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See, that's all I'm getting at also. The punishment must fit the crime. Granted, a year in prison alone is an experience most people don't want to have. I also see a difference between the facilitation of information versus the people who are actually providing the material for download. But, this is more to do with the guilty verdict rather than punitive decision so I leave it outside the scope of discussion.

I actually do agree completely that the punishment for that girl in Minnesota to receive a fine totaling millions was excessive, especially when you compare this to fines that organized crime groups have gotten over the years for similar crimes. And of course I do think there is a distinction when considering intent (which of course does relate to the Pirate Bay vs Google; what is the intent of the service?). While I sympathize with this girl, I do not have empathy for those that provide the means such as PB.

People seem to think they have no impact, but in fact collectively there is an impact for everyone. Studios and distributors rely on the financial success of just a few movies to produce and distribute a whole range of films. Documentaries and independant films picked up at festivals are paid for often through the financial success of the larger production films. The release and control of DVDs for many TV series is vital to the life of many shows. Networks such as HBO and Showtime that have produced some of the best work in years such as Sopranos, Rome, and The Wire see no return for years on these investments. First off, some of these will not see syndication, others must wait for a total number of episodes (100) or seasons (5) before they can be sold to syndication. But for the most part these shows are reliant on DVD sales in order for the networks to continue producing more.

Any Scifi fans here in the U.S. this past Spring are maybe aware that FOX canceled the Terminator series, while keeping Dollhouse. FOX kept the show that had worse ratings and even worse reviews for one single reason. Warner Brothers, and not FOX owned the production of the Terminator series, thus FOX would receive no proceeds from DVD sales. The ONLY reason Battlestar Galactica was able to remain for it's (shortened) run was for one reason only; NBC studios produced and aired on NBC owned SciFi channel. The point here is simple; the finances come to a point now where every single download does have an impact. More and more networks are becoming reliant on DVD sales to make up for the loss in revenue airing a show. Ad revenue, which pays for this all, is down. There is more competition in content, yet the costs of production have risen. So of course the irony is that people who are actively downloading their favorite TV shows, in effect have an impact collectively on whether that show remains on the air. People downloading the DVD sets of Sopranos only insure that Showtime and HBO will be limited in the future on how many shows they can produce.

And no, you can not use the defense that THEY need to find another model. It is you that needs to create a new business model that shows first hand that it would be successful. It is downright idiotic to think that these industries should spend billions testing out a model that would pacify a percentage of people(that simply do not care to pay for something that requires payment to exist). It really is that bloody simple, yet for some god awful reason people make this distinction that bits and bytes are completely different that a physical object. Well not completely, you see when both require costs to produce, both then require payment.

Edited 2009-06-26 20:47 UTC