Quote:
Originally Posted by Solicitous
What needs to be worked on is the honest pirate, the person who pirates because he has been driven to that extent.
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I have to hand you the reward for best oxymoron (Honest Pirate) of the year. Who is this Honest Pirate that you speak of? Would you have us laud Robin Book, new thief of Sherwood Forest?
Back in 2004, the MPAA commissioned a survey of movie piracy:
http://www.mpaa.org/press_releases/leksummarympa.pdf
Though flawed, and in some ways overreaching in its conclusions, it indicates that there was and still is a sizable loss in "potential" revenues. I place the figure in the hundreds of millions of dollars, while MPAA estimates billions. Why is this of concern to me, and how does the study apply to the book publishing industry? I stated in another post that history is repeating itself. The offshore component of the pirates is costing western democratic countries millions of dollars. This affects our trade balance with China, one the most egregious copyright violators. How would they feel if we began copying their currency, and distributed it freely throughout the world?
If I chop a tree down in the forest, and the landowner does not hear me do it, is this stealing or not? The specious argument reads as follows: If I had to pay for it, I would not have stolen it. Therefore, I am not costing the owner anything!
Look, we still live in a civilized nation, and without recompensing each other, we all suffer. If a pirate chooses to be honest, he should do a good deed, equal in value to his bad deed. Buy a print copy (or substitute title) from the publisher.