Wait till 3D printers come along and actually become afforable and then you can print out a copy of your car for whatever. Then you'll have to pay for it again every time you drive down a new road or park it in a new parking stall.
According to the "content" industry piracy will never be under control because with each new advance in technology there is more piracy, or at least potential piracy, for them to be concerned about, scream about and make dire warnings of (none of which ever come true).
I'm going to agree with Steve R. on this. It's these laws, the constant complaining and whining from Hollywood that has led to an increasing lack of respect for and sympathy with IP laws such as copyright and patents. It's also the growth into areas not formerly covered which the industry involved (see software patents) didn't want in the first place which increases the lack of respect for these laws.
Now yes, not respecting a law is no reason in law to break it. But when the lack of respect is widespread laws are constantly broken. See Prohibition.
I'm also rapidly coming to the conclusion that "piracy" will NEVER be under control because it's in the "content industry's" best interests that it never does. Or that they can complain that it never does, come up with fake studies and justify enormous expenditures of lobbying all while they continue to make huge profits while the very thing they complain will bankrupt them is still happening.
I somehow doubt that. I can't even recall reacting that way in high school. It's be more like a quiet or loud "fuck you" depending on how I was feeling and they could keep their damned nachos. Reaching over and grabbing a handful just isn't worth the effort.
While real world analogies don't work well in cyberspace the response may be that "you're an asshole" but I like this song so I'll grab it anyway. Or the software or whatever.
Please note, carefully, however that if I run off with a fist full of nachos there are fewer nachos in the concession stand and, probably, a mess so something physical has actually gone. In cyberspace a copy is made and the original is still there so nothing is missing except for "expected" or "hoped for" income/profit. And something expected or hoped for isn't real until someone has it in their hands, it's vapour.
The analogy being made in the post is still valid though. In cyberspace or "the real world" I'm far more likely to buy from someone who treats me well, greets me as a friend and helps me when I need it than someone who stays behind the counter with a sour look on their face and looks at me as if I so much as breathe I'll ruin their day. Even if the place is chock full of security cameras my response to how I'm treated is exactly the same.
In cyberspace I'm far more likely to pay you for something if, as a seller, artist, creator or even a gatekeeper, you and your site treat me well and not as if I'm a potential criminal waiting to steal from you.
We have to be vigilant and pay attention to what these businesses are actually up to and where.
Right now they have both power and money. Not to mention reaching into the highest reaches of government in most western democracies.
And then, as Ninja says. we Boomers have to wait for those younger than us to become politically active and make sure the poison isn't sprayed all over our back yards. And WE need to become politically active again as well.
We also need to revisit the purpose of things like copyright and patents to ensure they're doing what they were supposed to do rather than just accept the claims of rights holders and their defenders. And then change what doesn't work for civil society and doesn't contribute in the way that patents and copyright were supposed to. And the aspects that don't need to be ditched. Even over the howls of Hollywood and patent trolls, which is inevitable.
Vigilance is vital as our culture, society and economy go through the evolution that's occurring because of the existence of the Internet and the Web,
Actually it does appear to have been a "human error" as in human decision to raise the price in the UK.
It is more satisfying to assume the label was hearse chasing, that's true, but in this case it does appear that it was one middle manager who had the authority to do such things.
The spike in demand for her work will continue for a while yet so it does appear tasteless at best and "hearse chasing" at worst.
Sony's being judged on their past record here and their contempt for their customers (consumers) not simply this incident. Perhaps that's unfair but Sony paved this road and now their riding it.
It's not that uncommon to consider that artists are worth more dead than alive, nor do we know from your post the context that comment was made in. (This isn't an attack, by the way, just that the idea is very common.)
That said, they raised the price in the UK, lowered it and are now apologizing. Probably with the same genuine tone of voice from the PR guy as he typed it and snickered.
Of course we're not censoring CONTENT on social networks we're blocking things that might be found objectionable to decent Indian society. That's not censorship any more than back in the day when they took scissors to everything in site in Boston. It's protection!!!!!
I doesn't surprise me that AP is back at this again. After all they have won just about every other time out.
I'm still left wondering just how much longer a wire service can survive in the Internet/Web age when it's possible for lots of people to become "reporters".
