Mark,

I quite adhere to your idea.

If music lovers were treated more fairly, there would be less illegal
download. Many study have already shown downloaders are music lovers, who
are music buyers.
Today, in a family with several kids, you end up with not being able to
share itunes music with several itunes account. This is not justified. You
buy itunes CD at the same price of market with no possibility for even
'fair' share.
The music industry is making a much bigger margin by selling digital: no
shop, no store, no box, no print, itunes movies have no subtitle (as far as
I know), etc... .

Here is another similar voice, based on a US study that 'has found that
people are happy to pay for online content, provided that it is offered at
a fair price and the service is convenient, and in general terms would
rather not infringe copyright law. The research, based on a study of 2,303
people by US think-tank American Assembly, shows that illegal file sharing
among family and friends is relatively common – but that people would
prefer to use a legal alternative if one was available at the right price
and usage point.'
>
> "Does copyright works if 'the price is right' ?"
> http://the1709blog.blogspot.com/2012/01/does-copyright-works-if-price-is-right.html
>


I believe in many cases, people treated as honest, will behave honestly and
your restaurant tip is a good example of that. That doesn't mean everyone
would play the game. In the scale of hierarchy of law, the Human right of
privacy should prevail the remaining frauds. Piracy should not become an
excuse for generalizing internet censorship and Deep Packet Inspection. The
ISP liability for third party content is an old debate that should have
been resolved.

My curation of views and cases on ISP/SE liability :
http://www.pearltrees.com/#/N-reveal=1&N-f=1_4067753&N-s=1_4067753&N-p=32334514&N-u=1_72898&N-fa=4067753

and on the specific case of SOPA / PIPA :
http://www.pearltrees.com/#/N-reveal=1&N-f=1_3715916&N-s=1_3715916&N-p=29069613&N-u=1_72898&N-fa=818179


Tara


On 14 January 2012 14:25, Marc Perkel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> THE IDEA
> ========
>
> OK - here's an idea for a solution to the piracy problem that is a win/win
> solution. This eliminates the need for SOPA. It is an outside the box
> solution so think deeply. The idea is:
>
> Don't try to stop piracy. Make piracy your friend!
>
> What we not call piracy - people copying movies and songs over the
> internet - can be look at as a free advertising and distribution system.
> Allow files to be uploaded - downloaded - copied - and distributed. The
> more the better.
>
> All files will carry ID tags and public keys etc that identify the
> copyright owner, rights information, how and where to buy the product, web
> site of copyright holder and/or artist.
>
> Media players will recognize these ID tags and be able to allow user to
> immediately purchase anything with a single click that is tied in through
> paypal or google wallet or itunes and apps store or any number of
> micropayment system.
>
> Those who provide music players would have an incentive in getting a small
> piece of the transaction giving them an incentive to install that
> capability.
>
> The idea is that this is a new paradigm. Piracy becomes free distribution
> and advertizing. Kids download - they like it - they pass it on - they blog
> about it - and because it is both cheap and easy - they buy it. At least
> enough of them buy it that the RIAA makes a bigger profit than they are now.
>
> The model assumes that higher volume at lower costs is more profitable. 1
> movie at $10 is the same as 10 movies at $1. The RIAA and MPA also
> eliminate their advertizing and distribution costs. No CDs on plastic being
> shipped. All money is pure profit.
>
> The paradigm shift is - yes - there will be piracy. There will be a LOT of
> people who don't pay. There will be more who don't pay than those who do
> pay. but that's OK because the real test is if the amount of profit in the
> new system is greater than that of the current system. I say it will be.
> And I have evidence to support that.
>
> Even those who don't pay benefit the copyright holders. They download it
> and play it for free. They like it and pass it on to 10 friends and 2
> friends pay. Thus the one who didn't pay resulted in 2 sales. The person
> who didn't pay likes the music and uploads it to a popular blog and
> thousands download it resulting in hundreds of sales and even greater
> distribution.
>
> In this model all the copyright holders need to do is put it out there and
> spend the money that is automatically deposited in their bank account by
> the system.
>
> WILL IT WORK?
> =============
>
> I came up with this idea back in 2002 and presented it to EFF who was
> disinterested in solutions at the time. Since then a number of things have
> happened in the world where this model is already working. Several major
> players are already doing similar things and it works. This is a PDF I had
> made to explain it:
>
> http://www.perkel.com/piracy.**pdf <http://www.perkel.com/piracy.pdf>
>
> We are all familiar with Apple iTunes and the 99 cent songs. Google is now
> selling media through its app store. Amazon is doing it. Then there are the
> unlimited subscription models where you pay $8/month for all you can eat.
> Netflix/Pandora radio, etc. There are advertizing supported models like
> broadcast radio and TV. No one wants to throw me in jail for watching
> "Desperate Housewives" on my TV without paying.
>
> But - you ask - why would people pay if they don't have to?
>
> PIracy would still be illegal. But like possession of small amounts of
> marijuana in California it would be at best an infraction. You don't have
> to pay, but you are expected to. Much like leaving a tip at a restaurant in
> America. You don't have to tip, but people do it anyway. AND - this is
> important - the media players make it both cheap and easy to pay. It's one
> dollar and one click. It can even be less than a dollar. When I divide how
> many shows I watch on Netflix in a month into $8 it come to like 25 cents a
> movie.
>
> And .... this is also important - the music industry is your friend - not
> your enemy. The business model where the recording industry sues the
> customers for uploading a baby video with music to YouTube - how does that
> make sense. That's not marketing - that terrorism.
>
> Example:
>
> Proposed law fir singing a Michael Jackson and uploading it to YouTube - 5
> years in prison.
> Killing Michael Jackson (manslaughter) - 4 years in prison
>
> MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
> =======================
>
> In the 1990s I owned a small software company. Had 3-5 employees and sold
> about $2 million in network control programs to companies like PG&E, Wells
> Fargo Bank, Chase Bank. I had online trial downloads and I exhibited at
> trade shows.
>
> It quickly became apparent that there ware people pirating my software. I
> tried to fight it at first but I soon realized that 2/3 of my business was
> coming from piracy. People were copying my programs and passing them around
> and they were ending up in major companies who were sending my large
> orders. And in my case these were not inexpensive programs. So as wierd as
> it seemed at the time - this was working. Piracy was my friend.
>
> CONCLUSION
> ============
>
> When you have a system that isn't working it's time to rethink everything
> and come up with a completely new paradigm. One thing that everyone agrees
> on is that what we have not doesn't work. Everyone is unhappy.
>
> The new paradigm suggested here is now proven to work. Netflix, Apple
> iTunes, Google, Amazon, Pandora, all working. Making money - happy
> customers. If you changed the distribution to include piracy - it would
> even work better.
>
> For example - now you have to download iTunes songs through iTunes and
> you're limited to that source and what they sell. But suppose you download
> a song from a web site that was just recorded yesterday? You play it on
> your iTunes player, you like it, and you can immediately purchase it
> through iTunes because the artist has embedded information into the song
> file to do that. Apple not gets a new sale and $$$ without even having to
> do anything. And the new purchase is automatically added to Apples
> inventory and is now searchable. The possibilities of ways to market media
> are endless once you get rid of the idea that a lot of people are going to
> not pay.
>



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