India The Latest To Think About Kicking People Off The Internet Based On Accusations Of File Sharing
from the guilty-until-proven-innocent dept
A few months back, we pointed to a discussion looking at how three countries with some of the biggest movie industries outside of the US -- Nigeria, China and India -- all were thriving, despite massive "piracy." As you looked at the details of each, it showed how each industry had been adapting to a marketplace in which some of the content was widely available, but were still figuring out ways to make money (i.e., you can compete with free). However, because competing with free actually involves work, it should come as no surprise that some are seeking to implement government protectionist policies.Gautam John points us to the news that a "High Level Committee on Piracy" in India, put together by the Indian government has come back with a variety of suggestions including a "three strikes" plan that would kick users off the internet based on accusations (not convictions) for unauthorized file sharing. There's also a suggestion that would appear to make theater owners somewhat liable for customers camcording movies. They also support preventative detention of potential pirates -- a ridiculous idea that has been put in practice in some areas of India already -- and which the US entertainment industry has encouraged. Yes, this is detaining people who might make an unauthorized copy. Welcome to pre-crime, India-style. About the only suggestion that isn't massively damaging to individuals' rights is the idea that filmmakers "make piracy unviable" by offering their movies at more reasonable prices and in more ways, so that people are more willing to go with legitimate options. They probably should have just stuck with that suggestion and left the rest alone.
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Filed Under: copyright, india, three strikes
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Question...
I'm addmittedly ignorant of daily life in those parts of the world, but what is the prevelance of personal computing in those areas? I would imagine that the abundance of PCs here in the States is a large contributing factor to the "success" of "piracy". Are these other countries valid comparisons?
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Re: Question...
It's also my understanding that there's much less of a legal market, especially for non-local product. Legal copies are often either too expensive for the average person or not easily obtainable. I often see Indian gamers complaining about how difficult it can be to obtain certain games or systems as they're not part of the core Japan/North America/Europe/Australasia markets - and even the latter two tend to get screwed over on a regular basis with regional controls. I'd imagine that it's the same story with DVDs and music, especially outside of the local Bollywood/Bhangra/whatever genres.
Again, I might be mistaken, but that's the impression I've gotten over the years.
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Hard work? No waiii!!!
I feel like this accurately sums up why the big players in the movie and music industries haven't embraced CwF+RtB. Because it take a serious passion and work ethic to make it succeed, and it's much easier to sit back and sue in the short term.
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Presumably
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I look forward to....
Oh, wait.... might that be a bit unconstitutional? Just as well principles only apply to one's own interests in one's own backyard rather than being, well you know, universal.
Next time I'm in the US i want to see the declararation of independance document to see if there really is a bit in brackets crossed out after "We hold these truths to be self evident" that says "(except when it costs us money)". I'd not heard of it, but I'm assuming it's there......
Of course it's not just the US so much as corporations and they're global and all largely the same.
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"still figuring out ways to make money..."
Next: "competing with free actually involves work", YES, but one way you advise, selling geegaws in connection with bands, requires the existence of *workers* who actually produce the low-cost / high-resell items. If you mean self- advertising and promoting, well, that's *light* work, and it's not *new*, been used for at least a hundred years in the mass entertainment field, and the main components are still *luck* and willingness to prostitute oneself.
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Another article about those film industries
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Another article about those film industries
Here's another article, with some anecdotal data, about the film industries in areas with heavy piracy:
http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2010/04/how_to_thrive_a.php
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AVERAGE SALARY PER MONTH OF AN INDIAN 67.80$ = 3000 Rs
COST OF AVATAR BLUE RAY DISC 30 $.
COST OF WINDOWS 7 ULTIMATE 150$=7000 Rs
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The real state of piracy here..
We don't have as high a level of PC penetration here, and prices of Hollywood DVDs are quite absurd. Several local companies have taken the initiative to bring out original DVDs of some good movies, old as well as new, at a dollar or so (INR 35-40, actually is 85 - 90 cents). If this approach is followed, then people will buy Hollywood DVDs and not just stare at those packs in the store.
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Liability
That has about as much logic as some of the dumb ideas industry protectionism tries.
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Seriously?
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whats next, porn censorship?
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