Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
As I said, this has a simple solution: the UN can get together and declare a location for computer activities, which would establish which legal jurisdictions have the right and obligation to take action against crimes.
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Not so simple. I can't imagine this failing to have freedom to read implications for people in countries with censorship or currency controls. The last thing we need is to give (substitute here any country whose legal system you question) cover to take more action against crimes.
None of this will ever be solved, any more than shoplifting paper books will ever be solved. The best you can do is to reduce it some without ruining the lives of caught persons,
as in France. I'm not saying that the French law, which my link shows may be changed, is perfect, but the French experience does show you can reduce piracy without destroying the internet.
Re the thread title:
-- The cost of piracy is just as unknowable as the cost of book shoplifting. Sometimes, book shoplifting saves the industry money by reducing how many unsold books need to be pulped. Nobody gets angry when this isn't considered in estimates of shoplifting costs. Saying you lost the retail value is normal innocent human puffing when you have been ripped off.
-- The cost of enforcement, by contrast, can be, with effort, fairly calculated. Add up how many people are in prison for piracy, and estimate an average salary for whatever number of law enforcement people work the intellectual property beat. Have I done that? No. It would take a week or so, for each chosen country, and I have a day job. But it's rich that the OP link authors criticize other people for their cost figures while having zip on their side of the ledger.