In the days of telegraph when AP started it was a co-operative that sent stories from one paper to another. These days they'll tell you it ensured journalistic standards and accuracy but a check of 19th century and newspapers up to the beginning of World War II will find a distinct lack of what we consider journalistic standards now and accuracy often seemed secondary.
The Internet is often faster, with people there on the ground and more immediate while television, for now, still holds a video edge. AP's biggest problem is that web sites aren't members of AP and television stations have other news feed arrangements than AP.
Their membership is dwindling, slowly, and the only way they can see to make the money they used to is to brow beat and sue aggrigators into submission.
What's so amusing here is that two of the "giants" of IP maximalism are about to drag themselves through the courts, spending millions as they do that ought to go to their highly successful lobbyists in DC.
Let's see now. SOPA was "for the artists". "for the creators", "for the lunch wagon sandwich makers" and so on. Not the studios. Nooooooooooo. And now here they are bringing out the neutron bombs to use on each other.
For all that you can complain about censorship there's still a button or link to click on which reveals the "censored" comment. Mostly I click on then to get either a good chuckle or a belly laugh. This one was low chuckle grade, by the way.
Depending on the issue being discussed it's a near run between AC trolls saying nasty, silly and ignorant things about the post or Mike or all of us and the posts actually discussing the post.
So it's hard to say that Techdirt censors views that are different than Techdirt's. Almost impossible, in fact.
In short the United States and companies and individuals in it were free to pirate work under copyright or patent law elsewhere until it became to America's advantage not to. (The cynical are free to read into that "the best stuff was already swiped" if they wish.)
And now the maximalists in the United States want to impose maximalist rules on developing and under developed countries. I guess what was good and worked for America isn't so good for anyone else. I'm still wondering how to convince the BRIC countries of that much less anyone else.
As has been noted I'm sure Sony expected a burst of sales from Whitney Huston's death and raised prices. It appears one didn't come.
The irony is that I remember hearing years ago that artists are more valuable dead than alive. Their paintings, songs, books and all the rest come into more demand as people discover them from all the headlines about the death and the anguish in certain parts of the arts community about it.
Whitney may not have released a hit in years and may never have written a song but like Frank Sinatra she was a fantastic interpreter of songs. In the end, though, she wasn't Sinatra. She became supermarket tabloid fodder and will continue to be when they get going on her.
She was a talented singer and interpreter of songs but like many her life collapsed around her due to bad decisions.
Sony's move was tacky, distasteful but hardly unexpected. That doesn't mean they don't deserve to be called out for it. It's another example of a RIAA member company not giving a damn about the artist or their family when there's a back to be made. After all, there are shareholders to consider, you know!
Nor does it have anything to do with scarcity. It has everything to do with greed. And I don't expect less from Sony in any of their business ventures.
Actually being good ideas has always been the problem, scaling or not. New or old business models make no difference.
In the arts one has to work to gain "fans", in music to gig, in written form to write whatever, short stories, poetry and keep writing.
In video or film it's made some, listen to criticism, take to heart what's valid and improve. It makes no difference whether or not it's old or new business models.
Inevitably it becomes a relationship between the artist and "fans" whoever and where ever they're found and whatever they call themselves.
The Internet and, most particularly,the Web ease the introduction to "fans" and communications and conversation with them easier for most. It requires little in the way of techie knowledge to open a Wordpress or other blogging account and just START. Let your friends know you're there and keep it up. Don't let it go. After a while it becomes second nature to spend 10 or 5 minutes a day at it. Not posting drivel but answering questions and taking part in the conversation.
Artists have to do this anyway. Long before they're signed to a label, who can, basically, make them indentured servants for the rest of their careers and often do. There's nothing new in this except how it's done and the reach it has.
And if there's anything the doesn't scale as well as the Internet does I haven't heard of it or met it yet.
They're not only trying to censor it, the fully intend on censoring it while coming up with a long laundry list of laughable reasons why what they're up to isn't censorship.
Corruption is endemic now at all levels from legislative to the negotiations of treaties.
And none of it will do a thing "for the children" or "for the artists".
On the post: Two Contradictory Paths In The UK When It Comes To Copyright Issues
Re:
On the post: MPAA: Ripping DVDs Shouldn't Be Allowed Because It Takes Away Our Ability To Charge You Multiple Times For The Same Content
Re: I am bald
Just wait!!!
