4 ms·

You do if you want to make a lot of money at it. File sharing is easy and getting easier. Why pay for anything when you can easily get it for free?

• eru 18y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good#The_free_rider_problem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good#The_free_rider_prob... lists possible solutions for the free rider problem.
  • rsheridan6 18y ago
    Nothing that's helpful for content providers in general, if you assume that it's impossible to enforce copyright. "Intrinsic value" would work for some content providers (an indy band composed of guys with day jobs), but it's not going to work to make an expensive blockbuster.
    • eru 18y ago
      If its impossible to enforce copyrigt, content becomes a public good. Why should dominant assurance contracts not work?
      • rsheridan6 18y ago
        A movie costs millions of dollars to make. Good luck finding enough public-minded cinephiles to pay for them.
      • JesseAldridge 18y ago
        Dude. Dominant assurance contracts look ingenious. I had never heard of them before. http://lists.canonical.org/pipermail/kragen-tol/2005-June/000783.html http://lists.canonical.org/pipermail/kragen-tol/2005-June/00...
        • eru 17y ago
          And once you raised the money with the dominant assurance contract, you can even outsource the creation of the public good in question with social policy bonds [1]. [1] http://socialgoals.com/blog/spbs600words.htm http://socialgoals.com/blog/spbs600words.htm