The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagree

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Luna Tick said:

What if no one pirated anything on the Internet? Everyone only watched movies they paid to see, only used non-freeware software that they've paid for, only downloaded copyrighted music after legitimately paying for it, etc. In other words, everyone adhered strictly to copyright law. Would that help the economy?

Note: This question is only about copyrighted material. Some software is freeware; some books and movies have expired copyrights, etc. Those materials are legal to freely distribute. This thread is not about those.

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While I'm not sure that people should get to copy anything they want; I don't think that more people respecting copyright laws would have any significant impact on the aggregated economy.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

jamesrage said:

I remember growing up as a kid a lot of movies we watched was what someone else recorded onto VHS.We were poor, didn't have cable, and we had a relative that did have cable.I am not sure if my mom bought the VCR on law away or bought it used or if someone gave her a old vcr.

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My grandmother, who was bedridden, didn't have cable. My mother used to tape hours and hours of movies off HBO for her so she didn't go crazy. I see nothing whatsoever wrong with that.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

winston53660 said:

The embedded copyright stays with it. As far as I know. I'm sure there is a way to subvert it though.

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Do you have an image with an embedded copyright and a means of detecting it so we can test this out?

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Cephus said:

My grandmother, who was bedridden, didn't have cable. My mother used to tape hours and hours of movies off HBO for her so she didn't go crazy. I see nothing whatsoever wrong with that.

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Amazing how this kind of copying has been going on for a couple decades and there wasn't this big push to crack down on the VCR recorder and VCR tape manufactures.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Can't vote because the two choices are worthless.

No I don't think our economy would be much better. No, just because its the digital age people shouldn't just download whatever they want.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Luna Tick said:

What if no one pirated anything on the Internet? Everyone only watched movies they paid to see, only used non-freeware software that they've paid for, only downloaded copyrighted music after legitimately paying for it, etc. In other words, everyone adhered strictly to copyright law. Would that help the economy?

Note: This question is only about copyrighted material. Some software is freeware; some books and movies have expired copyrights, etc. Those materials are legal to freely distribute. This thread is not about those.

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It would be better for some and worse for others.

I love this notion that there is one big economy that we all get to enjoy. Get over that notion quickly. The economy that is lived in by people who violate copy write law is quite different than the economy of the corporations that make the material.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

jamesrage said:

Amazing how this kind of copying has been going on for a couple decades and there wasn't this big push to crack down on the VCR recorder and VCR tape manufactures.

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Short memory. They did. They lost. Thanks in large part to Mister Rogers.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Viktyr Korimir said:

Short memory. They did. They lost. Thanks in large part to Mister Rogers.

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Then I would think this would set a precedence.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Viktyr Korimir said:

Short memory. They did. They lost. Thanks in large part to Mister Rogers.

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It's not that they lost. There was a compromise in which whenever someone bought a VHS tape, part of the price included royalty payments that went back to people who broadcast content on TV.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Since liability for copyright infringement also includes those who circulate it, this forum, essentially every forum and probably 90% of websites become actionable and illegal.

Understand the OP poll is false. Copyright infringement is already actionable. The question is should the government be able to shut down any website without any due process because the powers that be want it shut down. This actually has nothing to do with copyright infringement and instead with raw government power of summary censorship.

The real poll question should be:

Can the government shut secretly and without any recourse be able to shut down block any website, any blog, any forum and any IP host solely on the governments decision?

Yes
No

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

joko104 said:

Since liability for copyright infringement also includes those who circulate it, this forum, essentially every forum and probably 90% of websites become actionable and illegal.

Understand the OP poll is false. Copyright infringement is already actionable. The question is should the government be able to shut down any website without any due process because the powers that be want it shut down. This actually has nothing to do with copyright infringement and instead with raw government power of summary censorship.

The real poll question should be:

Can the government shut secretly and without any recourse be able to shut down block any website, any blog, any forum and any IP host solely on the governments decision?

Yes
No

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Actually, that's a completely different poll, which you're free to post if you want. My question doesn't have anything to do with the government. Yes, there are already laws on the books, but those are not what my question is about, nor is it about any of the proposed new laws. Mine is about whether or not it would help the economy if people respected copyright more. In other words, it's about people choosing to respect copyright instead of just going for whatever download they want. I wondered about that because of the guy I know who runs the sexual fetish video web site. Perhaps if no one illegally spread his videos around the net he would sell more of them and therefore make more money. Then if there are more people like him making more money, perhaps that would stimulate the economy overall.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

I can't believe so many people stick up for the same companies that screw them. It's like being in a bad relationship and enjoying it. The companies are the ones that need the change. Just at look what Napster led to. Lots of people who used to download music illegally now download it legally through iTunes and such. Don't change the laws, change your business model!