/s
On the post: MPAA: Ripping DVDs Shouldn't Be Allowed Because It Takes Away Our Ability To Charge You Multiple Times For The Same Content
Re:
And then they'll spin it out till they have another script for a Vin Diesel or Chuck Norris action flick. PIRATES OF THE INTERNET!
On the post: Sony Says Raising Prices On Whitney Houston Music Was A 'Mistake'
Re: Re: Re: Re: Gee
On the post: How Much Is Enough? We've Passed 15 'Anti-Piracy' Laws In The Last 30 Years
Re:
I'm going to agree with Steve R. on this. It's these laws, the constant complaining and whining from Hollywood that has led to an increasing lack of respect for and sympathy with IP laws such as copyright and patents. It's also the growth into areas not formerly covered which the industry involved (see software patents) didn't want in the first place which increases the lack of respect for these laws.
Now yes, not respecting a law is no reason in law to break it. But when the lack of respect is widespread laws are constantly broken. See Prohibition.
I'm also rapidly coming to the conclusion that "piracy" will NEVER be under control because it's in the "content industry's" best interests that it never does. Or that they can complain that it never does, come up with fake studies and justify enormous expenditures of lobbying all while they continue to make huge profits while the very thing they complain will bankrupt them is still happening.
Funny, that last part, isn't it?
On the post: If People Like You And Your Work They'll Pay; If They Like Your Work, But Don't Like You, They'll Infringe
Re: Re: Re: Wow....It's just like high school
While real world analogies don't work well in cyberspace the response may be that "you're an asshole" but I like this song so I'll grab it anyway. Or the software or whatever.
Please note, carefully, however that if I run off with a fist full of nachos there are fewer nachos in the concession stand and, probably, a mess so something physical has actually gone. In cyberspace a copy is made and the original is still there so nothing is missing except for "expected" or "hoped for" income/profit. And something expected or hoped for isn't real until someone has it in their hands, it's vapour.
The analogy being made in the post is still valid though. In cyberspace or "the real world" I'm far more likely to buy from someone who treats me well, greets me as a friend and helps me when I need it than someone who stays behind the counter with a sour look on their face and looks at me as if I so much as breathe I'll ruin their day. Even if the place is chock full of security cameras my response to how I'm treated is exactly the same.
In cyberspace I'm far more likely to pay you for something if, as a seller, artist, creator or even a gatekeeper, you and your site treat me well and not as if I'm a potential criminal waiting to steal from you.
Hope I didn't use too many big words.
On the post: The Pirate Bay's Peter Sunde Questions Why We Let Dying Industries Dictate Terms Of Democracy
Re:
Right now they have both power and money. Not to mention reaching into the highest reaches of government in most western democracies.
And then, as Ninja says. we Boomers have to wait for those younger than us to become politically active and make sure the poison isn't sprayed all over our back yards. And WE need to become politically active again as well.
We also need to revisit the purpose of things like copyright and patents to ensure they're doing what they were supposed to do rather than just accept the claims of rights holders and their defenders. And then change what doesn't work for civil society and doesn't contribute in the way that patents and copyright were supposed to. And the aspects that don't need to be ditched. Even over the howls of Hollywood and patent trolls, which is inevitable.
Vigilance is vital as our culture, society and economy go through the evolution that's occurring because of the existence of the Internet and the Web,
On the post: Sony Says Raising Prices On Whitney Houston Music Was A 'Mistake'
Re: Couldn't it be . . .
It is more satisfying to assume the label was hearse chasing, that's true, but in this case it does appear that it was one middle manager who had the authority to do such things.
The spike in demand for her work will continue for a while yet so it does appear tasteless at best and "hearse chasing" at worst.
Sony's being judged on their past record here and their contempt for their customers (consumers) not simply this incident. Perhaps that's unfair but Sony paved this road and now their riding it.
On the post: Sony Says Raising Prices On Whitney Houston Music Was A 'Mistake'
Re: Re: Gee
That said, they raised the price in the UK, lowered it and are now apologizing. Probably with the same genuine tone of voice from the PR guy as he typed it and snickered.
On the post: Indian Official Promises India Won't Censor The Internet... Except, You Know, When It Has To Censor The Internet
Re:
Of what, we don't know yet.
On the post: Meltwater Partially Wins One Lawsuit, Gets Sued By AP In Another For Daring To Aggregate News
I'm still left wondering just how much longer a wire service can survive in the Internet/Web age when it's possible for lots of people to become "reporters".
