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I take your point about enforcement, but it's naive to think that media companies are pushing for tougher and tougher laws so they can create new and interesting services - it's so they don't have to do that. There are numerous examples of copyright being used to shutdown interesting services, so don't think it's only roses and sunshine.
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Frankly, I care MUCH less about media companies than I do about the artists that are being ripped off by pirates. I think of the media companies as profit-seeking entities who can be right bastards at times . But even a bastard has rights under the law .
You might want to look at the blog of the Cynical Musician -a musician and economist who blogs about piracy, the Internet and the music business. Here is a comment on the effects of piracy:
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The still-resounding mantra about how best to compete with pirates has been for the legitimate suppliers to come up with new, innovative business models, but the flaw in this line of argument should be perfectly visible from what you have just read – it assumes that the legitimate suppliers can somehow come up with a business model that would give them an advantage over the pirates.
I’m sorry to say it, but that is bunk. The best that the legitimate suppliers can come up with is to match the pirates’ offer some of the time – for the reasons outlined above. The pirates will always have lower costs and will always be exempt from some of the restrictions that the legitimate suppliers have. On the other hand, any business model, product or service that the legal suppliers can come up with can be matched and bettered by the pirates, for exactly the same reasons.
Piracy skews the market for intellectual property because it isn’t subject to the same property rights as everyone else. This shouldn’t surprise anyone – you cannot have a properly functioning market without enforceable property rights. Imagine a market for cars where those who bought or produced cars tried to compete with those who stole them – the thieves would always win out.
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