Consumer's Dilemma: a polemic about economic disparity disguised as a copyright license

Cory Doctorow 10:41 am Wed Mar 9, 2011

Simon Phipps sez, "As an adjunct to creation of its report 'Media Piracy In Emerging Economies', the Social Science Research Council has devised a license that tries to show people in rich economies what it is that makes people in emerging economies use torrents rather than pay the author. Thir paywall and outrageous commercial pricing only apply if your IP address is in a rich country. They say: 'The resulting consumer dilemma is a ubiquitous experience in medium and low-income countries but one that confronts the American or European reader (or the media company employee conjured up by the commercial reader license) much less frequently and with much less intensity.'"

Not unexpectedly, our Consumer's Dilemma license for the report has generated some controversy. To recap, the CD license creates different paths to acquiring the report: first, we have an IP address geolocator that sends visitors from high income countries toward an $8 paywall when they download the report; all other resolvable IP addresses get free access. Second, and separately available, a 'commercial reader' license that costs $2000. There's also a $28 book, but I will assume that's not at issue here.

The Consumer's Dilemma

(Thanks, Simon!)

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