(Quote) A recent study by Student Monitor LLC, which tracks trends on college campuses, found 67% of undergraduates are either "in favor" of downloading pirated music or movies, or find it "acceptable because everyone does it." And it's not just kids -- the head of one music label privately admits his father uses Mr. Johansen's program to duplicate rental DVDs "so he doesn't have to pay late charges."
You got to love those studies. Particularly when they get rehashed by the Wall St Journal on its October 15 article about Jon Lech Johansen, the famous Norwegian hacker responsible for the release of the DVD decryption tool DeCSS 6 years ago.
I am going to be provocative as usual and argue this whole piracy talk is a scam. Why? Because the emerging business models in digital media will make piracy obsolete. The ball is already rolling: if you can subscribe to Netflix for less than $20/month, and Yahoo Music for about $5/month will someone please explain to me where is the incentive for piracy?
Emma pointed out to me the real reason the big studios are crying wolf has more to do with politics: they are seeking to aggressively position themselves so they can sell the SAME content several times. Once for mobile entertainment, another time for the home, and so on and so forth.
I once asked a senior media executive (who was also my lover) why they don't sell platform-independent consumer licenses to movies rather than actual, physical DVDs or other media. He replied: "are you crazy? We want to be able to re-release our old libraries every time we adopt a new format: from VHS to DVD to Blu-Ray to whatever!"
They basically want to sell you the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings trilogies again and again and again... Oh wait, that's probably a bad example since Lucas and Peter Jackson already do that by continually adding deleted scenes and digital effects :)
But I think the flat rate model for entertainment will eventually prevail just like it did in the telecom field. But that's another subject for another day!
Hmmm... Come to think of it, maybe I should start considering a flat rate for my clients ;)
Jet Set Lara, exploring the Science of Pleasure ;)
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