Alternative to SOPA - Make Piracy your Friend

[Marc Perkel]

WooHoo!

On 1/14/2012 6:44 AM, Mark Leiser wrote:
> Obama just released the following statement on SOPA...
>
> http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/14/obama-administration-responds-we-people-petitions-sopa-and-online-piracy
>
>
>
>
> Kind regards,
> Mark Leiser
>
> 145 Kilmarnock Road
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>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 2:25 PM, Marc Perkel <marc at churchofreality.org
> <mailto:marc at churchofreality.org>> wrote:
>
>     THE IDEA
>     ========
>
>     OK - here's an idea for a solution to the piracy problem that is a
>     win/win solution. This eliminates the need for SOPA. It is an
>     outside the box solution so think deeply. The idea is:
>
>     Don't try to stop piracy. Make piracy your friend!
>
>     What we not call piracy - people copying movies and songs over the
>     internet - can be look at as a free advertising and distribution
>     system. Allow files to be uploaded - downloaded - copied - and
>     distributed. The more the better.
>
>     All files will carry ID tags and public keys etc that identify the
>     copyright owner, rights information, how and where to buy the
>     product, web site of copyright holder and/or artist.
>
>     Media players will recognize these ID tags and be able to allow
>     user to immediately purchase anything with a single click that is
>     tied in through paypal or google wallet or itunes and apps store
>     or any number of micropayment system.
>
>     Those who provide music players would have an incentive in getting
>     a small piece of the transaction giving them an incentive to
>     install that capability.
>
>     The idea is that this is a new paradigm. Piracy becomes free
>     distribution and advertizing. Kids download - they like it - they
>     pass it on - they blog about it - and because it is both cheap and
>     easy - they buy it. At least enough of them buy it that the RIAA
>     makes a bigger profit than they are now.
>
>     The model assumes that higher volume at lower costs is more
>     profitable. 1 movie at $10 is the same as 10 movies at $1. The
>     RIAA and MPA also eliminate their advertizing and distribution
>     costs. No CDs on plastic being shipped. All money is pure profit.
>
>     The paradigm shift is - yes - there will be piracy. There will be
>     a LOT of people who don't pay. There will be more who don't pay
>     than those who do pay. but that's OK because the real test is if
>     the amount of profit in the new system is greater than that of the
>     current system. I say it will be. And I have evidence to support that.
>
>     Even those who don't pay benefit the copyright holders. They
>     download it and play it for free. They like it and pass it on to
>     10 friends and 2 friends pay. Thus the one who didn't pay resulted
>     in 2 sales. The person who didn't pay likes the music and uploads
>     it to a popular blog and thousands download it resulting in
>     hundreds of sales and even greater distribution.
>
>     In this model all the copyright holders need to do is put it out
>     there and spend the money that is automatically deposited in their
>     bank account by the system.
>
>     WILL IT WORK?
>     =============
>
>     I came up with this idea back in 2002 and presented it to EFF who
>     was disinterested in solutions at the time. Since then a number of
>     things have happened in the world where this model is already
>     working. Several major players are already doing similar things
>     and it works. This is a PDF I had made to explain it:
>
>     http://www.perkel.com/piracy.pdf
>
>     We are all familiar with Apple iTunes and the 99 cent songs.
>     Google is now selling media through its app store. Amazon is doing
>     it. Then there are the unlimited subscription models where you pay
>     $8/month for all you can eat. Netflix/Pandora radio, etc. There
>     are advertizing supported models like broadcast radio and TV. No
>     one wants to throw me in jail for watching "Desperate Housewives"
>     on my TV without paying.
>
>     But - you ask - why would people pay if they don't have to?
>
>     PIracy would still be illegal. But like possession of small
>     amounts of marijuana in California it would be at best an
>     infraction. You don't have to pay, but you are expected to. Much
>     like leaving a tip at a restaurant in America. You don't have to
>     tip, but people do it anyway. AND - this is important - the media
>     players make it both cheap and easy to pay. It's one dollar and
>     one click. It can even be less than a dollar. When I divide how
>     many shows I watch on Netflix in a month into $8 it come to like
>     25 cents a movie.
>
>     And .... this is also important - the music industry is your
>     friend - not your enemy. The business model where the recording
>     industry sues the customers for uploading a baby video with music
>     to YouTube - how does that make sense. That's not marketing - that
>     terrorism.
>
>     Example:
>
>     Proposed law fir singing a Michael Jackson and uploading it to
>     YouTube - 5 years in prison.
>     Killing Michael Jackson (manslaughter) - 4 years in prison
>
>     MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
>     =======================
>
>     In the 1990s I owned a small software company. Had 3-5 employees
>     and sold about $2 million in network control programs to companies
>     like PG&E, Wells Fargo Bank, Chase Bank. I had online trial
>     downloads and I exhibited at trade shows.
>
>     It quickly became apparent that there ware people pirating my
>     software. I tried to fight it at first but I soon realized that
>     2/3 of my business was coming from piracy. People were copying my
>     programs and passing them around and they were ending up in major
>     companies who were sending my large orders. And in my case these
>     were not inexpensive programs. So as wierd as it seemed at the
>     time - this was working. Piracy was my friend.
>
>     CONCLUSION
>     ============
>
>     When you have a system that isn't working it's time to rethink
>     everything and come up with a completely new paradigm. One thing
>     that everyone agrees on is that what we have not doesn't work.
>     Everyone is unhappy.
>
>     The new paradigm suggested here is now proven to work. Netflix,
>     Apple iTunes, Google, Amazon, Pandora, all working. Making money -
>     happy customers. If you changed the distribution to include piracy
>     - it would even work better.
>
>     For example - now you have to download iTunes songs through iTunes
>     and you're limited to that source and what they sell. But suppose
>     you download a song from a web site that was just recorded
>     yesterday? You play it on your iTunes player, you like it, and you
>     can immediately purchase it through iTunes because the artist has
>     embedded information into the song file to do that. Apple not gets
>     a new sale and $$$ without even having to do anything. And the new
>     purchase is automatically added to Apples inventory and is now
>     searchable. The possibilities of ways to market media are endless
>     once you get rid of the idea that a lot of people are going to not
>     pay.
>
>
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