The usual "piracy" stats however are totally made up, because they have no way of measuring the impact of piracy, or even if there's any impact at all.
While "pirate" seems to have a negative connotation in English-speaking countries, in Sweden things are a bit different. The immediate connection to "The Pirate Bay" can't be anything but a good thing for them!
Good thing we have YOU to put him in his place then, because YOU know exactly what you're talking about. Right, Pink Coward?
It seems to me you are comparing the objectivity of an internet blog with the objectivity of an official .gov report. A blog can be as subjective as it likes, no problem. When a .gov report is as subjective as a blog, we have a problem, non?
We have nothing but the entertainment industries' word that a "negative spillover" exists, and quite frankly it's a massive assumption. To instate a levy (read: a tax) for these industries without a shred of evidence would be totally unfair on the ISPs and ultimately the British public who'll have to pay for it.
Of course, I'm not saying a few million pounds in lobbying won't convince our politicians, just like with the Digital Economy Act, but that won't make it right.
What would the purpose of the levy be? Will they stop harassing UK netizens about copyright if the levy is introduced? Most likely not.
More crucially, if they can't estimate the size of the "spillover", or even its polarity, how are they going to decide how much the levy is going to be? Will they pull a number out of their arses like they usually do?
1 trillion quid will do, k tnx bai.
I really don't think this will work.
Long articles would give a competitive edge when there are a lot of others producing short, low-quality content on the same topics. Techdirt doesn't have THAT much competition from other sources, that I can think of.
That being said, I would welcome longer articles once or twice a week, but it's definitely easier to make time to read short articles (this has nothing to do with "internet attention span", but TIME).
If you are going for longer articles that discuss some issues in depth, you may wish to make a special section for them on TechDirt, and perhaps license them under CC as they might have a longer shelf-life than usual.
Lame technicalities aside, if a source of infinite food is invented and patented, would you care if the patent was upheld, or would you rather ignore the patent and go feed the kids in Africa?
But all analogies ultimately fail -- just like a car.
The point to take home is, where abundance is possible, it's better to allow it to exist rather than try (and eventually fail) to hinder it with legalities. The abundance makes it impossible to sell some things because their value disappears (e.g., recorded music), but adds value to other scarcities (e.g., live performances). Those who discover what the scarcities are and exploit them, can still make lots of money. Those who can't understand what has changed and resist or are unable to adapt won't do very well.
On the post: For An Industry Being Destroyed By 'File Sharing,' Film Industry Keeps Reporting Record Numbers
Re:
The usual "piracy" stats however are totally made up, because they have no way of measuring the impact of piracy, or even if there's any impact at all.
On the post: Author Claims Patents Made Industrial Revolution Possible; Then Shows Why He's Wrong
On the post: Copyright Used To Silence 10-Year-Old Girl Raising Money For Charity
Re:
On the post: The Beginning Of The End For Speed Cameras In The UK?
Re:
On the post: BP Photoshopping Goes From Bad To Ridiculously Bad
;)
On the post: Whether You're BP Or A Petty Criminal, Photoshopping Yourself To Look Sympathetic Probably Isn't Wise
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/incident_response/STAG ING/local_assets/images/HIVE_houston01.jpg
Makes you wonder why they even bothered.
On the post: Pirate Party Launches Pirate ISP; Demonstrating The Inevitable
Re: Me too...
On the post: Putting Press Releases Online? Patented! Lots Of Small Companies Sued
On the post: Court Rules That The Pirate Bay Must Block Dutch Users... Again... But ISPs Don't Have To Block
Re:
Hmmm...
On the post: US Copyright Group Kicking Off Next Round Of Lawsuits [Updated]
Re: Re: Breaking Brien loses case against Ziggo and XS4ALL - No Pirate Bay Block in Holland!!!!!!!!!
Here's English: http://torrentfreak.com/dutch-isps-dont-have-to-censor-the-pirate-bay-100719/
On the post: Human Rights Groups Complain About Special 301 Process
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Human Rights Groups Complain About Special 301 Process
Re:
http://tinyurl.com/39pkkd8
On the post: Human Rights Groups Complain About Special 301 Process
Re: FAIL
It seems to me you are comparing the objectivity of an internet blog with the objectivity of an official .gov report. A blog can be as subjective as it likes, no problem. When a .gov report is as subjective as a blog, we have a problem, non?
On the post: File Sharing Is Not Pollution, And You Don't Need An ISP 'Tax' To Deal With It
Of course, I'm not saying a few million pounds in lobbying won't convince our politicians, just like with the Digital Economy Act, but that won't make it right.
What would the purpose of the levy be? Will they stop harassing UK netizens about copyright if the levy is introduced? Most likely not.
More crucially, if they can't estimate the size of the "spillover", or even its polarity, how are they going to decide how much the levy is going to be? Will they pull a number out of their arses like they usually do?
1 trillion quid will do, k tnx bai.
I really don't think this will work.
On the post: Turns Out People Actually Do Like Smart, Long Form Content Online
That being said, I would welcome longer articles once or twice a week, but it's definitely easier to make time to read short articles (this has nothing to do with "internet attention span", but TIME).
If you are going for longer articles that discuss some issues in depth, you may wish to make a special section for them on TechDirt, and perhaps license them under CC as they might have a longer shelf-life than usual.
On the post: One Way To Deal With A Cease & Desist: Wicked Lasers Auctioning Off LucasFilm C&D
Re: Bids
On the post: Composer Jason Robert Brown Still Standing By His Position That Kids Sharing His Music Are Immoral
Re: The chicken may not be copyritten but.....
But all analogies ultimately fail -- just like a car.
The point to take home is, where abundance is possible, it's better to allow it to exist rather than try (and eventually fail) to hinder it with legalities. The abundance makes it impossible to sell some things because their value disappears (e.g., recorded music), but adds value to other scarcities (e.g., live performances). Those who discover what the scarcities are and exploit them, can still make lots of money. Those who can't understand what has changed and resist or are unable to adapt won't do very well.
On the post: Authorities Force 73,000 Blogs Offline?
Yes, Blogetery is Wordpress's ISP and it appears some genius decided it was a good idea to take all of Wordpress offline.
On the post: ASCAP Claiming That Creative Commons Must Be Stopped; Apparently They Don't Actually Believe In Artist Freedom
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: ASCAP Claiming That Creative Commons Must Be Stopped; Apparently They Don't Actually Believe In Artist Freedom
Re: Re:
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