In my mind I can theoretically believe piracy is costing someone somewhere some money.
My problem with this kind of legislation however is:
- that it vastly overestimates the real scale of the problem
- that when legitimate alternatives appear - like with iTunes vs music piracy - the problem tends to evaporate or at least start a significant downward trend
- that even if the 2 previous points were incorrect, it still doesn't take into account the relative weight of the problem it tries to correct and the problem it creates
So IMO, not implementing the legislation will not damage the other industries, while at the same time not impede the downward trend in piracy - provided legitimate alternatives are available. Implementing the legislation OTOH may or may not stop piracy quicker, at the cost of a lot of collateral damage.
If lawmakers absolutely must legislate something, I'd propose to make laws that remove barriers and obstacles to implement those "legitimate alternatives". For example, set up globally centralized licensing to break down geographic barriers, or an official way to figure out from who you need to license a song, a movie, code. Basically remove every obstacle between the consumer and the licensor. If that happens, I'm willing to bet that piracy will be a fraction of the problem it is now.
But yes, you'll never eliminate it completely - but I think that even the most strident pro-IP people realize they'll never be able to banish all piracy from this world.
My problem with this kind of legislation however is: - that it vastly overestimates the real scale of the problem - that when legitimate alternatives appear - like with iTunes vs music piracy - the problem tends to evaporate or at least start a significant downward trend - that even if the 2 previous points were incorrect, it still doesn't take into account the relative weight of the problem it tries to correct and the problem it creates
So IMO, not implementing the legislation will not damage the other industries, while at the same time not impede the downward trend in piracy - provided legitimate alternatives are available. Implementing the legislation OTOH may or may not stop piracy quicker, at the cost of a lot of collateral damage.
If lawmakers absolutely must legislate something, I'd propose to make laws that remove barriers and obstacles to implement those "legitimate alternatives". For example, set up globally centralized licensing to break down geographic barriers, or an official way to figure out from who you need to license a song, a movie, code. Basically remove every obstacle between the consumer and the licensor. If that happens, I'm willing to bet that piracy will be a fraction of the problem it is now.
But yes, you'll never eliminate it completely - but I think that even the most strident pro-IP people realize they'll never be able to banish all piracy from this world.