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Luna Tick said:

What if no one pirated anything on the Internet? Everyone only watched movies they paid to see, only used non-freeware software that they've paid for, only downloaded copyrighted music after legitimately paying for it, etc. In other words, everyone adhered strictly to copyright law. Would that help the economy?

Note: This question is only about copyrighted material. Some software is freeware; some books and movies have expired copyrights, etc. Those materials are legal to freely distribute. This thread is not about those.

Click to expand...

Our problems with the economy have less to do with pirated material and more to do with the debt ceiling and government over-spending, so I highly doubt it would make any meaningful difference.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

jamesrage said:

Amazing how this kind of copying has been going on for a couple decades and there wasn't this big push to crack down on the VCR recorder and VCR tape manufactures.

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Oh, they tried. The recording industry has fought against every single new recording technology that's come along since the audio tape. Instead of embracing change and adapting to the new paradigm, they cling to their old ways and scream at anything new that comes along. Always have, probably always will. Dinosaurs ought to go extinct.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Luna Tick said:

What if no one pirated anything on the Internet? Everyone only watched movies they paid to see, only used non-freeware software that they've paid for, only downloaded copyrighted music after legitimately paying for it, etc. In other words, everyone adhered strictly to copyright law. Would that help the economy?

Note: This question is only about copyrighted material. Some software is freeware; some books and movies have expired copyrights, etc. Those materials are legal to freely distribute. This thread is not about those.

Click to expand...

I don't feel that either of your 'poll options' are accurate enough - It is important to pay for all items you wish to own . . . but I don't think that people not doing so has remotely hurt the economy. If people want to theive - they will theive. If it's harder to theive they won't just turn around and pay for goods they never intended on buying to begin with.

For tangible goods theft is different - it means that an item is physically not available for purchase for someone who has money. Thus - the store must cover the loss, they don't get to sell the items - so it's called 'shrink'

But digital items that are duplicated with little use of tangible materials and does not shorten the available supply of said item for following customers does not, therefor, negatively impact income or economy of anyone. You know though - when it comes to ill gotten digital media. I prefer to buy everything: but I can't just walk into a store to buy it because it won't be there. I could shop at 30 stores and what I want won't be there.

The industry is at fault for a lack of available tangible goods to actually buy - maybe they should fix that for those of us who do follow the law, pay for all items we wish to purchase, but their availability is nill.

In the same way that most theives won't turn around and purchase items they don't want to buy - I'm not going to turn around and theive an item that I want to own becaues that's not my prerogative or thought process.

Just like hte knock-off designer purse market (etc). . . if I wanted to own something that said "Gucci" and didn't want to spend $2,000 - I wouldn't spend $2,000 . . . . I'd either find a cheap one (real or not) or I just wouldn't buy it.

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

How about that piracy actually acts like an ad? L.g, I have bought numerous CDs after hearing some 'unauthorized' music. In other words, if it wasn't piracy, I've never have bought the CDs of those people.
Besides, I like to know what I buy. I've had enough of music and movies that don't worth the money. I mean, if I spend some money on a movie at the theatre and don't like it (and I've watched some that ate complete BS), can I have the money back? I don't think so. So, am I the only villain here?

Re: The economy would be better if more people respected copyright law. Agree/disagr

Disagree on the economic issue, agree that people should generally obey copyright. As the thread title focused on the economic side, I chose my answer accordingly. Here's why:

Piracy is generally committed because an individual either cannot afford the song/movie/show in question or doesn't value it enough to pay for it. If pirating the content were not an option, the vast majority of these individuals would not choose instead to purchase the item (thus aiding the economy), but would choose to go without it. Eliminating piracy would only create a slight boost in sales, likely not enough to counter the costs of anti-piracy measures. There are, however, a few circumstances where individuals would pirate regardless of their ability to afford the content or their willingness to pay. For example, content that is not available to them at any cost (e.g. Top Gear DVDs in the US for all seasons). Ideally, the users would follow copyright, but they are instead given a choice between waiting months/years to purchase the content or minutes to download it for free.