What would you do to combat digital piracy?

[Northwest Slobovia]

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.

I don't buy this argument. We don't say the same thing about online identity theft, or phone scams, or credit card fraud, or any other crime technology has either made possible or made easier. We haven't come to terms with getting ripped off a lot. We have instead tried to oppose new/easier crime with better technical countermeasures, better laws, and better public education. Why should digital piracy be any different?

[Mad Monarch]

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

And this is a bad thing.

How so? Many games have demos. If companies smartened up and required unique accounts for everyone then they can keep the demos out there and allow only the buyers to access the true game.

[Unchecked Expansion]

Release stuff that is easier to use, update and enjoy than a pirated copy.
When a pirated game is easier on your computer than a legit one, something is wrong.

[The Matthew Islands]

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.

I like going to the cinema to see a film, but its so fucking expensive and that's without paying for pop corn and shit.

[Maurepas]

Tbqh, I'd maintain the status quo. I'm not gonna lie, that's what I want, I want no new laws concerning the internet out of our government.

[Call to power]

How so? Many games have demos. If companies smartened up and required unique accounts for everyone then they can keep the demos out there and allow only the buyers to access the true game.

People don't download the demo they download the cracked version and its going to be difficult to sell to these pirates the advantages of special features which can be expected to be pirated themselves.

There is also the issue that online activation is as popular as a wet fart in an elevator.

[Flameswroth]

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

How is targeting advertisers not targeting the distributor. As the link on the side of my screen keeps asserting with its "Thirst of Night" Kabam banner, this site is kept running my advertisers. You're still going to need something more substantive, or else the attack changes from "this site hosts copyright content, shut them down" to "hey advertisers, that site hosts copyright content, stop giving them ad money". It could still be used to target otherwise benign sites over user-uploaded content.

As for DRM, well...there was a time I thought it was icky. That I have to log into Steam to some Steam games makes me sad. iTunes downloads being only iTunes format for i-devices also bugs the heck out of me (although this may have changed recently? been a while since I checked). There are some sites like GOG that make a pretty big deal about their provided files being DRM free, and I like that. However, when faced with a world where a mildly inconvenient authentication for using software or music is required versus the potential abuse of a SOPA-like system, I think I'd take DRM quite swiftly.

[Mad Monarch]

How so? Many games have demos. If companies smartened up and required unique accounts for everyone then they can keep the demos out there and allow only the buyers to access the true game.

People don't download the demo they download the cracked version and its going to be difficult to sell to these pirates the advantages of special features which can be expected to be pirated themselves.

There is also the issue that online activation is as popular as a wet fart in an elevator.

As I said earlier, it is very hard to pirate something located only on a secure server. People can, and will, crack the game but they will not lead an armed raid into the building where the server is held (I would hope, at least).

[Alyakia]

However, when faced with a world where a mildly inconvenient authentication for using software or music is required versus the potential abuse of a SOPA-like system, I think I'd take DRM quite swiftly.

This is a really really really bad attitude to adopt.

[Steel and Fire]

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.

I suppose this is a good point, but let's look at the most frequently pirated item in the usa (iirc)—video games.

PC games are fairly new so it's hard to call their distribution methods "antiquated." It's not hard to see why they're so frequently pirated. Often to run a game you need a piece of hardware (like a CD) and a piece of software (like an authentication key) and if either of these things doesn't work for some reason (mostly due to technology actually sucking) you don't want to go and buy another copy of the game and hope this one works better. Also because games can be pretty expensive, especially if you don't live in one of the countries where they were officially released. This form of distribution appears specifically designed to prevent piracy. As piracy has continued unabated, game developers continue to work on better DRM etc etc. If they did the reverse and made games easier to obtain, though... would it actually reduce piracy? I rather doubt it myself. I'm not sure how streaming video games would work, either. Let alone streaming something like Adobe Creative Suite <.<

[Aesthetica]

Release stuff that is easier to use, update and enjoy than a pirated copy.
When a pirated game is easier on your computer than a legit one, something is wrong.

A company called UbiSoft does just that. Many of their titles are released at low cost, and with no complicated copy protection systems, often you don't even need the cd/dvd in the drive even.

