Steam and the Mac App Store are good examples of how all of these different factors can work if applied right. Why can't these companies understand that I WANT TO PAY THEM. If you treat me like a criminal with a purchased copy of the game but I can get one without all the DRM from a torrent then it's really tempting to just go with the torrent. I don't pirate however there have been times that I felt so abused by the DRM that I can understand why people do.
Piracy and the Four Currencies
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Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#12Steam and the Mac App Store are good examples of how all of these different factors can work if applied right. Why can't these companies understand that I WANT TO PAY THEM. If you treat me like a criminal with a purchased copy of the game but I can get one without all the DRM from a torrent then it's really tempting to just go with the torrent. I don't pirate however there have been times that I felt so abused by the…
The author mentions this a little in the article, but I feel like they probably could have expanded on that point - the "$I" cost of piracy can change depending on the seller's track record. As noted recently in the Oatmeal comic about pirating Game Of Thrones (and Andy Ihnatko's response), the state of piracy is such that, effectively, all efforts to make piracy harder, make piracy more appealing.
I wonder how much pain these various industries will need to endure before they realize that the solution is to stop punching themselves in the face.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#13Sort of a Devil's Advocate point here -
This analysis is a great way to frame the discussion, but I think it is worth noting that it really depends on your user makeup by segment. As an example:
HN Reader | Very small % of population | Really good with torrents and pirated software | Higher Average Income | More likely to sleep better after not pirating
Non HN Reader | Really big % of population | Really bad with torrents and pirated software (on avg) | Lower Average Income than HN user | Less care about programmer well being
Obviously things would be easier without DRM, but some programs may (or may not) benefit from DRM for profit maximization because they derive far more revenue from the latter group. A non DRM product can easily be shared by the mainstream where a DRM product is still fairly hard to share for the mainstream.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#14that's so freakonomics, awesome
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#15This is why Steam is so good - it's less of a pain, and takes less time, than piracy.
But not for someone who's previously had their account locked, someone on usage-capped broadband, someone who doesn't know if their PC is up to scratch and knows that they can't get a refund...
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#16Sort of a Devil's Advocate point here - This analysis is a great way to frame the discussion, but I think it is worth noting that it really depends on your user makeup by segment. As an example: HN Reader | Very small % of population | Really good with torrents and pirated software | Higher Average Income | More likely to sleep better after not pirating Non HN Reader | Really big % of population | Really bad with tor…
Even if I did not care about programmer well-being, I would be reluctant to use torrents and pirate sites because of the threat of malware.
But then I have one Windows PC that I use for both games and online banking. Maybe that's rare among HN readers.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#17"Integrity dollars" are not like the other three.
1. There is no limit to how many you can spend in a lifetime.
2. They are non-linear: the more you spend, the lower the integrity cost of everything you do in the future.
3. The effect of #2 is localized - if I still have a rack full of pirated CDs (both music and games) from my student days, I am less reluctant to pirate music, but that will not necessarily make me more likely to pirate movies or business software.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#18Sort of a Devil's Advocate point here - This analysis is a great way to frame the discussion, but I think it is worth noting that it really depends on your user makeup by segment. As an example: HN Reader | Very small % of population | Really good with torrents and pirated software | Higher Average Income | More likely to sleep better after not pirating Non HN Reader | Really big % of population | Really bad with tor…
Even if I did not care about programmer well-being, I would be reluctant to use torrents and pirate sites because of the threat of malware. But then I have one Windows PC that I use for both games and online banking. Maybe that's rare among HN readers.
I stick with TV-series, and I've never seen an infected file. If I had been downloading software, sure, I would have been slightly more worried, but even so most sites have comments and ratingsystems. Looking at them probably helps you find out if a torrent is malicious or not.
TL;DR-version: In my experience, with some sense, your risk of running into malware in torrents is slim.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#19I would be prepared to pay all the $M the media industry wants today as long as they reduced the other three currencies considerably. My main reason for piracy is availability. I can't even buy the things I want where I live.
My dream scenario is a 1080p, DRM-free film, available worldwide behind a pay-link. I want to be able to download it, to feel that I own it. And that my money doesn't go to suppressing human rights and suing file-sharers. Pull that off, and you'll get my $M.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#20Don't forget silly things like fleecing European customers or region-locking.
Sometimes (but not always) the fleecing is being done by European governments. The Value Added Tax in Italy is currently at 21%, with the possibility that it'll rise to 23%! Not to mention various "fees" when importing stuff. They tried to get me to pay import fees on a birth certificate my dad sent me from the US. It cost him $50 to get it from the state of Oregon, so he declared that as the value (it would have cos…
And sometimes the fleecing is just fleecing. Buying Photoshop, U.S. English language, as a digital download from Adobe.com costs literally 100% more if my billing country is "Sweden" instead of "United States". Even Sweden doesn't have a 100% VAT. And digital downloads have no duty fees or international logistics costs.