop the illegal traffic on the internet." It is extremly difficult for ISPs to prove what people are using their bandwidth for if the data is encrypted, like what torrent apps do. Also people who want to download stuff will move to ISPs that dont give a shit about it.
You would be surprised how easy it is and how much 360/Wii/DS and PSP games are pirated.
You dont seem realise that most people who download games/movies/music wouldnt have purchased it in the first place.
Finally, DRM dosnt help anyone, and everything is crackable. EA seems to realise this nowadays...
Also everything you say is irrelevant anyways because you actually buy into the absurd 3D gaming/movie rubbish (hint, it's a gimmick that will all be gone again in a year or two). So for someone whose career is marketing and consulting, you've obviously fallen a bit off the wagon.
On the net, to be honest, no one really cares much about laws to a degree. So long as they aren't terrorists, paedos or right wing nut jobs etc.
I disagree with the lost revenue arguement, especially with regard to films, music and tv series. The internet offers great opportunity for those that embrace it, instead of fearing it. Do your homework, sir. From the time Rio launched their first mp3 player, the music industry was warned several times of the coming digital age of music etc, and they plugged their ears and covered their eyes, with this is just a fad, it will die out etc.
Then came the Napster. People were sharing music via cassette tapes and recording off the radio etc, long before Napster came along. Its years later that it become a problem for them (they missed the boat, until iTunes turned up). Even after the rise and fall of Napster, they think this is going to go away, but tech people know different. The advance in technology waits for no man or man made law, and such will never be bound by their shackles.
Its crap to say that most mp3s, on mp3 players are pirate copies. You'd have to prove it, which you can't do. And if you did your homework, you'd know that its possible you buy/borrow a cd, and rip convert it to you PC, via various formats, then dump it on your player. Feel free to get into the legality of that, but overall its pointless. Borrowing doesn't count as a potential lost sale.
Piracy of games is a different kettle, because games are format specific and have more incentives for you not to pirate, artbooks, models soundtracks etc. With games you are always given much more for your money value, than films and music. Some will pirate regardless. As the games industry has been smart to embrace DLC, it stands to benefit more from both digital and physical media. The trick is not to DRM lock and post court summons, but to turn that pirate into a potential customer. The creators of Zeno Clash (the Chile developed PC game) did this, and through it, I'm sure got a lot of pirates to buy their game than pirate it. Valve also have this similar kind of philosophy. If I do look for such games online, its old obscure stuff, that no one cares about.
If the same were done with film, tv and music content more, and have global paid access, things would change in their favour. Just a shame they lack the will and vision, to try and make themselves this money they are supposedly missing, by adjusting their business model, to meet customer needs. Then there'd be no need for supposed job losses etc.
Even if other places do what France is doing, clever people will find ways around it and much of the net will go underground. Like Jeff said in Jurassic Park, ''Nature always finds a way''. A seasoned PC user is a smart species of human, that always will.
If I see or watch a tv show, I like, I'll invest in that series via purchased dvd. I'm sorry, but this arguement will always be very one sided, because those in the media, push for more time and coverage of their view, ignoring those that share online, thus they are presumed right. What's also pretty clear, is how the cassette tape arguement is hardly ever raised. Did the music industry suffer a death because of that? No, its still here, through adjusting to change. Did taping lose them sales? I doubt it.
Lastly, many who are in the games industry earned their spurs thanks to piracy. Be it a dodgy Speccy game or a dogdy copy of 3D Studio, these people are out there and they'll never admit it out of fear. Sometimes the games industry harping about piracy so much gets a little hypocritical.
It's all about perceived value. I'm willing to pay the extra $7.00 to see a movie in a theater, and I consistently purchase albums instead of listen to the radio.
In short, the various industries should adjust to emerging habits of people if they want to stay profitable.
After all, Individuals don't serve the entertainment companies, and any legislation that puts the rights of the producer over the consumer is absolutely insane.
That's brilliant! The only way to stop people stealing... is to stop them stealing!
OH SNAPPADY DO DAR!
Wow, Sims 3 has been leaked to the internet? Thanks for tipping me off, it looks really fun.
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