A lot of copyright holders are under the false impression that if people couldn't pirate they would have no choice but to purchase their products. What they fail to realize is there's a world ready to share for free, and the more they make piracy unappealing the more Fedora Linux, Ubuntu Linux, OpenOffice, CCMixter.org, Jamendo, Vodo, and many other places willing to share free culture and innovation, will grow in strength.
However with that said, I'm a little disturbed at the attempts to deceive the public for the purpose of gaining support to their cause. Not to mention the attempts to stop people from talking about subjects on-line --which I see is an attack on freedom of speech -- and the attempts to make it illegal to share ideas and content for free. Even if it's the content owner doing the sharing.
Out of curiosity, I causally asked around to find out why people pirate. I wanted to determine some of the reasons for the 29% piracy rate in Canada. Here are some of the reasons I heard:
Can't afford it:
Let's consider something. I haven't had a raise in at least 5 years. But in that time the price of gas, groceries, water, hydro, heat, taxes, have all increased. I hear them. Piracy is that gleam of hope at the end of a dark tunnel. Let's face it, a student who can barely afford their next meal isn't going to be able to afford a $300-$1,000 software product. Or to be able to purchase $100s in movies or music. From what I hear the highest piracy rate is those who don't have jobs yet, teenagers!
Although I really can't understand the big businesses in this area, they are saving potential millions in advertising, and killing piracy isn't going to suddenly give these teens jobs, or the money to purchase.
Not Available in Canada:
This one falls under the big grey area. There are many shows, or products which aren't sold in Canada. So pirating them is an interesting scene. There's no one in Canada to sue them!
The other category is the person who watches their TV Shows via pirating until they become available to purchase. I know of one case where the entire collection and movies were all watch via pirating, and the pirate also owns the entire set and movies when the became available. -- which begs the question, in those piracy numbers on the web, how many of the pirates are on both sides? --
Again killing piracy isn't going to do much for their profit margins. The pirates who purchase it anyways, are doing so despite piracy, and the unavailable content, pirates can't purchase it anyways!
Not worth it!
This one I hear and see a lot. Let's look at two examples.
1. The user who receives the floor plans for his house in AutoCad 2011, and needs to make a small change and export it into something more usable. This user doesn't feel the $3,995 MSP price tag is worth it for one day of use. Sure there are other ways to convert this data, but pirating a copy would be the simplest solutions, especially to one who's not that technical.
2. The user who is told the must have Microsoft Office. Most users only use about 2% -- in my estimate -- of the features of MS Office. Most users can get way with the basic features of GoogleDocs If that's the case than the $50-$300 for Microsoft Office is mostly overkill. Most home users I know open Microsoft Office once or twice every few month (if that). Last time I opened Microsoft Office was almost a year ago when I was doing a comparison wiki page.
DRM locks prevent me from using the software:
This one's actually a big one for me, which started with iTunes. To legalize iTunes it cost me ~$400. This is because of the DRM locks placed on Apple content do not allow me to run apple content on my legally purchased Windows 2003 or my Linux infrastructure. I'm half a heartbeat away from pirating my legal purchases, just so I can actually watch them, in more convenient locations.
DRM locks are extremely easy to break. So really their purpose is lost on me. My only conclusion is businesses use them to fool the weak hearted into giving up their freedom.
Easier:
In many cases I can see this. Going to pirate bay and browsing their one stop shop is much easier than searching through google, and companies websites. In most cases you'd have to wait weeks for it to be shipped to you or have to travel to the store. -- or in my case drive for 2 hours to get to the stores that carry the products. --
So the question here is, if piracy is killed, would people go to the store? Would they wait for the shipment? or would they turn to more convenient free software? If seen some companies saying the wont offer more convenient solutions until piracy is under control. Which is interesting, how many of those pirates will turn to the growing free software? The companies could end up loosing half their potential customers by waiting.
The Effects?
There was a question, out on the web, about how to combat piracy and help the economy. Well again people fail to realize that piracy is a symptom of a bigger problem. This, in my opinion, is why it will never die completely, until the real problem is addressed.
So let's look at economy. Which hurts the economy more? Pirates who would not have purchases if piracy wasn't available, or the current copyright and patent laws which slow down new products and innovation.
The way I see it having a 120 year lock on an idea does nothing but hurt the economy. In the free software community we get forks of an original idea, and then we get more choices and better products then possible from the original idea. So imagine this:
Currently we have Microsoft Windows 7. -- and I only pick on Microsoft because I know Ross is going to climb all over this one -- Imagine if other people could build off the Windows 7 source and build their own operating system. Now you'd have new directions new ideas based on the original Windows 7 design. Multiple companies would spawn and you'd have price wars, competitions in innovation, and a faster pace of newer and better products. Granted this would hurt the originating company (aka Microsoft) but if the copyright patient was shortened to 2-5 years they could make the initial money and move on, rather than the current system of beating a dead horse for every penny. For the economy it would be a good thing, more choices, cheaper choices means more money changing hands.
Bad for big business, but good for the economy. So really is it piracy or our current Intellectual Property Laws hurting the economy? I'm all for protecting intellectual property, but not at the expense of progress. DRM locks and lengthy terms really need to GO!
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