I disagree. This isn't significantly different than telling Google to remove an address from Google Maps because it is a known drug house or brothel. If someone is breaking the law, go after the law breaker. Just because that isn't easy doesn't give them the right to try to force a technology company that isn't breaking the law to modify their business.
You can dislike pirates all you want, but this isn't the right way to try to handle it.
Look over here to Britain to see how this has negatively affected us. Our major ISPs have had a court order to block the Pirate Bay website and proxies providing access towards it. As much as TPB is a haven for copyright infringement, a lot of people legitimately used the website to host legitimate torrents.
One of the big answers towards priacy is this:
1. Make things globally available. No geographical blocking or restrictions of content. Companies like Netflix and Hulu are guilty as sin of this, but blame the copyright holders, not them.
2. Make things available at a reasonable price. A lot of digital downloads for music, television series and movies is currently overpriced. If their price was cut even by a fraction (say... 20 - 30%), then a lot more people would consider purchasing.
3. Make things available without intrusive DRM. We've seen intrusive DRM in games like SimCity and Diablo III damage the PR of their respective publishers EA and Activision-Blizzard.
Agreed, there are different mediums of handling media such as how Steam became so successful with their DRM. They should also consider the fact that this affects users who have no legal means of obtaining the media they want due to country or licensing restrictions.
Whilst I don't want to be endorsing piracy, as a brit it is incredibly frustrating not being able to keep up with the TV shows which are often aired in the United States many months before they arrive in the UK. Especially when using social media which can really spoil the plotline.
One of my favourite things to do would be to join in on reddit's active discussions for The Walking Dead or Breaking Bad the day it was released in the United States, something which I wouldn't be able to do without the ability to pirate these shows online.
I would happily watch advertisements similar to what are shown on TV if it meant I could see the show in realtime, but that's just not an option at the moment.
I think that studios might start to follow what (AMC?) did and use netflix to air to other countries the day after US airing. It's also an amazing deal but there is no doubt it will rise in the future.
For some people piracy is absolutely about money. They want something but don't want to pay for it. Simple as that.
But for a lot of people, piracy is simply about convenience. Almost without exception, the movies and TV shows I pirate aren't on Netflix. The music I pirate isn't on Spotify. It's just easier to pirate it when it's not made conveniently available. On another site (which will remain nameless), I asked a person who described himself as a self-made multimillionaire if he still pirates things. His response was, "Fuck yes. HBO give me a way to watch Game of Thrones when I want it, until then I'm going to The Pirate Bay". Geographical restrictions for content is an absolute crapshoot filled with arbitrary restrictions and a lot of people just don't want to deal with it.
But it is also important to point out that Google, Microsoft, etc have NOTHING TO DO with piracy websites. Nothing. They are legitimate businesses who are being bullied into fixing something that isn't their problem. If the MPAA and other similar organizations want to fight piracy, they need to accept the reality that they are competing with it. And win that battle by making it more convenient to get things through legitimate means. I know this is anecdotal but it's just intended to illustrate my point: I used to pirate TONS of music before I got Spotify. Now I barely ever pirate music. I used to pirate video games before I downloaded Steam. Now I never do.The benefits of using these things outweighs the cost.
But last but not least, this won't work. You cannot censor the internet effectively. You can still find child porn online. Even when the entire world is united in its contempt for it and dedicated to making it unavailable, you can still find it. If they can't get rid of CP, they won't get rid of pirated music.
This is a good thing, I hate it when pirates think they are entitled to download whatever they want because they don't like losing money.
I disagree. This isn't significantly different than telling Google to remove an address from Google Maps because it is a known drug house or brothel. If someone is breaking the law, go after the law breaker. Just because that isn't easy doesn't give them the right to try to force a technology company that isn't breaking the law to modify their business.
You can dislike pirates all you want, but this isn't the right way to try to handle it.
Look over here to Britain to see how this has negatively affected us. Our major ISPs have had a court order to block the Pirate Bay website and proxies providing access towards it. As much as TPB is a haven for copyright infringement, a lot of people legitimately used the website to host legitimate torrents.
One of the big answers towards priacy is this:
1. Make things globally available. No geographical blocking or restrictions of content. Companies like Netflix and Hulu are guilty as sin of this, but blame the copyright holders, not them.
2. Make things available at a reasonable price. A lot of digital downloads for music, television series and movies is currently overpriced. If their price was cut even by a fraction (say... 20 - 30%), then a lot more people would consider purchasing.
3. Make things available without intrusive DRM. We've seen intrusive DRM in games like SimCity and Diablo III damage the PR of their respective publishers EA and Activision-Blizzard.
Agreed, there are different mediums of handling media such as how Steam became so successful with their DRM. They should also consider the fact that this affects users who have no legal means of obtaining the media they want due to country or licensing restrictions.
Whilst I don't want to be endorsing piracy, as a brit it is incredibly frustrating not being able to keep up with the TV shows which are often aired in the United States many months before they arrive in the UK. Especially when using social media which can really spoil the plotline.
One of my favourite things to do would be to join in on reddit's active discussions for The Walking Dead or Breaking Bad the day it was released in the United States, something which I wouldn't be able to do without the ability to pirate these shows online.
I would happily watch advertisements similar to what are shown on TV if it meant I could see the show in realtime, but that's just not an option at the moment.
I think that studios might start to follow what (AMC?) did and use netflix to air to other countries the day after US airing. It's also an amazing deal but there is no doubt it will rise in the future.
I could not possibly disagree with you more.
For some people piracy is absolutely about money. They want something but don't want to pay for it. Simple as that.
But for a lot of people, piracy is simply about convenience. Almost without exception, the movies and TV shows I pirate aren't on Netflix. The music I pirate isn't on Spotify. It's just easier to pirate it when it's not made conveniently available. On another site (which will remain nameless), I asked a person who described himself as a self-made multimillionaire if he still pirates things. His response was, "Fuck yes. HBO give me a way to watch Game of Thrones when I want it, until then I'm going to The Pirate Bay". Geographical restrictions for content is an absolute crapshoot filled with arbitrary restrictions and a lot of people just don't want to deal with it.
But it is also important to point out that Google, Microsoft, etc have NOTHING TO DO with piracy websites. Nothing. They are legitimate businesses who are being bullied into fixing something that isn't their problem. If the MPAA and other similar organizations want to fight piracy, they need to accept the reality that they are competing with it. And win that battle by making it more convenient to get things through legitimate means. I know this is anecdotal but it's just intended to illustrate my point: I used to pirate TONS of music before I got Spotify. Now I barely ever pirate music. I used to pirate video games before I downloaded Steam. Now I never do.The benefits of using these things outweighs the cost.
But last but not least, this won't work. You cannot censor the internet effectively. You can still find child porn online. Even when the entire world is united in its contempt for it and dedicated to making it unavailable, you can still find it. If they can't get rid of CP, they won't get rid of pirated music.