What would you do to combat digital piracy?

[Steel and Fire]

Because of all the SOPA/PIPA stuff and also because I am a masochist I decided to start yet another intellectual property thread. Yay me.

The question is simple. Say the US government asked a panel of experts what they would do to limit or prevent people from distributing or obtaining copyrighted material illegally (i.e. in a manner not consistent with the wishes of the copyright owner)—some way that wouldn't have the negative consequences of SOPA/PIPA while still being effective against the pirates. How would you answer? (Getting rid of either the internet or intellectual property outright are presumed not to be options, although you can make a case for either one if you really want to. It's just that the US government and your fellow experts would be very unlikely to actually listen to you.)

[Cosmopoles]

Go for the money: target those who advertise on websites that are the most blatantly supportive of piracy.

The entertainment industry needs to accept that piracy will never be eradicated and adjust its business models accordingly to suit the demands of modern consumers.

[Zeppy]

Castrate all pirates and movie producers.

[United Dependencies]

I'm no expert on the situation, but perhaps the costs could be built into bill you pay to have internet access. I'm not sure how much that would cost or how effective that would be, though.

[Mad Monarch]

Because of all the SOPA/PIPA stuff and also because I am a masochist I decided to start yet another intellectual property thread. Yay me.

The question is simple. Say the US government asked a panel of experts what they would do to limit or prevent people from distributing or obtaining copyrighted material illegally (i.e. in a manner not consistent with the wishes of the copyright owner)—some way that wouldn't have the negative consequences of SOPA/PIPA while still being effective against the pirates. How would you answer? (Getting rid of either the internet or intellectual property outright are presumed not to be options, although you can make a case for either one if you really want to. It's just that the US government and your fellow experts would be very unlikely to actually listen to you.)

Heh, SOPA seems hell bent on eradicating most of the internet. But, more on topic, the only way is to do as minecraft did. Sell the game and attach it to an account. They can technically pirate the game, but they can never get everything those that buy it can.

[Mad Monarch]

I'm no expert on the situation, but perhaps the costs could be built into bill you pay to have internet access. I'm not sure how much that would cost or how effective that would be, though.

That still leaves the issue of unnecessary eradication. Your good buddies youtube, google, and wikipedia are well aware of the doom any large scale attempt to "clean" the internet would cause to them.

[Cosmopoles]

I'm no expert on the situation, but perhaps the costs could be built into bill you pay to have internet access. I'm not sure how much that would cost or how effective that would be, though.

I can't help but feel that charging people who don't pirate for the actions of those who do will just encourage more people to engage in piracy.

[United Dependencies]

I'm no expert on the situation, but perhaps the costs could be built into bill you pay to have internet access. I'm not sure how much that would cost or how effective that would be, though.

That still leaves the issue of unnecessary eradication. Your good buddies youtube, google, and wikipedia are well aware of the doom any large scale attempt to "clean" the internet would cause to them.

Technically it would be wide open to abuse from foreign nations as well.

I'm just thinking out loud at this point.

[United Dependencies]

I'm no expert on the situation, but perhaps the costs could be built into bill you pay to have internet access. I'm not sure how much that would cost or how effective that would be, though.

I can't help but feel that charging people who don't pirate for the actions of those who do will just encourage more people to engage in piracy.

If the cost was built in, would it still be considered pirating?

How we stop others from accessing the internet still needs to be answered.

[Desperate Measures]

It depends on what I was trying to protect and I would only combat it if it were personal. I might do things like what Radiohead did if I was trying to protect my music. Which was to basically make it free to download with an account linked to it so you can pay what you thought it was worth. Then go on tour a lot. I'd basically find ways to look at the new way things are being done and try to incorporate myself in the best way that I could.

[Mad Monarch]

That still leaves the issue of unnecessary eradication. Your good buddies youtube, google, and wikipedia are well aware of the doom any large scale attempt to "clean" the internet would cause to them.

Technically it would be wide open to abuse from foreign nations as well.

I'm just thinking out loud at this point.

Its simply impossible. The only way to stop piracy is to simply sell the bare bones copy and make all the fancy, shiny, fun stuff require a single use account to play (with its activation code being sealed in the package of the bought game).

It is very hard to copy a server that you have no real access to by either physical or digital means.

