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[trekkiedane]

The big "industry v/s end-consumer"-trial of the The Pirate Bay-guys began yesterday.

BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7892073.stm

-and has already been watered down:

BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7895026.stm

The industry knows that even if they succeed in shutting down one torrent server there are still hundreds running and the only winners will be the lawyers. Yet they persist.

Why?


Here's an idea, probably horrific to some of you though, why don't we just pull the whole copyright thing out of the laws? - Let 'the tax-man' pay decent artists decent wages? (let public interest in acquiring the work be the measure of just how high wages the artists get).

It would mean thinking outside the proverbial box of course, but just think of all the resources that could be saved (and I'm not only thinking of court-time here), and how much easier it would be to 'make it' as an artist (put it on the web, and if anyone is interested the download will begin and the check would be in the mail), think of all the 'let's teach some bimbos to dance and call them a band'-pop music that never would be anymore, the diversity of garage-bands that would actually 'get a chance' instead…

Sure, It wouldn't be an easy transition (all the freeloaders in the industry would of course fight it) but I believe it a possible, even desirable, if a somewhat utopic one.



Your thoughts welcomed!

(But, please observe the T-BBS policy of not enabling your fellow posters in criminal behavior: do not exchange information on how to break whatever copyright laws might exist)



____________
Just BTW: look here: Legal threats against The Pirate Bay. For a list of how TPB usually deals with lawyers and the like.
Some of it a bit infantile (DreamWorks), some of it hilarious (White Stripes / WEB SHERIFF).

 

[Kryton]

Didn't the RIAA go all apeshit on the blank CD-R industry? Isn't that why "music only" CD-Rs cost more...because the RIAA demands a cut of all the BLANKS being sold in that format?

Screw 'em. DRM sucks...but the attitudes of those enforcing it are short-sighted and creatively bankrupt.

 

[DBR]

Instead of trying to stop the tide, why doesn't the entertainment industry look at running their own P2P websites in the short term--and I mean good, functional, easy to use sites. At [/i]least[/i] they'd get a some of the advertising action until a new system is figured out.

 

[trekkiedane]

Instead of trying to stop the tide, why doesn't the entertainment industry look at running their own P2P websites in the short term--and I mean good, functional, easy to use sites. At [/i]least[/i] they'd get a some of the advertising action until a new system is figured out.

Not unlike the Monty Python-gang did on YouTube. Being tired of seeing horrible quality-clips they put them up there themselves: http://www.youtube.com/user/montypython

 

[RJDiogenes]

No, I don't want to see Copyright eliminated. I wouldn't care if I didn't make a dime; what I create is my intellectual property.

 

[trekkiedane]

No, I don't want to see Copyright eliminated. I wouldn't care if I didn't make a dime; what I create is my intellectual property.

Indeed, if you created something that didn't exist before it is yours to do with as you please and that fact should be acknowledged.

 

[SinglePurpose]

I think that the industry (especially the music industry, Hollywood is doing a little better) has by and large completely mishandled things with P2P. And I'd like to see some parts of copyright toned down (e.g having copyright terms that aren't effectively infinite) but getting rid of copyright altogether is a horrible idea. If the government is paying for art then the government controls art. Do you think the government would be sending checks for something like Nicholson Baker's Checkpoint? http://www.amazon.com/Checkpoint-No...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234919856&sr=8-1

 

[trekkiedane]

If the government is paying for art then the government controls art.

Better the government than some 'suits at corporate HQ' -at least we have a chance to throw out the government every now and then.

But that is beside the point, I'm not suggesting any sort of control, only the consumer should be in charge of that -and some public computer should then mail checks to the artists according to how popular their art is.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I recall a few weeks ago the RIAA was going to work with internet providers to stop torrents, so actually hundreds of torrent sites won't matter.

 

[Hoser]

Instead of trying to stop the tide, why doesn't the entertainment industry look at running their own P2P websites in the short term--and I mean good, functional, easy to use sites. At [/i]least[/i] they'd get a some of the advertising action until a new system is figured out.

I know things like Hulu have helped me look at the industry (not the RIAA/MPAA mind you) a lot better.
Admittedly, if they went the extra mile and made a downloadable file that we could stick in our DVD players, I'd probably flip out like it was the return of Christ. (Cuz I think that's one of the signs)

Seriously. You put something on air for free to watch that is paid by adverts. If you put that same thing on the web, with adverts, we'll watch it.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

Instead of trying to stop the tide, why doesn't the entertainment industry look at running their own P2P websites in the short term--and I mean good, functional, easy to use sites. At [/i]least[/i] they'd get a some of the advertising action until a new system is figured out.

Except that the money to be made from selling advertising on a p2p site is absolutely NOTHING compared to the money they make selling music/movies etc. It's literally a rounding error. So there's no incentive at all for the companies to push for more p2p downloading.

I recall a few weeks ago the RIAA was going to work with internet providers to stop torrents, so actually hundreds of torrent sites won't matter.

I think the problem will diminish when ISPs begin charging a higher rate for high-volume users. Once parents realize that Little Billy's constant torrent downloading has tripled the monthly cost of their Internet connection, the little thief is going to get cut off pretty quickly.

 

[trekkiedane]

Seriously. You put something on air for free to watch that is paid by adverts. If you put that same thing on the web, with adverts, we'll watch it.

Exactly.

It's not as if the consumers (most of us anyway) aren't willing to pay for the products we enjoy -If only we could actually buy them.

Reminds me of a segment of a British morning show I watched not to long ago, where e-mailed viewer questions about the last episode of Doctor Who were answered; everyone in the studio had a chuckle over the fact that some of these questions came from countries where that entire season had not been aired.

It's not as if the downloading of episodes interferes with sales anyway, most downloadable episodes come in TV-quality and collectors purchase blu-ray discs (at horrendous prices)

 

[Hermiod]

For me, if I could pay a subscription (not a per-episode fee) to download my TV shows in a fairly common format the day after they air in their country of origin, I would.

It's 2009, the Internet doesn't give a crap about national borders so neither should content. Lose the region protection on DVDs and Blu-Rays.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Reminds me of a segment of a British morning show I watched not to long ago, where e-mailed viewer questions about the last episode of Doctor Who were answered; everyone in the studio had a chuckle over the fact that some of these questions came from countries where that entire season had not been aired.

I read an interview with one of the producers of Heroes a couple weeks ago where he expressed how happy/surprised he was when on a PR tour of the cast in Europe everyone knew who they were already and greeted them like celebrities even though the show hadn't aired there yet at all.

(Heroes is one the most "pirated" tv-shows worldwide, and I think you'd have a very difficult time arguing that that's hurting the producers' profits...)

 

[trekkiedane]

The King-Kong Defence

 

[Hermiod]

I read an interview with one of the producers of Heroes a couple weeks ago where he expressed how happy/surprised he was when on a PR tour of the cast in Europe everyone knew who they were already and greeted them like celebrities even though the show hadn't aired there yet at all.

(Heroes is one the most "pirated" tv-shows worldwide, and I think you'd have a very difficult time arguing that that's hurting the producers' profits...)

In Heroes' case, here in the UK it's shown on the BBC. We've already paid to see it by the time it airs. It doesn't really make any difference if a licence fee payer watches it live, DVR'ed, on BBC iPlayer or just downloads it illegally.

 

[Roshi]

For me, if I could pay a subscription (not a per-episode fee) to download my TV shows in a fairly common format the day after they air in their country of origin, I would.

It's 2009, the Internet doesn't give a crap about national borders so neither should content. Lose the region protection on DVDs and Blu-Rays.

I would as well.