Take a look at some of the nightmare systems others have tried, code keys, but those just get copied on a bit of paper or a readme file, online registration systems that mean you can't reinstall on a new drive without uninstalling from the old drive (a bitch if you're drive fails and you have to replace it), let's not even discuss the abomination that is "Steam". Insane encryption software that sits on your drive in a protected area, but doesn't always work with newer operating systems, or with changes in drive formats (whole bunch of copy protected software went tits up when people changed from FAT32 to NTFS), one of the worst was the partial unreadability DVD, the disks were specifically made to be uncopyable by being deliberately damaged in the boot sectors, so pirates disk copy software would report a bad disk rather than copy it, problem was that most DVD drives at the time wouldn't read the bloody things either, unless you'd bought a new drive in the previous 6 months, your brand new £40 game simply would not install and play.

Way to reduce piracy? Lower costs and stop pissing people about. In 3d, the software and related content most pirated are the ones that are most over priced.

Less greed by the pirated, less need to pirate. It's been shown to work.

[Steel and Fire]

iTunes downloads being only iTunes format for i-devices also bugs the heck out of me (although this may have changed recently? been a while since I checked).

I'm not sure if it has, but I think you can convert iTunes format files to MP3s in iTunes itself, and I know you can in several digital audio workstations.

Logging onto Steam has never bothered me apart from the fact that it idles at like 20% CPU for no obvious reason. When you're not running any games. I should probably be more worried about that, actually >.> (Of course, Firefox does the same thing, but that could just be the 100+ tabs I have open...)

[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.

I don't buy this argument. We don't say the same thing about online identity theft, or phone scams, or credit card fraud, or any other crime technology has either made possible or made easier. We haven't come to terms with getting ripped off a lot. We have instead tried to oppose new/easier crime with better technical countermeasures, better laws, and better public education. Why should digital piracy be any different?

But they aren't getting ripped off. No one really is. Nothing was destroyed. Inventory didn't go missing, money didn't get siphoned from their accounts.

There isn't even any evidence to suggest that they're actually losing revenue to piracy. People who pirate music, shows, etc. still end up buying CDs and DVDs or games. Some of them buy more than they would otherwise, because it gives them a chance to try before they buy.

I wouldn't have went through the trouble to special order Dead Kennedys cds had I not listened to their music first, and at the time there was no legal way for me to do that. So I listened to some of their tracks on youtube and then holy shit it was awesome so I ended up ordering a lot of their back catalog because no one within a 100 miles had any inventory in stock.

[Flameswroth]

However, when faced with a world where a mildly inconvenient authentication for using software or music is required versus the potential abuse of a SOPA-like system, I think I'd take DRM quite swiftly.

This is a really really really bad attitude to adopt.

Why, exactly? Accepting a 'lesser of two evils' notion is not preferred, obviously. I mean, heck, that's what 'lesser of two evils' means in the first place. But how is accepting DRM in place of a SOPA system deserving of a (really)^3 bad rating?

I suppose this is a good point, but let's look at the most frequently pirated item in the usa (iirc)—video games.

PC games are fairly new so it's hard to call their distribution methods "antiquated." It's not hard to see why they're so frequently pirated. Often to run a game you need a piece of hardware (like a CD) and a piece of software (like an authentication key) and if either of these things doesn't work for some reason (mostly due to technology actually sucking) you don't want to go and buy another copy of the game and hope this one works better. Also because games can be pretty expensive, especially if you don't live in one of the countries where they were officially released. This form of distribution appears specifically designed to prevent piracy. As piracy has continued unabated, game developers continue to work on better DRM etc etc. If they did the reverse and made games easier to obtain, though... would it actually reduce piracy? I rather doubt it myself. I'm not sure how streaming video games would work, either. Let alone streaming something like Adobe Creative Suite <.<

I'm not going to say I have all the best answers, because I don't. I don't have access to the sort of financial information necessary to decide how to approach the issue, nor would I know what to do with it if I did. But we have a new trend of 'always online' games and micro-transactions that seem to attack the issue head-on. I do think the increased pricing and reduced availability of products overseas does prove a good environment for pirates to roam...perhaps that's one of the issues that can be looked into?

[Unchecked Expansion]

Release stuff that is easier to use, update and enjoy than a pirated copy.
When a pirated game is easier on your computer than a legit one, something is wrong.

A company called UbiSoft does just that. Many of their titles are released at low cost, and with no complicated copy protection systems, often you don't even need the cd/dvd in the drive even.

You seem to have got your post entirely the wrong way round
Ubisoft brought in always-online DRM and cloud saves for single player games. If you're internet or their server has a hiccup, you get booted out of the game. Furthermore, if you buy the game, you can only install it so many times, and upgrading your system requires a reinstall
That's exactly the worst kind of DRM. On the other hand, when I was offline for a while after moving house, I could play Steam games fine. If I get a new computer, I'll just download them again, and again, for as long as Steam is running.
So why is Ubisoft easy to use and steam abominable?

