than put a tax on it. Have some sort of 'sales' tax on prostitution. And suddenly you have a new revenue for the ailing states.
Same with legalizing marihuana (growing and selling), you can put rules on quality control, you can put sales tax on them, and you can check up on the people who smoke a lot. Aside from the sales tax thing, it also removes the forbidden fruit aspect, so people won't lust after it so much (would change quite a few hollywood movies as well). And it removes the gateway function of marihuana. No streetdealers saying: "hey, wanna try some coke, first time's free."
Sadly, in my country (The Netherlands) we are going the reverse route. Next year, foreigners will not be able to get weed in coffeeshops, not even in Amsterdam. Which will increase streetdealers, and thus more chances of people getting hurt through bad quality, and gateway drugs.
Shuttering these boards will not shut down the predators. It will only hide them from plain sight. Making it harder to track them down and take them out.
The market has moved on. The market now demands near instant access to a large back catalog of content. And the pirates show that that is more than possible. Now if the studios and labels could get their act together and offer a similar structure but then legally, they might make a mint.
Instead they whine, bitch and moan about piracy, come up with draconian unconstitutional laws and hurt their paying customers (through DRM and that ilk). Customers, who, sadly, seem to have an abused wife syndrome, they keep going back for more. "This time they won't hurt me."
Meanwhile, with the pirates you don't get the DRM or any other type of limitation, you get a better product as a result, for close to free.
The market has moved on. The market now demands near instant access to a large back catalog of content. And the pirates show that that is more than possible. Now if the studios and labels could get their act together and offer a similar structure but then legally, they might make a mint.
Instead they whine, bitch and moan about piracy, come up with draconian unconstitutional laws and hurt their paying customers (through DRM and that ilk). Customers, who, sadly, seem to have an abused wife syndrome, they keep going back for more. "This time they won't hurt me."
Meanwhile, with the pirates you don't get the DRM or any other type of limitation, you get a better product as a result, for close to free.
The market has moved on. The market now demands near instant access to a large back catalog of content. And the pirates show that that is more than possible. Now if the studios and labels could get their act together and offer a similar structure but then legally, they might make a mint.
Instead they whine, bitch and moan about piracy, come up with draconian unconstitutional laws and hurt their paying customers (through DRM and that ilk). Customers, who, sadly, seem to have an abused wife syndrome, they keep going back for more. "This time they won't hurt me."
Meanwhile, with the pirates you don't get the DRM or any other type of limitation, you get a better product as a result, for close to free.
Obtaining it through other means does limit the studios ability to make money.
Ok, lets use that as the premise and look at examples where piracy doesn't hurt the studios' ability to make money:
- Unavailability in my region.
As we all know the studios like to release stuff to other regions on different moments.
But I've heard of series X, want to be able to talk about it with my American friends, but if I wait for a year or longer for it to appear on my tv, I'll be way behind the curve, and any discussion I might see online will ruin the experience for me, because they will be rife with spoilers.
So what happens, people download the series instead of waiting for the dvd box to finally arrive, or when it is finally aired on tv.
Does it make it harder for studios to make money? Not necessarily, sure syndication is going to be tough, but that was going to be tough anyway even without piracy, because the internet has become important in discussions, and thus a larger effect of spoiling things for people who have not seen the show/movie.
And DVD boxes will still get sold, if they spec them with extra features not before seen, behind the scene looks, extra footage not seen on tv, etc. (reason to buy)
- DVDs sold out, and no online rental option.
In this case, the studios have a missed sale. I was at the store with my money in hand, only to see that they didn't have the movie I really wanted to see, and I can't watch it with on demand streaming (mostly because its not offered, or I have to watch it on my laptop instead of my HD tv).
But perhaps the Ninja Cove does have it for me ready for download.
Will this mean I'll never buy it, could be, depends on the quality.
If it's a great movie/show, sure I'll also get the dvd, if only for the extras. Depending that there are extras to be got.
If it turns out to be a shit film, then no.
On the flip side, there are arguments where past behaviour of the studios has caused damage to a brand, which causes them to lose their ability to make money:
- For instance customer unhappiness with the way they were treated previously.
