Lying About "Piracy" Around The World
from the here-we-go-again dept
Well, here we go again. The International Intellectual Property Alliance is getting ready to put out their annual report lying about how much intellectual property "piracy" there is worldwide. I don't deny that there is piracy. I don't deny that it's making companies lose money. However, they clearly are fudging the numbers to make it looks like a much bigger problem than it really is, and they don't even try to hide it. They count every piece of copied content (software, music, movies, etc) that anyone uses and simply assume that the person/company would have paid for it - and thus add it to the total amount they "lost". Of course, most of the people who get the content wouldn't have bought it if they had to pay the outrageous prices the industry charges. Thus, the industry really didn't lose that money at all. But, that doesn't matter when they're trying to make a big statement. And, of course, the press simply takes the number and states it as if it was a fact.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Lying About Level of Piracy
Don't ask the barber if you need a haircut.
[ link to this | view in thread ]