[Aesthetica]

A company called UbiSoft does just that. Many of their titles are released at low cost, and with no complicated copy protection systems, often you don't even need the cd/dvd in the drive even.

You seem to have got your post entirely the wrong way round
Ubisoft brought in always-online DRM and cloud saves for single player games. If you're internet or their server has a hiccup, you get booted out of the game. Furthermore, if you buy the game, you can only install it so many times, and upgrading your system requires a reinstall
That's exactly the worst kind of DRM. On the other hand, when I was offline for a while after moving house, I could play Steam games fine. If I get a new computer, I'll just download them again, and again, for as long as Steam is running.
So why is Ubisoft easy to use and steam abominable?

Oh Ubisoft has jumped on the steam wagon but they have released stuff with no protection, several titles, especially the older ones. I was playing one of them earlier today. My recent store bought copy has no protection, unlike the original release way back when.

It saddens me to hear that Ubisoft have gone from a good system to a bad one, "always online" copy protection /validation systems suck.

As for Steam, I have one steam game, being told I must have a web connect to start it is a pain, trying to install from the DVD and having it blow out half way through a 15gb install because the damn steam thing auto updated itself and restarted, then having to spend an hour convincing it that I didn't want to reinstall a 15gb game by downloading it of the interweb, when I had the DVD's sat right there on my table, was a pain. Having it auto-update the game with a 1gb download the moment it was installed, despite being told not to in the settings, and using up the last of my bandwidth allowance, so I had to pay more for the last half gig than I had payed for the game, was a pain. It's also been known to cause problems with game mods. Steam is a bloody nuisance.

It's why that game series has lost my business, I'll not buy the next two games in the series. Too much hassle involved with it. So now the company who went for that system, wont make any more sales to me. They lose customers.

[Occupied Deutschland]

I know an easy solution.
We issue online pirates we like letters of marque and focus them on only stealing OTHER countries stuff!

[Mimic]

I know an easy solution.
We issue online pirates we like letters of marque and focus them on only stealing OTHER countries stuff!

Amazing. This has to happen immediately. I would completely support SOPA 100% if it did this instead of what it does currently.

[Mad Monarch]

I know an easy solution.
We issue online pirates we like letters of marque and focus them on only stealing OTHER countries stuff!

Sounds like a good reason to become a pirate. I'd steal the British un-manned air force and program them to dog fight with the manned air craft.

Twould be fun and funny

editted for grammar. It's getting very obvious I am an incompetent poster when something is on my mind

[Bythyrona]

I know an easy solution.
We issue online pirates we like letters of marque and focus them on only stealing OTHER countries stuff!

Amazing. This has to happen immediately. I would completely support SOPA 100% if it did this instead of what it does currently.

Support Online Piracy Act.

[Maurepas]

Amazing. This has to happen immediately. I would completely support SOPA 100% if it did this instead of what it does currently.

Support Online Piracy Act.

I smell a Tom Clancy novel in the works...

[Hot Pirate Babes]

I know an easy solution.
We issue online pirates we like letters of marque and focus them on only stealing OTHER countries stuff!

Argggghh, yer software or yer lives, ye scurvy dogs...

[Idaho Conservatives]

I'd join in. Hell, I already have.

[Four-sided Triangles]

Change your business model. The modern structure of technology favors small independent entertainment production and artists, due to increasingly sophisticated distribution technology making much of the middle-man work no longer necessary. When technological changes threaten your business model, you either adapt or die. Isn't that the very free market that these corporations love to pretend to support?

There are plenty of ways to make well more than enough money to support yourself through independent entertainment production in today's internet age. This has been proven time and time again. The problem is not that you cannot make enough money to support yourself in a digital age, the problem is that you cannot make enough money in the entertainment industry to become obscenely rich in the digital age. It's not about poor starving musicians and authors. It's about CEO's not being able to extract unnaturally high profits from an obsolete market.

There's also very little evidence that piracy actually hurts old media. It's not piracy they want to destroy. Indeed, their OWN STUDIES demonstrate that pirates buy more CD's, games, DVD's, etc. than most people. What they want to destroy is the internet itself, because the internet favors small-scale independent entertainers, and thus represents an enormous threat to their business model. Piracy is just the excuse. If they told us their real plans, no one would support them.

[1000 Cats]

Piracy is actually good for smaller producers of digital media. It aids distribution enormously. It's only the big boys, the ones who get a lot out of advertising, radio time, that sort of thing (ie the ones who already have the money to do that sort of thing) that lose out when their stuff is pirated.