In the past people have been hurt by DRM systems (Sony's rootkit comes to mind, which physically destroyed disk drives, caused other bought software to not function anymore and snooped on people's online behaviour) and people might be unwilling to hand over money to products with that brand in case they get burned again. Sure, the company is losing money here, but it's their own fault.
They hurt their paying customers in the past by not trusting them, and in return the customers have decided to give brand X a pass. But they might still like products that come out on that brand, and are interested in seeing it.
Sure, you could say that legally they don't have a right to get the content, but legally Sony had no right to destroy other people's property and trample their right to privacy.
You want to put a cat back in the bag? A genie back in the bottle? Good luck, won't ever happen.
You know what, piracy was there when media first started.
In fact, Hollywood is based on piracy, don't believe me? Look up Edison and learn a bit of history.
So far every piece of advancement in technology has been opposed by the media companies. That list has been pasted here many times, and I'm not going to do it, you're going to have to look for it yourself. But EVERY bit of technology (VHS is like the Boston Strangler?) was going to be the death of the Industry. Well guess what, every single stinking time they were wrong.
Nowadays with the internet, people have access to any type of content. Sure, you may not sell XYZ movie to me, but Johnny NextDoor has a copy of XYZ and I can get it from him for a fiver.
Your loss, mr movie maker. If you had made it available to me, I'd have bought it from you.
Yes, we all look left-wing, but clearly not socialist. which was what that AC was talking about.
Besides, the current economic downpoor is still a result of US banks selling those subprime mortgages and then selling those bad assets to other banks.
France: (easily Europe's biggest country and historically incredibly socialist) had Nicholas Sarkozy at the helm, guess on what side of the coin he fell? That's right conservative right-wing. Granted, currently there are elections in France, and it seems that the socialist opponent Hollande is winning. But the race isn't over yet.
Speaking of Holland.
The Netherlands (historically a very left-wing liberal and accepting nation of all sorts of different cultures): up until recently it had a right wing government (it fell just a few days ago) with right wing xenophobe of the century Geert Wilders as a spider in the middle of that particular web.
Britain: For the first time ever it has a coalition government, of mostly conservatives together with liberal democrats (and with not the more socialist labour party)
Germany: led by Angela Merkel, leader of the conservative party CDU/CSU. Second biggest party is the social democrat party (SPD), which is not socialist anymore, but a modern social-democratic party working within capitalism.
Switzerland: current biggest party: Swiss People Party, a right wing national conservative party.
Spain: Prime minister: Mariano Rajoy, leader of the People's Party of Spain, a center right conservative party.
Italy: biggest coalition is the Silvio Berlusconi coalition a center-right coalition.
Sure, but you can reverse that too, by offering what people want for a modest fee.
So far, I see very little of that happening. Most online offerings in my country depend on me sitting behind my tiny screen of my laptop instead of enabling me to watch the movie/tv series on my big HDtv screen with superior sound. And because it's all encased in DRM, I can't even watch that on my laptop, as my OS (Linux) is excluded, Mac and Windows only, and Mac even very limited support.
Meanwhile on the pirate site, you have HD quality versions that I can watch on my HDtv, in formats that are supported in Linux systems.
So, when looking at that balance, guess where the scale lands for me, IF I were to still download/buy movies/tv series/music.
But I really have stopped consuming that kind of media since January of this year (both the legal as well as the less than legal kind), with my only concession being the movies that I already own on DVD/CD.
And I'll keep this up until the MPAA, the IFPI, the RIAA and their Dutch equivalents Buma/Stemra, SENA, BREIN, etc fall.
Let's see who's got the longest breath.
If by writers you mean the shills that shriek about how the pirate bay keeps 100% of the artists' money and give artists 0% of it. Then yes, I agree with you, those shills act like children who refuse to grow up and instead want to spend all their energy bitching about authority.
