U.S. report urges action on intellectual property theft

Something needs to be done, but statistics like that are just made up.

Once a song hits the airwaves, a book hits the press, or a movie gets to DVD any attempt to control its spread will toe the line between IP protection and privacy and I will always land firmly on the side of privacy. I can respect a company's desire to make money off of their products but not at the expense of the consumers private matters. If I want to burn a copy of The Hangover for my friend I'm not losing sleep over it. As a hard core capitalist as far as I'm concerned, once I buy it it belongs to me. If you want to protect your IP better I suggest investing in better security instead of going to capital hill.

TheQuestion: you bought a DVD but you didn't buy the movie itself. You bought a license to watch it. Not to copy it.

I'm curious where they got these obviously bogus figures.

you bought a DVD but you didn't buy the movie itself. You bought a license to watch it. Not to copy it.

2 words... Fair Use

you bought a DVD but you didn't buy the movie itself. You bought a license to watch it. Not to copy it.

Here's the problem with that. When I make a copy of a movie for a friend you assume that my friend would have purchased it otherwise when that is rarely the case. Most of the movies or music I download or get from friends are ones that I want out of curiosity or boredom, not something that I'd every actually pay money for. Case in point, I heard that "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" was arguably the worst movie in a generation, I would never have paid money to see is. Additionally, if I happen to download something I like it increases the likelihood of me actually buying the product later when I otherwise would not have.

Now if I were dissuaded from piracy not only would I not be watching these films of convenience but I also wouldn't discover new directors, artists, and writers that I buy in the future. I downloaded an old Tom Waits song back in the late 90's and liked it so much that I've bought every CD he's made since then because I like the idea of my money going towards something I like. Same goes for Del Toro movies, I got a burned copy once and since then I've gone to see almost every one of his movies in theaters.

The numbers they state assume that those pirating the music would have otherwise purchased the product which is absolutely untrue. Not only would a harsh crackdown on IP piracy not recover any lost revenues I believe it may actually cause long term negative economic impact on these companies.

Like I said, I'm probably one of the most ardent capitalists on this site but, as such, I believe personal property, fair use, and privacy are fundamental building blocks for any and all economic transactions.