I used to have a software company in the 1990s and one of the things I 
figured out was that most of my business came from piracy. People would 
pirate my stuff - pass it around - and eventually it would end up in the 
hands of corporations who would buy it. Piracy was my best form of 
advertising.

Instead of looking at file sharing as piracy we look at it as free 
advertizing and distribution. Each song or video would have information 
embedded in it as to it's license status, owner, and where to but it. 
Music players would be able to look at it - determine if it's paid for - 
and offer you a chance to but it - at a really low price. Since there 
are no advertizing or distribution costs then whatever you get is pure 
profit. You use a micro payment system like the Apple Apps store or 
Google to process the transaction. The artist gets a piece - the people 
who wrote the player gets a piece. Everyone wins - everyone is happy.

Even those who pay nothing help out. The might pass it on to others who 
do pay. They might blog about it and say what a great song it is. If I'm 
an artist I'd rather have a great blog review than a single sale.

It's a new paradigm where piracy is your friend. Instead of trying to 
stop piracy you embrace it as a marketing tool. Piracy becomes your 
friend. Yes - people are going to download it and not pay. In fact most 
will not pay. But - the some of those who do pay will be greater than it 
is today. More buyers a and more money.

The idea is that if the product is cheap enough and if its really easy 
to buy them more people will buy it. I subscribe to Netflix and they are 
only getting probably 50 cents a show I watch. So stuff is already being 
licensed in this price range. Apple is selling songs and videos for a buck.

So - the idea is to standardize tags and I think there are already some 
standards. Might need to put in a public key so that the file only can 
interact with licensed sellers and if anyone messes with the purchasing 
then that would be a criminal act.

As you can see - I'm not breaking the Internet with this idea or giving 
up liberties. It turns a problem into an asset. It will be a paradigm 
shift though.

Who likes this idea?

On 1/12/2012 7:48 PM, Declan McCullagh wrote:
> Marc,
>
> Can you tell me more about your meeting with Pelosi? And what you have 
> in mind?
>
> Thanks,
> Declan
>
>
> On 1/12/12 6:16 PM, Marc Perkel wrote:
>> I have good news to report. I had an interesting day today. I met with
>> Nancy Pelosi today and talked about SOPA. She indicated that she was no
>> fan of SOPA and thought it probably wouldn't pass. She did say however
>> the IP is a real problem and that something needed to be done.
>>
>> I told her the I can come up with an alternative and I told her that if
>> she opposes SOPA that I would write a technical spec for something that
>> actually would work and not break the Internet. She was VERY interested
>> and she made sure that her assistant exchanged cards with me.
>>
>> I actually have an idea. I've been working on this for years and I will
>> write it up but not right away. But I want to put the challenge out
>> there. What can we come up with that is better than SOPA and doesn't
>> involve compromising our civil liberties values?
>>
>> Just wondering if some one of you will come up with the same idea I'm
>> thinking of. And - I do think that we should put something reasonable on
>> the table. And I think that the problem can be solved and we can solve
>> it - before they solve it for us.
>>
>> Ideas?
>>
>