WTO Sanctioned Piracy

[kentonio]

Yeah, the because "I believe" you're over charging for your product gives me the moral OK to steal it doesn't fly with me either.

Of course it doesn't give a moral ok, but in the real world the more unreasonable the cost the more people WILL steal it.

[rah]

There are people that will steal it regardless of the cost. And I think more than you're willing to admit. I think what's happening currently proves that.

[kentonio]

There are people that will steal it regardless of the cost. And I think more than you're willing to admit. I think what's happening currently proves that.

What's happening currently proves exactly what I just said. The more unreasonable the cost the more piracy, the more accessible the cost the lower the piracy. It's been shown true time after time.

[rah]

I think you're overly optimistic. Yes, more people will pay, but I know way too many people that would take it for free regardless of the price.

[kentonio]

People will always steal, but several games companies have shown beyond doubt that you can drastically lower the piracy rate and ensure strong revenue streams by offering product at a fair price.

[Guynemer]

There were people pirating the ****ing Humble Indie Bundle when they were selling it for a goddamned DOLLAR.

Do not try to justify piracy by saying it is the fault of the content producers or distributors. It is most assuredly ****ing NOT.

[kentonio]

There were people pirating the ****ing Humble Indie Bundle when they were selling it for a goddamned DOLLAR.

Do not try to justify piracy by saying it is the fault of the content producers or distributors. It is most assuredly ****ing NOT.

You're making the mistake of thinking that this is about justifying pirates, it isn't, it's about accepting that no matter how how much everyone screams and rants, you can't stop piracy. You just can't, you couldn't back in the days of cassettes and videotape and you most certainly can't in an age of digital distribution. This is war on drugs stuff, you can either accept its going to happen and try and mitigate it, or you scream and shout and declare war on it and achieve nothing.

[Guynemer]

People will always steal, but several games companies have shown beyond doubt that you can drastically lower the piracy rate and ensure strong revenue streams by offering product at a fair price.

Perhaps I am reading you wrong, but this phrase strongly implies that the pirates are not the ones to blame.

[DaShi]

I don't think they are the only ones to blame. I'm really surprised how stubborn the media industry has been in adapting to changing technology. I was quite amused when Blockbuster went under. I, personally, don't care about the price and am happy to pay for such media (except for books where the story primarily takes place in Detroit) at many of there current prices, though I will buy used books on occasion. What I really want is on demand media. When I want to watch Game of Thrones, I'd like to be able to watch it anytime after release.

[Dr Strangelove]

The point was IIRC, and I could very well be wrong on this, that because gambling couldn't cross state lines it was viewed as uncompetitive practice, because it was allowed within the country but not outside the country. The US offered compensation to the other countries after enacting hte law, but I do not know the amount offered.

So the WTO is outlawing federated government? There are states that allow casino gambling, but I'm pretty sure all of those states have a regulatory gambling commission. Obviously neither the US nor any of its states have that option of regulating gambling in Antigua.
I.m sorry, but I just don't see that Antigua has the right to impose gambling on states that ban it. What happens when some country decides to offer on-line kiddy porn?

[kentonio]

Perhaps I am reading you wrong, but this phrase strongly implies that the pirates are not the ones to blame.

As I said earlier, pirates potentially have the power to put me out of a job. My point is simply that you're never going to get rid of the pirates completely, but you can absolutely reduce their numbers through reasonable pricing. If you refuse to price reasonably then it doesn't let pirates off the hook for their actions, but don't expect me to feel sorry for you for doing the equivalent of bashing your head repeatedly against a wall and complaining each time that it hurts.

[Guynemer]

Again: the Humble Indie Bundle was pirated like mad with a price of $1--or even $0.01.

That dog won't hunt, monsignor.

[DinoDoc]

As I said earlier, pirates potentially have the power to put me out of a job. My point is simply that you're never going to get rid of the pirates completely, but you can absolutely reduce their numbers through reasonable pricing.

How do you compete with free?

[Aeson]

Piracy isn't free. There are trade-offs in regards to risk, ease of acquisition/use (usually favoring piracy, but not always), and of course moral/ethical trade-offs.

It's obvious that as price goes up, piracy becomes a more attractive option relative to buying. Same can be said with scaling ease of acquisition/use.

It's also obvious that there are a lot of people who will still pay for something they could get illegally for free. This in spite of content producers doing their best to try to **** these good people over with obtuse and ineffectual copy protection schemes.

[kentonio]

Again: the Humble Indie Bundle was pirated like mad with a price of $1--or even $0.01.

That dog won't hunt, monsignor.

How do you compete with free?

As I said earlier, you can NEVER get rid of pirates completely. There will always be people who will want something for nothing. What has been proven repeatedly by clever pricing structures however is that the number of people who will never pay is actually quite a lot lower than was once thought. If people can pay a dollar for a song while remaining safely within the law, for the most part they really don't mind doing that. Charge five dollars for one song and the number of pirates increases massively.

The Humble Bundle situation is slightly different, in that the variable price down to a cent seems to have blurred the line between legal = cost, illegal = free. All I can say about that is that it seem to be a quite unusual case compared to the many other examples where studios suffering high piracy rates have drastically reduced those rates by simply adjusting their pricing models.