It Was Never About The Money, Stupid (IP, copyright lobby, & sharing)

John James — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:24:27 GMT

I found this to be a really great article about copyright from an anti-IP advocate who obviously has no real theoretical education on the subject. It's interesting to see how the argument is made from the perspective of someone who is exposed to the ills of government in this form and just knows it's wrong:

It Was Never About The Money, Stupid

by Rick Falkvinge

Two reports on the copyright monopoly have caught my attention this week. The first expresses angry disbelief at the fact that people will still pirate to a large extent, even if the price per copy is under one dollar. The other is a deep research report into why people ignore the copyright monopoly. Short answer: because it is human nature to share.

When the copyright industry goes out in a public confusion and asks itself what the right price is for a copy of a digital bitpattern, I always shake my head. The mere question shows that they are still stuck in the 1900s, and yet, they keep asking the question in their best voice of entitlement.

It was never about the money. The price of a copy doesn’t factor into it.

It’s not a matter of copies having come under competition from something else; it’s the matter of copies having been entirely decommercialized. People are prepared to pay for work, but making copies is not work anymore. Anybody can do it effortlessly.

Let me try an analogy. In a future where the Earth has been poisoned to an extent where the water is a health hazard, cleanup efforts have been ongoing for a long time. For health reasons, there are laws that people may only drink the water from a particular company, Waterisnew, which enjoys a monopoly on water supply — and know to charge for it, too.

Then, one day, [continued...]

(Rick, if you catch this post, be sure to check for my email)

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It Was Never About The Money, Stupid (IP, copyright lobby, & sharing)

It Was Never About The Money, Stupid