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Sure but how is that different from now? aside from the cost of the fine, there really isn't, and I'd argue that the specter of a large fine is having little ef
by joshAg 15y ago
Sure but how is that different from now? aside from the cost of the fine, there really isn't, and I'd argue that the specter of a large fine is having little effect on piracy anyway.
- anigbrowl 15y agoA lot of the time, the size of the fine (or the prison sentence) is a function of the probability of being caught. As an example, let's say the economic gain of a single instance of movie piracy is $25, only 1% of all pirates are caught, and the cost of prosecuting someone is $1,000. So you charge a $250,000 fine, and that gets people's attention. Economists talk about indifference curves in place of regular price curves.
- joshAg 15y agoif that's the case, then are you suggesting the fines should be bigger, since 46% of the population doesn't seem to care about the current fines?
- anigbrowl 15y agoNo, I'm just introducing this to give you an idea of why those bizarrely large fines exist in the first place. The economic theory is that law should incentivize people to act a certain way, and that if the odds of prosecution are low than the deterrent effect has to be made up on the sentencing side instead. I don't really know what the 'right' policy is.