[Call to power]

form an international naval task-force to police the major shipping lanes.

or what Cosmopoles said about cutting of funds. Cut ad revenue and enforce a wikileaks-esque blockade on donations and I'm sure server hosts will get tired pretty quick about how much it costs them to run.

the only way is to do as minecraft did. Sell the game and attach it to an account. They can technically pirate the game, but they can never get everything those that buy it can.

but the lesson from media piracy seems to be that people will enjoy a lesser quality product if its free

[Trotskylvania]

You can't close pandora's box. The digital revolution has rendered scarcity defunct in most objects of culture, since data can be copied endlessly with no degradation.

Industries need to come to terms with this. The movie industry should focus on the uniqueness of the cultural experience of seeing a movie in a theater, which is superior to even the best home theaters. They need to revitalize the culture of the cinema and of movie-going for revenues, not treat it like the empty exchange they currently do.

Record labels should focus on non-musical content in albums. Line notes, art, memorabilia and other unique, personal items in the package of a CD case gives you a reason to buy the CD. Further, they should accept that piracy will not be stopped. They should rather simply advocate that if you like what you listen to, be responsible and show your appreciation to the artist by buying a CD or memorabilia. Artists themselves should spend less money on the production values of CDs that are invariably going to be hastily ripped by some kid with iTunes down to 128kbps, and focus more effort and resources on the live music experience.

[Steel and Fire]

I'm no expert on the situation, but perhaps the costs could be built into bill you pay to have internet access. I'm not sure how much that would cost or how effective that would be, though.

This is actually similar to an idea I had at one point—have the content industry expand into the ISP sector and then distribute all their media for no added costs. It would then be sort of like watching TV: you pay your monthly internet bill and you can access whatever content you like. There are probably obvious flaws I haven't thought of though.

E: Notably, that you can already obtain almost anything for free and it'll probably cost less than EA's hypothetical Internet-Access-With-Free-Videogames package.

[Mad Monarch]

form an international naval task-force to police the major shipping lanes.

or what Cosmopoles said about cutting of funds. Cut ad revenue and enforce a wikileaks-esque blockade on donations and I'm sure server hosts will get tired pretty quick about how much it costs them to run.

the only way is to do as minecraft did. Sell the game and attach it to an account. They can technically pirate the game, but they can never get everything those that buy it can.

but the lesson from media piracy seems to be that people will enjoy a lesser quality product if its free

Then they can. There is freeware available everywhere which are lesser versions of the real games.

Ever heard of super smash flash?

[Ceannairceach]

You can't close pandora's box. The digital revolution has rendered scarcity defunct in most objects of culture, since data can be copied endlessly with no degradation.

Industries need to come to terms with this. The movie industry should focus on the uniqueness of the cultural experience of seeing a movie in a theater, which is superior to even the best home theaters. They need to revitalize the culture of the cinema and of movie-going for revenues, not treat it like the empty exchange they currently do.

Record labels should focus on non-musical content in albums. Line notes, art, memorabilia and other unique, personal items in the package of a CD case gives you a reason to buy the CD. Further, they should accept that piracy will not be stopped. They should rather simply advocate that if you like what you listen to, be responsible and show your appreciation to the artist by buying a CD or memorabilia. Artists themselves should spend less money on the production values of CDs that are invariably going to be hastily ripped by some kid with iTunes down to 128kbps, and focus more effort and resources on the live music experience.

This seems like the soundest bet, though I still feel that digital piracy should be curtailed when it reasonably can be, of course.

[Northwest Slobovia]

South Korea seems to have some success with a belt-and-suspenders approach to the problem:

As media companies pull out of Spain [where piracy is rampant], they are beefing up in South Korea. That country is the world’s 12th-biggest music market, a notch behind Spain. It will almost certainly overtake the Mediterranean country this year. Korean recorded-music sales, which collapsed in the first half of the last decade, have risen for each of the past three years. Sales were worth 207 billion won (then $179m) in 2010—up from 134 billion won in 2007.

South Korea has the world’s toughest anti-piracy laws. Almost every measure under discussion elsewhere—threatening to cut pirates’ broadband connections; blocking pirate websites; forcing youthful downloaders into education programmes; clamping down on cyber-lockers—has been done in Korea. Legal music-streaming and downloading websites have sprouted, providing many more honest ways of getting hold of music. The Korean experience may be unique: anti-piracy laws have not had such a clear effect elsewhere.

