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Making profit does support creative artists as some of that money goes to them. As a business they want to maximize profits. Why shouldn't they go after sites

by watty 12y ago

Making profit does support creative artists as some of that money goes to them. As a business they want to maximize profits. Why shouldn't they go after sites that cause them to lose profit?

aestetix 12y ago
Tell that to the Beatles.
easytiger 12y ago
Because the people you are clamping down on are also your customers!
barking 12y ago
They ask for piracy with they way they treat their paying customers. If I buy an audiobook I don't want to have to register a device to play it on. I don't want to have to look up account details and go online to register a new device before I can copy my stuff across. These industries have tried to cripple the hardware that I purchase so it would refuse to copy one of their disks. I want to be able to make back ups. I want to be able to lend my property. I want to be able to sell my property. In the unlikely event that they manage to get rid of filesharing I can only imagine how hard they'll squeeze us for ever increasing amounts of loot.
- watty 12y ago
  The wonderful thing about being a consumer is that you have the right to purchase or refuse to purchase anything you want. If an audio book disallows you from reselling, don't buy the audio book. I disagree with invasive DRM but in no way does it justify piracy.
  - barking 12y ago
    Preventing you from selling your property in this way is illegal in the eu I believe. Does the risk of piracy justify drm if it infringes on my rights?
onion2k 12y ago
Why shouldn't they go after sites that cause them to lose profit? You'll need to provide evidence that downloading actually leads to lower profits before anyone can tackle that question. The hypothesis that "People who download content buy less because they're getting TV shows for free. If they couldn't download they'd buy instead." might sound fine, there are some problems with it. * People might be spending 100% of their entertainment budget on TV shows already, so they couldn't buy any more if they stopped downloading. Stopping those downloads would lead to zero additional profit. * People might be downloading everything regardless of what it is, including a hell of a lot of things they'd never buy (hoarding mentality). Stopping those downloads would lead to zero additional profit. * People who download might be fanatical about the TV show, downloading shows to watch as early as possible. Stopping those downloads would lead have a negative impact on profit because those are the people who do the grass-roots evangelism that drives hype. * People download because they believe the content has zero value. Without downloads they'd just watch something else. Stopping those downloads would lead to zero additional profit. The question of whether downloading actually harms industry or not had not been answered.
- StavrosK 12y ago
  * People are willing to pay for content, but there's no easy/practical way for them to do so. Without downloads, they just wouldn't watch the thing at all. I suspect this is the most frequent camp, and it's the one I'm in. If you want to take my money, downloads are irrelevant, just allow Netflix to have better stuff.
- watty 12y ago
  Let's say it doesn't have any affect on their profits... hell, lets say piracy makes everyone MORE money. Does it matter? Shouldn't content creators still have a right to say who gets their content for free?
  - onion2k 12y ago
    Shouldn't content creators still have a right to say who gets their content for free? Of course. But if they want to have that say then they should do whatever they can to protect their work. If they fail to protect their content and let someone upload it then that's their fault. It's not my place as a consumer to help them to protect their work by not downloading it. Morally speaking I have no duty to help the content creator.
tomp 12y ago
Avatar was the most profitable movie in history, as well as the most pirated one. Profits seem to be much more strongly connected with quality/popularity rather than the rate of piracy.
mikeash 12y ago
I don't see that comment as saying they shouldn't go after these sites. I see it as saying that going after them is essentially futile as long as they ignore the demand that these sites satisfy. It's not shocking that an illegal service is the cheapest option, but it's absurd that it's the most convenient option in many cases.

by watty 12y ago

Making profit does support creative artists as some of that money goes to them. As a business they want to maximize profits. Why shouldn't they go after sites that cause them to lose profit?

aestetix 12y ago

Tell that to the Beatles.

easytiger 12y ago

Because the people you are clamping down on are also your customers!

barking 12y ago

They ask for piracy with they way they treat their paying customers. If I buy an audiobook I don't want to have to register a device to play it on. I don't want to have to look up account details and go online to register a new device before I can copy my stuff across. These industries have tried to cripple the hardware that I purchase so it would refuse to copy one of their disks. I want to be able to make back ups. I want to be able to lend my property. I want to be able to sell my property. In the unlikely event that they manage to get rid of filesharing I can only imagine how hard they'll squeeze us for ever increasing amounts of loot.

watty 12y ago
The wonderful thing about being a consumer is that you have the right to purchase or refuse to purchase anything you want. If an audio book disallows you from reselling, don't buy the audio book. I disagree with invasive DRM but in no way does it justify piracy.
- barking 12y ago
  Preventing you from selling your property in this way is illegal in the eu I believe. Does the risk of piracy justify drm if it infringes on my rights?

onion2k 12y ago

Why shouldn't they go after sites that cause them to lose profit? You'll need to provide evidence that downloading actually leads to lower profits before anyone can tackle that question. The hypothesis that "People who download content buy less because they're getting TV shows for free. If they couldn't download they'd buy instead." might sound fine, there are some problems with it. * People might be spending 100% of their entertainment budget on TV shows already, so they couldn't buy any more if they stopped downloading. Stopping those downloads would lead to zero additional profit. * People might be downloading everything regardless of what it is, including a hell of a lot of things they'd never buy (hoarding mentality). Stopping those downloads would lead to zero additional profit. * People who download might be fanatical about the TV show, downloading shows to watch as early as possible. Stopping those downloads would lead have a negative impact on profit because those are the people who do the grass-roots evangelism that drives hype. * People download because they believe the content has zero value. Without downloads they'd just watch something else. Stopping those downloads would lead to zero additional profit. The question of whether downloading actually harms industry or not had not been answered.

StavrosK 12y ago
* People are willing to pay for content, but there's no easy/practical way for them to do so. Without downloads, they just wouldn't watch the thing at all. I suspect this is the most frequent camp, and it's the one I'm in. If you want to take my money, downloads are irrelevant, just allow Netflix to have better stuff.
watty 12y ago
Let's say it doesn't have any affect on their profits... hell, lets say piracy makes everyone MORE money. Does it matter? Shouldn't content creators still have a right to say who gets their content for free?
- onion2k 12y ago
  Shouldn't content creators still have a right to say who gets their content for free? Of course. But if they want to have that say then they should do whatever they can to protect their work. If they fail to protect their content and let someone upload it then that's their fault. It's not my place as a consumer to help them to protect their work by not downloading it. Morally speaking I have no duty to help the content creator.

tomp 12y ago

Avatar was the most profitable movie in history, as well as the most pirated one. Profits seem to be much more strongly connected with quality/popularity rather than the rate of piracy.

mikeash 12y ago

I don't see that comment as saying they shouldn't go after these sites. I see it as saying that going after them is essentially futile as long as they ignore the demand that these sites satisfy. It's not shocking that an illegal service is the cheapest option, but it's absurd that it's the most convenient option in many cases.