Ask HN: If SOPA isn't the answer, how do you eliminate online piracy? I know most on HN are opposed to SOPA. I am not familiar enough with the bill to know the full implications if it becomes law. But doesn't everyone agree that there needs to be some law passed to protect the works of media creators? If SOPA isn't the answer, is PIPA the solution? How would you design a bill to fight against online piracy? |
Most piracy is more about convenience than price. Thousands of smarter people than me have written reams about this. Its like fighting obesity. You don't just take a drug and get a quick fix, it takes a different mindset that causes the patient to live a different kind of life.
You don't have to care about its morality in order to stop it (or at least sharply curtail it).
The internet has evolved into becoming our only defense against people in power ( be they governments or corporations ) conspiring to keep the status quo by keeping information from us. SOPA is their attempt at confiscating this wonderful tool we have for organisation and spreading information.
This discussion is part of a larger debate as to the balancing act of affording unchecked power to a selected group of people. Keep in mind, the ideal of democracy allowing the replacement of these powers DOES NOT WORK in real life. THIS is the real root of the problem. This entire debate reminds me of the Lokpal bill debate going on in India. Essentially asking – How do you police the police?
It's true, you wouldn't call the guys who created the atomic bomb mass murderers, however that doesn't change the disastrous consequences of their actions!
In the case of online piracy, as some have already said, part of the issue is convenience. But that is only a part of the issue (and this where netflixes, spotifies, and steams of the world come in). But you will never be able to stop people who rather pirate (either for financial reasons, symbolic reasons, etc.).
Now the question is, are you willing to give power to people who may abuse it to stop something that may be unstoppable or would you rather work on other means of curbing the issue.
We've already seen that this law is often misused by large-scale content creators (see: Warner and Hotfile, various music labels issuing takedowns on files uploaded by their own artists). I don't know why I should expect that giving additional power to those most likely to misuse it is a good idea.
If the customer decides not to purchase it at that price, then his recourse his to purchase either a competing product or wait for the price to come down, not to steal it.
You are aware that the concept of intellectual property rights didn't even begin with the concept of a creator having monopoly rights over their creations. Instead the concept of government granted monopolies begun during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1 with the East India Company came first. It wasn't until later that the concept of government granted monopolies was applied to intellectual goods. However, when the concept of government granted monopolies were applied to intellectual goods it was done so with the intention of maximizing the benefit of society by providing only enough incentive to encourage innovation not profits. Intellectual properties rights today have become completely divorced from their original intention of maximizing the commons due to the selfish pursuits of individuals and companies that have distorted the laws. Most of these distortions of the law weren't even introduced by those actually doing the inventing, but by heirs and assigns trying to establish and safeguard a constant source of revenue. That constant source of revenue has permitted many people to sit on their laurels instead of innovating.
Intellectual Property rights have been completely distorted from their original intent of encouraging innovation and maximizing benefit for society. Let me tell you who doesn't innovate: heirs and assigns. If anything, intellectual property rights have enabled a lot of people to make a living by not innovating.
My question to you is, for material that is not in the public domain, do you believe that the innovator has a right to determine at what price they should sell their product at? And if not, is that not dissuading innovation?
And the 64 million dollar question, if they have a right to sell their product without digital infringement, how can you prevent this, without some bill law SOPA or PIPA?
I'd argue that this(1) is(2) not(3) true(4).
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1831
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1909
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1976
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
The Constitution gives Congress the power to protect intellectual property with one and only one goal in mind. Enriching the United States and its citizens.
U.S. Constitution - Art. I, Sec. 8, Cl. 8. "The Congress shall have power to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"
They have the power to "promote progress" and not the power to "enable rent-seeking", which is basically what intellectual property laws have been perverted into by private individuals seeking to increase their short term gains.
US Intellectual Property Law is a prime example of the tragedy of the commons.
Which would you rather have? Under which situation would you and 99% of all U.S. Citizens be better off: (1) the right to the exclusive income on something you have made for your entire life and part of the life of your heirs and assigns or (2) the right to free, unfettered access to every intellectual good created prior to 2004 that isn't a trade secret?
Under which of those two scenarios would more "progress in Science and the useful Arts" occur?
I don't know about you, but when I have kids, I would prefer that they inherit a large commons than rights to income from the works I have created.
P.S. To directly answer your question. What I believe about that doesn't matter. What does matter is that the laws in this country be enacted with the sole purpose of maximizing Science and the useful Arts that we all have free and open access to. If it is necessary to permit someone to temporarily restrict access to an intellectual good to provide financial incentive to a creator to create a work in the first place then that achieves the goals of the U.S. Constitution. How much restriction and for how long, should be the absolute minimum necessary to make sure the innovation happens at all.
99.9+% of all rational actors would not going to be dissuaded from creating by a copyright policy that only lasts the original 7 years. Every time copyright has been extended, it has been extended by people who have already profited handsomely off their intellectual good to the prior X years (where X is the copyright term at the time) and would like to extend that term so they can continue to earn rent. The terms would probably never have been extended otherwise, since the lawyers and lobbyists necessary to argue for the copyright extension in Congress don't come cheap.
There is nothing preventing people from selling their goods with DRM. The problem with DRM is that it makes a good less convenient for a buyer and drives the buyer to other goods or illegitimate copies. The most expensive cost for a creator is the copy left unsold.