In the days of telegraph when AP started it was a co-operative that sent stories from one paper to another. These days they'll tell you it ensured journalistic standards and accuracy but a check of 19th century and newspapers up to the beginning of World War II will find a distinct lack of what we consider journalistic standards now and accuracy often seemed secondary.
The Internet is often faster, with people there on the ground and more immediate while television, for now, still holds a video edge. AP's biggest problem is that web sites aren't members of AP and television stations have other news feed arrangements than AP.
Their membership is dwindling, slowly, and the only way they can see to make the money they used to is to brow beat and sue aggrigators into submission.
I guess you gotta stay in business somehow.
On the post: Disney And Warner Bros. Prepare To Fight Over Who Owns The Public Domain Wizard Of Oz
Let's see now. SOPA was "for the artists". "for the creators", "for the lunch wagon sandwich makers" and so on. Not the studios. Nooooooooooo. And now here they are bringing out the neutron bombs to use on each other.
This'll be fun to watch.
On the post: UK Now Seizing Music Blogs (With American Domains) Over Copyright Claims
Re: Re:
On the post: UK Now Seizing Music Blogs (With American Domains) Over Copyright Claims
Re: Re:
On the post: UK Now Seizing Music Blogs (With American Domains) Over Copyright Claims
Re:
You want to assume that it was all illegal but some evidence or proof would be appreciated.
On the post: UK Now Seizing Music Blogs (With American Domains) Over Copyright Claims
Re: Re:
Depending on the issue being discussed it's a near run between AC trolls saying nasty, silly and ignorant things about the post or Mike or all of us and the posts actually discussing the post.
So it's hard to say that Techdirt censors views that are different than Techdirt's. Almost impossible, in fact.
On the post: US Begins Process Of Forcing Extreme IP Enforcement Across Africa
And now the maximalists in the United States want to impose maximalist rules on developing and under developed countries. I guess what was good and worked for America isn't so good for anyone else. I'm still wondering how to convince the BRIC countries of that much less anyone else.
On the post: Sony Music Raised Prices On Whitney Houston's Music... Less Than 30 Minutes After She Died
Tacky but I'm not at all suprised
The irony is that I remember hearing years ago that artists are more valuable dead than alive. Their paintings, songs, books and all the rest come into more demand as people discover them from all the headlines about the death and the anguish in certain parts of the arts community about it.
Whitney may not have released a hit in years and may never have written a song but like Frank Sinatra she was a fantastic interpreter of songs. In the end, though, she wasn't Sinatra. She became supermarket tabloid fodder and will continue to be when they get going on her.
She was a talented singer and interpreter of songs but like many her life collapsed around her due to bad decisions.
Sony's move was tacky, distasteful but hardly unexpected. That doesn't mean they don't deserve to be called out for it. It's another example of a RIAA member company not giving a damn about the artist or their family when there's a back to be made. After all, there are shareholders to consider, you know!
Nor does it have anything to do with scarcity. It has everything to do with greed. And I don't expect less from Sony in any of their business ventures.
On the post: Nothing Scales Like Stupidity
Re:
In the arts one has to work to gain "fans", in music to gig, in written form to write whatever, short stories, poetry and keep writing.
In video or film it's made some, listen to criticism, take to heart what's valid and improve. It makes no difference whether or not it's old or new business models.
Inevitably it becomes a relationship between the artist and "fans" whoever and where ever they're found and whatever they call themselves.
The Internet and, most particularly,the Web ease the introduction to "fans" and communications and conversation with them easier for most. It requires little in the way of techie knowledge to open a Wordpress or other blogging account and just START. Let your friends know you're there and keep it up. Don't let it go. After a while it becomes second nature to spend 10 or 5 minutes a day at it. Not posting drivel but answering questions and taking part in the conversation.
Artists have to do this anyway. Long before they're signed to a label, who can, basically, make them indentured servants for the rest of their careers and often do. There's nothing new in this except how it's done and the reach it has.
And if there's anything the doesn't scale as well as the Internet does I haven't heard of it or met it yet.
On the post: Debunking The EU Commission's 'Myths About ACTA'
Re:
Corruption is endemic now at all levels from legislative to the negotiations of treaties.
And none of it will do a thing "for the children" or "for the artists".
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