On the post: Misguided Senators Propose Plan To Make It Harder For Law Enforcement To Track Down Human Trafficking Online
Re:
Same with legalizing marihuana (growing and selling), you can put rules on quality control, you can put sales tax on them, and you can check up on the people who smoke a lot. Aside from the sales tax thing, it also removes the forbidden fruit aspect, so people won't lust after it so much (would change quite a few hollywood movies as well). And it removes the gateway function of marihuana. No streetdealers saying: "hey, wanna try some coke, first time's free."
Sadly, in my country (The Netherlands) we are going the reverse route. Next year, foreigners will not be able to get weed in coffeeshops, not even in Amsterdam. Which will increase streetdealers, and thus more chances of people getting hurt through bad quality, and gateway drugs.
On the post: Misguided Senators Propose Plan To Make It Harder For Law Enforcement To Track Down Human Trafficking Online
Re: Re: Re: I agree...but also disgree
On the post: Can Someone Explain When The Pirate Bay Was Actually Put On Trial In The UK?
Re:
On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: @Anonymous Coward
On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: @Anonymous Coward
Instead they whine, bitch and moan about piracy, come up with draconian unconstitutional laws and hurt their paying customers (through DRM and that ilk). Customers, who, sadly, seem to have an abused wife syndrome, they keep going back for more. "This time they won't hurt me."
Meanwhile, with the pirates you don't get the DRM or any other type of limitation, you get a better product as a result, for close to free.
On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: @Anonymous Coward
Instead they whine, bitch and moan about piracy, come up with draconian unconstitutional laws and hurt their paying customers (through DRM and that ilk). Customers, who, sadly, seem to have an abused wife syndrome, they keep going back for more. "This time they won't hurt me."
Meanwhile, with the pirates you don't get the DRM or any other type of limitation, you get a better product as a result, for close to free.
On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: @Anonymous Coward
Instead they whine, bitch and moan about piracy, come up with draconian unconstitutional laws and hurt their paying customers (through DRM and that ilk). Customers, who, sadly, seem to have an abused wife syndrome, they keep going back for more. "This time they won't hurt me."
Meanwhile, with the pirates you don't get the DRM or any other type of limitation, you get a better product as a result, for close to free.
On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: @Anonymous Coward
Ok, lets use that as the premise and look at examples where piracy doesn't hurt the studios' ability to make money:
- Unavailability in my region.
As we all know the studios like to release stuff to other regions on different moments.
But I've heard of series X, want to be able to talk about it with my American friends, but if I wait for a year or longer for it to appear on my tv, I'll be way behind the curve, and any discussion I might see online will ruin the experience for me, because they will be rife with spoilers.
So what happens, people download the series instead of waiting for the dvd box to finally arrive, or when it is finally aired on tv.
Does it make it harder for studios to make money? Not necessarily, sure syndication is going to be tough, but that was going to be tough anyway even without piracy, because the internet has become important in discussions, and thus a larger effect of spoiling things for people who have not seen the show/movie.
And DVD boxes will still get sold, if they spec them with extra features not before seen, behind the scene looks, extra footage not seen on tv, etc. (reason to buy)
- DVDs sold out, and no online rental option.
In this case, the studios have a missed sale. I was at the store with my money in hand, only to see that they didn't have the movie I really wanted to see, and I can't watch it with on demand streaming (mostly because its not offered, or I have to watch it on my laptop instead of my HD tv).
But perhaps the Ninja Cove does have it for me ready for download.
Will this mean I'll never buy it, could be, depends on the quality.
If it's a great movie/show, sure I'll also get the dvd, if only for the extras. Depending that there are extras to be got.
If it turns out to be a shit film, then no.
On the flip side, there are arguments where past behaviour of the studios has caused damage to a brand, which causes them to lose their ability to make money:
- For instance customer unhappiness with the way they were treated previously.
In the past people have been hurt by DRM systems (Sony's rootkit comes to mind, which physically destroyed disk drives, caused other bought software to not function anymore and snooped on people's online behaviour) and people might be unwilling to hand over money to products with that brand in case they get burned again. Sure, the company is losing money here, but it's their own fault.
They hurt their paying customers in the past by not trusting them, and in return the customers have decided to give brand X a pass. But they might still like products that come out on that brand, and are interested in seeing it.
