Movies | April 13, 2010 | 15 comments

US government finally admits most piracy estimates are bogus

source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/us-government-finally-admits-most-piracy-est...

Image
PsychoAlan
We've all seen the studies trumpeting massive losses to the US economy from piracy. One famous figure, used literally for decades by rightsholders and the government, said that 750,000 jobs and up to $250 billion a year could be lost in the US economy thanks to IP infringement.

A couple years ago, we thoroughly debunked that figure. For years, Business Software Alliance reports on software piracy assumed that each illicit copy was a lost sale. And the MPAA's own commissioned study on movie piracy turned out to overstate collegiate downloading by a factor of three.

Can we trust ANY of these claims about piracy?

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/us-government-finally-admits-mos...
  1. groups:
    Community,   Music,   Tech,   WTF,   3 more
  2. tags:
    Tech,  Upstream,  Piracy,  Bit Torrent,  3 more
  3.     
    |

15 comments // US government finally admits most piracy estimates are bogus

  • SirSalem
    • +1
      SirSalem  

    • As long as you know that piracy is stealing and you are okay with that, then it is what it is. I just hate the argument that piracy isn't stealing.

    • 2 years ago
  • ImissLaura
  • SirSalem
    • 0
      SirSalem  
    • ImissLaura:

      The point is you don't seem to think a person using their creative skills to produce a product (music, book, software, etc.) has the right to choose whether they want to make it free or profit from it. If they choose to sell the product and not make it free of charge, then you are stealing something. If you think that is the same thing as "information" then you have a very skewed view of what you are entitled to in this world.

    • 2 years ago
  • ImissLaura
  • SirSalem
    • 0
      SirSalem  
    • ImissLaura:

      I have bought around 360 albums and not that often was only one song good and the rest was shit. Again, there really aren't that many times that I paid money to go see a movie and then it sucked. Well, Microsoft might not pay their employees on sales, but if all of a sudden 40% of their software was pirated they would probably have to cut their staff or cut their paychecks. I'm not a fan of Microsoft either.

      I know artists do receive a small share of the profit from their albums. That is a problem within the music industry though. If an artist chooses to distribute and produce their music themselves then they are the smart ones, but I am not going to take that little bit of profit the artist could get away from them. I know artists really make money on shows, so maybe they would be smart to just give their albums away? Also, unless you are a major band, you have to have a pretty grueling touring schedule to make a living.

      Even if it hurts the artist in a small way it still hurts them. You think people only steal major label artist's records? I think you are mistaken. I'm positive there are many pirated albums from indie to do-it-yourself artists. Those artists are just happy to get their music out there, so I doubt they would be upset.

      Maybe my sympathy is misplaced, but I don't feel my ethics are misplaced. See there is no way either of us are going to agree with each other and that is fine. You believe what you believe and I just don't see things the same. I doubt we are going to greatly change each other's opinions. I know being a young adult and thinking piracy is wrong isn't a common stance, but it is just how I think about the subject.

    • 2 years ago
  • diode
    • +1
      diode  

    • it's believable to me...last count on my external hd's was up around $150,000 worth (music, movies, tv, programs).

      my arguement against the "lost" money is that if i hadn't downloaded it, i wouldn't have bought it either. so really, it's a wash for them but awesome for me.

    • 2 years ago
  • Broderickdfjdfg
  • Chapisbored
  • kulahptik
    • +2
      kulahptik  

    • This is what the big media corporations are trying to do in order to justify censoring your internet usage. We make fun of China and their archaic policies but our government is letting Comcast, Brighthouse, and Verizon do their censoring for them. Long live TPB!

    • 2 years ago
  • boywhocould
    • 0
      boywhocould  

    • Lets face it producers. . . somethings aren't worth $19.99/$29.99 no matter how many hours of "diary" and "blooper" b reel there is and thus should be free :(

    • 2 years ago
  • boywhocould
  • UndoInfluence
    • -1
      UndoInfluence  

    • If I could download a Ferrari over the internet then yeah I would. But I can't, that doesn't mean I'm about to rush out and plop down 500k that I already don't have on one.

    • 2 years ago
  • SirSalem
  • diode
  • Agent_Alpha
more from Movies:
from the community

top videos