4 ms·

There are lots of things that are hard to shut down -- but generally they stay small because they're harder to use. If there was _only_ harder-to-use, decentra

There are lots of things that are hard to shut down -- but generally they stay small because they're harder to use. If there was _only_ harder-to-use, decentralized stuff, though... I wonder if consumers (as opposed to power users) would still pirate.

rmc 15y ago
I wonder if consumers (as opposed to power users) would still pirate. Something will win if there is a decentralised system that can't be shut down, and can be used the consumers. That'll shake things up again./
dspillett 15y ago
> I wonder if consumers (as opposed to power users) would still pirate. The practise will just move back into the physical world more. The people in a social group who have the know-how and access will pass the resulting content further into the group. Once it is a file on a local disk it can spread by the old fashioned methods rather easily. The base consumers that want to won't obtain the material directly, but they'll get access easily enough indirectly and after that they'll be able to pass it on the low-tech way too. It'll be less convenient for them, but far from impractical. It might reduce casual/opportunistic piracy (oh, it's free?, go on then) but not anything that affects bottom lines: those that want the content but don't want to pay will still find a way not to pay.
- vidarh 15y ago
  Less technical people pass around USB keys with pirated movies even today.
  - ChrisNorstrom 15y ago
    lol, In collage the guys were passing around a DVD of Shawn of the Dead. Everyone just copied it and passed it on.
  - dspillett 15y ago
    Aye but with many people having nice speedy connections transferring copies directly over networks or less directly via P2P options is often more convenient even for non technical people. Sometimes the USB stick or written DVDs is still more convenient now of course, even for technical types. If the online options get more complex the physical option will increasingly become the more common choice.

rmc 15y ago

I wonder if consumers (as opposed to power users) would still pirate. Something will win if there is a decentralised system that can't be shut down, and can be used the consumers. That'll shake things up again./

dspillett 15y ago

> I wonder if consumers (as opposed to power users) would still pirate. The practise will just move back into the physical world more. The people in a social group who have the know-how and access will pass the resulting content further into the group. Once it is a file on a local disk it can spread by the old fashioned methods rather easily. The base consumers that want to won't obtain the material directly, but they'll get access easily enough indirectly and after that they'll be able to pass it on the low-tech way too. It'll be less convenient for them, but far from impractical. It might reduce casual/opportunistic piracy (oh, it's free?, go on then) but not anything that affects bottom lines: those that want the content but don't want to pay will still find a way not to pay.

vidarh 15y ago
Less technical people pass around USB keys with pirated movies even today.
- ChrisNorstrom 15y ago
  lol, In collage the guys were passing around a DVD of Shawn of the Dead. Everyone just copied it and passed it on.
- dspillett 15y ago
  Aye but with many people having nice speedy connections transferring copies directly over networks or less directly via P2P options is often more convenient even for non technical people. Sometimes the USB stick or written DVDs is still more convenient now of course, even for technical types. If the online options get more complex the physical option will increasingly become the more common choice.