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Freedom to profit from their own labor is very much something Libertarians hold dear. Libertarians want the government to stop interfering in markets. Yes, bu
by henrikschroder 16y ago
Freedom to profit from their own labor is very much something Libertarians hold dear.
Libertarians want the government to stop interfering in markets.
Yes, but profiting from your labour is typically handled by an exchange of goods, and once the exchange is done, each party has no say over the goods they traded.
Not so with copyright, it limits what people can do with goods after they have been exchanged, and it does so through a state-enforced artificial monopoly. It is definitely government interference in the market. If it was completely free, you would lose control over your creations the second you sell them.
Piracy isn't a market, it's a crime - piracy hurts markets.
It is a market, and it works exactly like any other market. Piracy appears when a large amount of consumers disagree on the pricing of artificially scarce goods, and instead acquire the goods illicitly, by circumventing the artificial scarcity.
The easiest way to combat piracy is through the market, simply provide a better product than the pirated product, and provide it at a price most consumers are willing to pay. Most people pirate not because they want everything for free, but because there is a huge discrepancy between the price of something and what they percieve it to be worth.
There is a reason that, for example, the Apple Music Store is so incredibly successful even though anyone can pirate music easily. They provide a better product (legal DRM-free files conveniently and quickly delivered is better than illegal DRM-free files that are inconvenient to get) at a better price (1$ per song instead of ~15$ for a bundle you didn't want just to get the song you actually wanted).
It is perfectly possible to compete with the pirate market, and doing so can be more profitable than trying the heavy-handed approach and strengthening the monopoly.
- nailer 16y ago> Not so with copyright, it limits what people can do with goods after they have been exchanged Fair use is awesome. Copyrights shouldn't last forever. Unfortunately, a lot of people have been conned by places like TPB - which punish everyone, including those who make OSS, and people who give away some of their works for free but charge for others - into thinking copyright reform requires advocating piracy. There are many people who believe authors deserve to be paid, but fair use has a place. In fact, I think most human being fit into that category. Advocating for fair use while advocating stealing alienates everyone from the cause.
- henrikschroder 16y agoI'm not advocating piracy, and neither is anyone else here. However, I think you should be more realistic towards it and realize that it's not such a big deal. Casual non-commercial private copying of stuff probably doesn't hurt anyone. You shouldn't do it, but if someone does, it doesn't equal a lost sale for the creator. And, to return to the original article, I'm convinced that dealing with it in this heavy-handed way, by adding more legislation, more law enforcement, isn't the right way. And I don't think it helps you or me as creators. (I also wish people would stop downvoting you just because they disagree, that's really not the HN way. :-/ )
- nailer 16y ago> I think you should be more realistic towards it and realize that it's not such a big deal. It really is if you've had your work stolen. There are 3 people, last time I checked, in this thread who have. They're all pretty strongly against piracy. > (I also wish people would stop downvoting you just because they disagree, that's really not the HN way. :-/ ) Hehe, thanks. It's been quite odd to watch - +2, -1, +1 etc as different groups for and against moderate reddit style.