From Spotting the pirates, which also has some discussion on the consequences of piracy.

I wonder about the last sentence I quoted: does anybody know if other countries have tried as thorough an approach as South Korea? If not, then it's a an apples-to-oranges comparison.

[Bythyrona]

Force content producers to, y'know, again write stuff that is funny, moving, intelligent, captivating, and worth buying.

[Democratic Koyro]

Force content producers to, y'know, again write stuff that is funny, moving, intelligent, captivating, and worth buying.

that.

And reduce the prices of the current garbage.

which is hidiously overpriced.

[New Manvir]

Do what Iran did. Or did you mean within the bounds of an ethical framework?

[Flameswroth]

Tell the entertainment industry to get it together, come up with newer ways of making content available (these streaming media sites with subscriptions seem to do a good job) instead of clinging to antiquated distribution methods.

This is not, much to the chagrin of used record and movie salesmen, a world of CD's and VHS tapes anymore. The advent of digital media turns 'a movie' or 'a song' into data, and data has to be handled differently in its distribution than physical media. They're trying to cling to old distribution tactics and use the government to enforce it for them, instead of rolling with the punches and innovating.

As a member of a government agency tasked to assist copyright holders in protecting their intellectual properties, I would take the tactic of a personal trainer that someone hires when trying to become strong to defend themselves. It's not my job to guard them day and night, beat up people that approach them, etc. It's my job to work with them to help develop the tools they need, and provide the reinforcing principles that will make their work...work. Government facilitates the ability, it doesn't drop the hammer itself.

Now I know all of this is easier said than done, and it's going to take the entertainment industry some work to get there. But you know what my feeling is on that? Tough luck. It sucks you're losing potential revenue and all, but the first thing you should be looking to do is find new, desirable ways to provide media that make piracy unnecessary...not try to keep everyone stuck in the analog era.

[Call to power]

Then they can. There is freeware available everywhere which are lesser versions of the real games.

And this is a bad thing.

[Alyakia]

Legal music-streaming and downloading websites have sprouted, providing many more honest ways of getting hold of music.

This is by far the most important thing from that South Korea article.

[The lepearchauns]

The trick is to target the advertisers and help DRMesque technology improve. This combination of shrinking amounts of content and lack of funding will shut down 95% of pirates.

The problems with SOPA and PIPA is that it targets distributors...but doesnt define who a distributor is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHex9GDQ2S0 ...NS is now a distributor. Thats it. Thats all it takes. Innocent sites could be spammed and then sued. A conglomerate could post a link on a competitors forum and then sue them. They dont stop with piracy, its vague enough to be a corporate weapon and thats why its terrible

[Steel and Fire]

You can't close pandora's box. The digital revolution has rendered scarcity defunct in most objects of culture, since data can be copied endlessly with no degradation.

Industries need to come to terms with this. The movie industry should focus on the uniqueness of the cultural experience of seeing a movie in a theater, which is superior to even the best home theaters. They need to revitalize the culture of the cinema and of movie-going for revenues, not treat it like the empty exchange they currently do.

Record labels should focus on non-musical content in albums. Line notes, art, memorabilia and other unique, personal items in the package of a CD case gives you a reason to buy the CD. Further, they should accept that piracy will not be stopped. They should rather simply advocate that if you like what you listen to, be responsible and show your appreciation to the artist by buying a CD or memorabilia. Artists themselves should spend less money on the production values of CDs that are invariably going to be hastily ripped by some kid with iTunes down to 128kbps, and focus more effort and resources on the live music experience.

The obvious counter-argument, though, is that there's no reason the content industries should take copyright infringement lying down and learn to "live with it". The only reasons it happens are (a) because people are lazy and believe they deserve to get stuff for free, and (b) because there aren't any serious risks or disincentives. Address (a) or (b) and piracy will diminish—sure, it can't ever be eliminated, but then nor can domestic violence, which can also become endemic in the absence of any attempts to control it. Et cetera.

(This isn't actually my view on digital piracy—I think I've given that in other threads—but it certainly is a view, and a common one.)