Piracy doesn't fund the mob or terrorists

A scholarly report funded by the Canadian government and the Ford Foundation investigates the alleged link between copyright infringement and terrorism and finds none. Basically, counterfeiters can't compete with free, and so there's no money in it. A 2009 MPAA-funded Rand Corporation report suggested that selling pirate DVDs was a better deal than trafficking smack. They're wrong.

One of its intriguing findings is that even the commercial pirates have it tough these days. Piracy made money back when optical disc stampers were scarce and expensive; it became less lucrative when CD and DVD burners became commodity items. Today, under pressure from P2P distribution, optical disc piracy in wealthy countries is "all but eliminated" and profit margins elsewhere are slim.
"Increasingly, commercial pirates face the same dilemma as the legal industry," says the report, "how to compete with free."

Major report debunks alleged link between piracy and terrorism

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Action • Business • corporatism • Technology

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

turn_self_off

Rand corporation? The same Rand that gave the world game theory backed MAD?
emmdeeaych

DVD’s are so 20th century. The factory in NJ that manufactured the first CD, closed last summer. The computer I got this last summer has no optical drive, just a connection to the internet.

We’re not doing it -to- you MPAA/RIAA, we don’t mean to hurt you, it’s that you’re really not doing it for us anymore, and you’re awful needy and keep lying to us, and I never actually said ‘I do’ anyhow… and The Dread Pirate Roberts keeps saying “as you wish” every time I want something AND he brought horses and, well, enjoy the sunset MPAA/RIAA. Actually, if you weren’t just in it for yourself MPAA/RIAA, you’d make a pretty good Dread Pirate Roberts.
Anonymous

You might not mean to hurt them, but be honest. It feels good to screw them over.
Zergonapal

The only way to compete with free is to offer a superior product and offer it for free. What the…? You ask. Well let me explain. You cannot stop something from getting on the internet, really its that simple. So you need to beat the P2P at their own game, get your movie on the net in decent quality and then tell your viewers about all the extra content they can get if they buy a hard copy.
Box art, blooper reels, directors commentary etc. etc. make it value for money and offer it at a reasonable price. You could even offer incentives like buy one movie get 10% off the next etc. Have customer loyalty cards where after 10 movies you get a $20 voucher or something.
If you have a good product you will get sales. This of course doesn’t help if your movie is terribad, so concentrate on getting it right, or make it so bad its actually good.
MarlboroTestMonkey7

Mark my words, pirates will off the mob and terrorists. But then, ninja will rule all.
Anonymous

Just have to say that this “industry” is alive and well in many poorer neighborhoods in the USA, where people will gladly pay 1.00 per disc, buy 10, and wouldn’t know how to burn one if you google’d it for them. Guess they didn’t look that hard. We have friends who have a “guy” who stops by with a sheet of “new releases” – you tell him what you want, he’s back in 10 with the discs. I’d say he’s selling 10X what smack dealers are in the same neighborhoods.
angryearthling

here in ireland before the peace deal it was a problem. now that market is served by criminals.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/BORDER+ROCKET+GANG+AMBUSH+GARDAI.-a067962182