Sure, you could say that legally they don't have a right to get the content, but legally Sony had no right to destroy other people's property and trample their right to privacy.
On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?
Re: Re: Re: two cents
You know what, piracy was there when media first started.
In fact, Hollywood is based on piracy, don't believe me? Look up Edison and learn a bit of history.
So far every piece of advancement in technology has been opposed by the media companies. That list has been pasted here many times, and I'm not going to do it, you're going to have to look for it yourself. But EVERY bit of technology (VHS is like the Boston Strangler?) was going to be the death of the Industry. Well guess what, every single stinking time they were wrong.
Nowadays with the internet, people have access to any type of content. Sure, you may not sell XYZ movie to me, but Johnny NextDoor has a copy of XYZ and I can get it from him for a fiver.
Your loss, mr movie maker. If you had made it available to me, I'd have bought it from you.
On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: NY Times Notices That The Pirate Party May Be Changing Politics
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Besides, the current economic downpoor is still a result of US banks selling those subprime mortgages and then selling those bad assets to other banks.
On the post: NY Times Notices That The Pirate Party May Be Changing Politics
Re: Re:
France: (easily Europe's biggest country and historically incredibly socialist) had Nicholas Sarkozy at the helm, guess on what side of the coin he fell? That's right conservative right-wing. Granted, currently there are elections in France, and it seems that the socialist opponent Hollande is winning. But the race isn't over yet.
Speaking of Holland.
The Netherlands (historically a very left-wing liberal and accepting nation of all sorts of different cultures): up until recently it had a right wing government (it fell just a few days ago) with right wing xenophobe of the century Geert Wilders as a spider in the middle of that particular web.
Britain: For the first time ever it has a coalition government, of mostly conservatives together with liberal democrats (and with not the more socialist labour party)
Germany: led by Angela Merkel, leader of the conservative party CDU/CSU. Second biggest party is the social democrat party (SPD), which is not socialist anymore, but a modern social-democratic party working within capitalism.
Switzerland: current biggest party: Swiss People Party, a right wing national conservative party.
Spain: Prime minister: Mariano Rajoy, leader of the People's Party of Spain, a center right conservative party.
Italy: biggest coalition is the Silvio Berlusconi coalition a center-right coalition.
AC, you want to try again?
On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?
Re: Re: Re:
No worries, I was afraid of that effect. But at least you know which AC I meant.
On the post: NY Times Notices That The Pirate Party May Be Changing Politics
Re: Re:
Care to speculate further?
On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?
Re:
So far, I see very little of that happening. Most online offerings in my country depend on me sitting behind my tiny screen of my laptop instead of enabling me to watch the movie/tv series on my big HDtv screen with superior sound. And because it's all encased in DRM, I can't even watch that on my laptop, as my OS (Linux) is excluded, Mac and Windows only, and Mac even very limited support.
Meanwhile on the pirate site, you have HD quality versions that I can watch on my HDtv, in formats that are supported in Linux systems.
So, when looking at that balance, guess where the scale lands for me, IF I were to still download/buy movies/tv series/music.
But I really have stopped consuming that kind of media since January of this year (both the legal as well as the less than legal kind), with my only concession being the movies that I already own on DVD/CD.
And I'll keep this up until the MPAA, the IFPI, the RIAA and their Dutch equivalents Buma/Stemra, SENA, BREIN, etc fall.
Let's see who's got the longest breath.
On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?
Re:
On the post: Google's Fiber Makes MPAA Skittish. Why Does Hollywood See All Technology In Terms Of Piracy?
Re:
On the post: Asking Fans For Support Isn't Begging, It's Solidifying Our Relationship
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
You wanna try again, troll, Or have you fled the building already?
Have you stopped beating your wife yet?
On the post: Asking Fans For Support Isn't Begging, It's Solidifying Our Relationship
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Question
How do I "discover" you? Do you get airtime on Dutch radio? I rather doubt it. Are you on Dutch Spotify? I doubt that too.
Then tell me, how do I, a potential fan, find your music before buying it?
On the post: Paulo Coehlo Convinces His Publisher To Offer (Almost) All Of His Ebooks For $0.99
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