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Seems to me that there are a couple of problems with the article.
• Comparing the innovations and distributive power of the Internet / P2P system to devices like player pianos and photocopiers is patently absurd. It costs nothing and requires no special tools to share a file to millions upon millions of Internet users; it would be impossible for the best photocopier with the cheapest paper to afford such a distribution run.
• The article failed to mention that music sales in the Internet era have utterly tanked and are unlikely to recover. Sales are down nearly 50% since its peak in 1999, including the increase in digital sales. No one has any hard numbers on how much of this loss is directly attributable to piracy, but it is naïve to assume piracy is not a major contributing factor to the decline.
• There is no discussion of the significant problems associated with those who profit off of piracy, e.g. illicit music, movie or software sales in China; involvement of organized crime in illegal sales, etc.
I don't take an alarmist view of piracy, but I don't see the article as particularly balanced or even discussing the full scope of the issues. In that sense, it isn't much better than the alarmists it criticizes....
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