Project To Brainwash Kids Not Working So Well

from the we-don't-need-no-education... dept

While the entertainment and software industry insisted that education campaigns would somehow convince people to stop file sharing unauthorized works, it appears that plan hasn't worked all that well (a shock to all of you, I'm sure). Over in the UK, where the campaign has been even more blatant at times, with regular showings of commercials before movies that people paid to see accusing them all of being thieves, people just don't see unauthorized file sharing as a crime. They do recognize that it makes life tough on the producers of those works -- but seem to understand that it's a business model issue that those firms need to work through. When the automobile was introduced, it made life difficult for buggy makers -- but that's part of the cycle of things. No one thought they were "stealing" from buggy makers when they bought an automobile. Of course, amazingly, the researcher behind the study pointing all of this out still thinks the various industries should continue this campaign, rather than learning to adjust their business models to a changing market. He compares the effort to education campaigns against smoking and drunk driving, which is an unfortunate comparison. Smoking and drunk driving risk killing people through health dangers. Unauthorized file sharing just risks obsolete business models and companies that don't adjust. There's a big difference.
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  • icon
    deadzone (profile), 23 Jun 2005 @ 11:47am

    Is it any wonder?

    This is what happens when big money assumes that people are stupid. I am glad that it's not having an affect on anyone. It serves them right and further proves the point that they need to find a way to change with the times, not continue to hold onto an old, tired, business model that has never been fair to anyone except their bankrolls.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      anonymoose cow-ard, 23 Jun 2005 @ 12:35pm

      Re: Is it any wonder?

      Big companies (like Microsoft) can absorb the costs by jacking up the price of other software that companies are willing to pay for (Office, VisualStudio, etc.). Small companies will simply go out of business when they can recoup enough revenue to cover development costs (plus employee salaries, operating costs, etc.).

      When the small companies go out of business, all you will be left with is Microsoft products and Open Source (or freeware) products (many of which are quite good, but the majority are crap).

      Perhaps small software companies that want to stay in business and survive the "sharing" will have to implement mechanisms that make life for the end user more difficult (i.e. does anyone remember software dongles?).

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Ivan Sick, 23 Jun 2005 @ 7:22pm

        Re: Is it any wonder?

        Software dongles? You mean keys that plug into the parallel port, and the software won't run without it? I remember those. I wonder what happened to them? I suppose people didn't like them. It's another case of lack of widespread adoption killing a method. If every Microsoft used those things, everybody would (maybe.) Of course there would be a big black market for counterfeit keys then. (sold as "custom" or perhaps blanks that could be programmed for whatever program you want)
        I always thought they keys were kind of cool, but useless. They should have had some kind of functionality beyond allowinf the program to run. Then they'd really be cool. And what if you had a lot of programs that used them? I suppose a printer/data transfer switch would be in order then.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Kilfire, 24 Jun 2005 @ 2:33am

          Re: Is it any wonder?

          >>>> Software dongles?
          >>>> I wonder what happened to them?
          Employee theft. If it's not superglued to the port then it will go wandering, especially if the software is only used occasionally.
          And if it is glued to the port, you just know that your printer won't work through it.
          That, and the crackers had worked out how to de-dongle the software anyhow.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mark, 23 Jun 2005 @ 1:23pm

    Enough with the buggy makers!

    " When the automobile was introduced, it made life difficult for buggy makers -- but that's part of the cycle of things."

    I'm begging you -- come up with a different example! If I had a nickle for every time I've read about the trials and tribulations of buggy makers on this blog, I'd have retired by now. Quit torturing your regular readers with repetitive rhetorical flourishes and COME UP WITH ANOTHER EXAMPLE!!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 23 Jun 2005 @ 7:24pm

      Re: Enough with the buggy makers!

      one i think is more apt that i always liked but also pertains to cars is the one about oil filters being sold in public stores. "hey i can change my own oil, (hey i can burn my own cds) but you don't see mechanics going out of business"

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Dave Lame, 24 Jun 2005 @ 7:31am

        Re: Enough with the buggy makers!

        Its not so much the lack of a new business model that makes people shrug their shoulders at file sharing, it the lack of a tangible thing that is "stolen".
        Lets say I go into your house and see you invent a delicious new type of sandwich. If you make one of these sandwiches and I take it off you and walk home with it (maybe eating it on the way, laughing maniacally to myself), then I'm taking a tangible thing that belongs to you, thereby depriving you of it.
        If I go to your house and see you make that delcious new sandwich, then go back to my house and make a copy of it with my own ingredients, what am I stealing from you? It's hard to say. If you're a professional sandwich maker you might argue that its not fair because if I want one of those sandwiches you invented I should be buying them from you. Maybe I'm depriving the sandwich pro's of income, but frankly if they didnt insist on charging �12 a !*#*ing sandwich and then rub my nose in it by riding around in Ferraris all day long, maybe then I'd have some sympathy.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Ivan Sick, 24 Jun 2005 @ 6:57pm

          Re: Enough with the buggy makers!

          I agree with you 100%, and this is what the label execs will need to understand. As has been said dozens or hundreds of times, they're not going to "win" this thing, whether they're right or wrong. I don't fileshare, or download from anywhere but the artist's website, (just safe computing) but the record companies are still wrong. They've been [screwing] everybody possible in the [bottom] since the birth of the big label, and now that the tables have turned 45 degrees or so, they're crying foul. Screw the bastards.

          link to this | view in chronology ]


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