Posts by Mark Harris

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  • Speaker: Copyright Must Change,

    What Rob and his fellow travellers fail to realise, Sacha, is that it really doesn't matter what they or we think about increased copyright enforcement.

    Oh, I have no doubt that the industry view will prevail momentarily and we'll all need to be very careful about how we use content, but in the long term it's irrelevant - it's the death throes of the dinosaur which hasn't realised that the tarpit has been spreading around it.

    If the multitude of accusations brought by the industry watchdogs (but only 1 or 2 actual cases BTW) haven't put people off copying and sharing, why do they think that more of the same will have any effect?

    Carrying on as we are is not an option.

    jeez, you make it sound like it's one of the greatest problems facing human kind, right up there with the iraq war, world hunger and various mafias.
    Is paying for media really that much of an insult to everyone?

    Actually, it's the content industry that's making it sound like it's the most important problem facing the world, as anyone who says that they are familiar with the industry would know, because they would have read the industry material.

    One credible analysis by the Institute for Policy Innovation concludes that global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year, 71,060 U.S. jobs lost, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers' earnings, and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes.

    http://www.riaa.org/physicalpiracy.php

    Downloading movies without the authorization of copyright holders is a growing international phenomenon, and it has serious consequences.

    http://www.mpaa.org/piracy.asp

    But the game has changed and infringers will keep infringing. The nature of the internet is to create copies - that's how it works.

    The problem for all sectors of the content industry is that they fail to understand how they need to change to match this evolution. Old measures were for old technologies, where the scarcity of the product was a given because of the barriers to entry that copying entailed. That's changed, and it's not going to change back. That's what Lessig is saying with "carrying on as we are is not an option."

    These "infringers" are your potential customers, Rob. You can't force them to buy what you're selling, and criminalising them is not going to change that. The reason you and those like you face going out of business is not because of piracy, but because you are failing to adapt to a changing market.

    The hank's in your hands.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Hard News: Prospects,

    The Green electorate vote in Ohariu has not historically been significant enough to do anything. Also, Green voters tend to be ideological, rather than political. I think it only puzzles you because it would have been enough to make the difference.

    It is odd that Chauvel received fewer votes than Labour - I wouldn't have thought he'd had enough time to piss the electorate off yet. Obviously, he believes in starting early :-)

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Hard News: Prospects,

    @AS
    Are you a member of the public service?

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Hard News: Prospects,

    I doubt that anyone in Ohariu expected the contest to be that close. It hasn't been in my memory and I lived there for the previous 3 elections.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Speaker: Copyright Must Change,

    Yup
    And the total lack of self-awareness is beyond bizarre.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Discussion: On Copyright,

    You didn't have to read it...

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Hard News: Prospects,

    I hope that's not a metaphor.

    Thinking exactly the same thing...

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Hard News: Prospects,

    Taslov! What are you doing in Auckland? Hie the back to Beijing, post haste!

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Hard News: Prospects,

    Not bitter, Craig. Just disappointed in our fellow citizens who didn't recognize the good times when they fell over them. The polarisation of politics, which started in the US under Rove, has led to a situation where the left can do nothing right in the right's eyes and vice versa.

    I fancy that PAS is a little above this level of "debate" but I suspect the electorate is not. And a bunch of people will have voted without actually considering what they are voting for, as happens every election. And I'm always disappointed when they do.

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Hard News: Prospects,

    So how does that go, Steve?

    "Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, shit-fuck shit-fuck CRA-A-A-P!!!"

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

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