Ericsson: File-sharing Is a Symptom, Not the Problem
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 1st Jul 2011 22:59 UTC
Internet & Networking Via TorrentFreak: "Entertainment industry lobby groups often describe file-sharers as thieves who refuse to pay for any type of digital content. But not everyone agrees with this view. Swedish telecom giant Ericsson sees copyright abuse as the underlying cause of the piracy problem. In a brilliant article, Rene Summer, Director of Government and Industry Relations at Ericsson, explains how copyright holders themselves actually breed pirates by clinging to outdated business methods." No faeces, Sherlock.
E-mail Print r 3   21 Comment(s) http://osne.ws/j7z
Thread beginning with comment 479397
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Competing with piracy
by WorknMan on Sat 2nd Jul 2011 01:49 UTC
WorknMan
Member since:
2005-11-13

In other words, offer products that can compete with piracy instead of attempting to make piracy go away through repressive legislation.


Problem is, I'm not really sure you can expect people who are used to paying $0 for a product to start ponying up real cash. For example, even if they started charging $.10 per song on iTunes/Amazon/etc instead of $1.00, that's still $.10 more than a lot of pirates would be willing to pay. I'm sure it would help, but no amount of reforming business models is going to stamp it out entirely.

Of course, legislation won't due the trick either, and I'm sure these clowns will figure that out eventually. Basically, it's like this... if you try to sell a product that is infinitely reproducible and instantly transportable across the world for $0, a great many people are going to use that product and not pay for it. If that is too much for you to deal with, then you simply stop making/selling that product. There really is no other way around it.

When somebody invents a 3D printer and you can reproduce a car for $0, that's going to turn this entire economy on its ass.

Reply Score: 3

RE: Competing with piracy
by Bill Shooter of Bul on Sat 2nd Jul 2011 02:01 in reply to "Competing with piracy"
Bill Shooter of Bul Member since:
2006-07-14

When somebody invents a 3D printer and you can reproduce a car for $0, that's going to turn this entire economy on its ass.


Judging by the cost of inkjet cartridges, I'm not so sure they anyone has to worry about that. Their are fixed energy and material costs for a car, you'd only be cutting out labor, distribution,marketing, and design costs.

But other items with lower material costs and higher profit margins will be susceptible to a similar effect with 3d printers.

Reply Parent Score: 3

RE[2]: Competing with piracy
by WorknMan on Sat 2nd Jul 2011 13:55 in reply to "RE: Competing with piracy"
WorknMan Member since:
2005-11-13

Their are fixed energy and material costs for a car, you'd only be cutting out labor, distribution,marketing, and design costs.


Well, not really in this scenario. If you needed more gas or a spare part for your car, you could simply 'print' whatever you need, or just make a brand new copy of the car every time you needed more gas ;) (I'd assume there'd be a way to 'delete' objects, as well as print them.)

Reply Parent Score: 2

Read more of this thread... >
RE: Competing with piracy
by Alfman on Sat 2nd Jul 2011 02:35 in reply to "Competing with piracy"
Alfman Member since:
2011-01-28

WorknMan,

"When somebody invents a 3D printer and you can reproduce a car for $0, that's going to turn this entire economy on its ass."

A bit exaggerated, yes?


You can say the same thing about any other industry which has seen a strong workforce shrivel into oblivion at the hand of automation.

Expressive media in digital form is very obviously different from physical goods. The most fundamental difference is that there is no physical limit on supply. The natural law of supply and demand dictates a price approaching zero. It's only because of artificial controls on supply that copies have any value.

Reply Parent Score: 5

RE[2]: Competing with piracy
by JAlexoid on Sat 2nd Jul 2011 09:17 in reply to "RE: Competing with piracy"
JAlexoid Member since:
2009-05-19

You got the point but the details are a bit different. In a competitive market margins approach 0 and prices approach production and distribution costs.

And they do, for most other goods... A lil' problem is that media industry has inflated production costs.

Reply Parent Score: 3

RE: Competing with piracy
by UltraZelda64 on Sat 2nd Jul 2011 05:28 in reply to "Competing with piracy"
UltraZelda64 Member since:
2006-12-05

Problem is, I'm not really sure you can expect people who are used to paying $0 for a product to start ponying up real cash. For example, even if they started charging $.10 per song on iTunes/Amazon/etc instead of $1.00, that's still $.10 more than a lot of pirates would be willing to pay. I'm sure it would help, but no amount of reforming business models is going to stamp it out entirely.

If this downloadable "content" in question doesn't actively try to police me, treat me as a thief, and limit my use of it (ie. DRM), then I'd gladly pay for it. If it does do these things though... even if it's only a dime... I'll obtain it illegally for $0.00 before I'd pay the company even ten cents.

But really, I'm far more likely to just not buy it, not download it, period. There is other stuff out there--and if a company feels that they need to control and limit me, then I immediately lose any desire to do business with them and they can shove their DRM-infected bullshit right up their asses.

Edited 2011-07-02 05:30 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 3

RE: Competing with piracy
by JAlexoid on Sat 2nd Jul 2011 09:22 in reply to "Competing with piracy"
JAlexoid Member since:
2009-05-19

If they get even 10% of those pirates, then they are golden. Hell! They'll get me if they start selling content in my country and not displaying "We can't sell in your country..."

I've bought a lot of digital media while travelling to UK and US. Yet when I'm at home, I resort to torrents - because of lack of service or poor quality of service(at best).

There is this paradox - they treat me and my countrymen as thieves, so most of us resort to "stealing". Even those that will pay for a good service.

Reply Parent Score: 4