/via +Nicholas Vilppu
Reshared post from +Tim O’Reilly
Great use of Google Trends to show lack of demand the problem, not piracy, in recent music filesharing imbroglio. See also this list of studies to similar effect: http://www.zeropaid.com/news/100921/what-filesharing-studies-really-say-conclusions-and-links/
All this echoes the point of my 2002 essay, Piracy is Progressive Taxation. http://openp2p.com/lpt/a/3015
IS STEALING MUSIC REALLY THE PROBLEM?
Once again, the issue of stealing music and its moral/financial/ethical arguments are dredged up. And once again, most people miss the overall point, causing the collective issue to dig a deeper ditch…
Examining the global political trends revolving around the issue, I believe that it is too late for the time being. The unfortunate fact is that totalitarian-leaning right wing tendencies in many governments have jumped on the fight against piracy as an excuse to expand government control and monitoring of citizens. The point is that it is piracy that the media focuses on, but piracy is only the excuse now, a vehicle for another purpose.