So, something about all this copyright crap has really been bothering me as of late.
About three weeks ago I heard an Australian Minister for communications talking about how Australia needs to adopt a similar policy to France and New Zealand when it comes to copyright violation. He said, their three strike and your out policy (where three unsubstantiated claims that copyright had been violated results in the user being disconnected from the internet for a set period), was a great policy, and one that should be adopted by Australia.
Then you've got
Steven Conroy, the Minister for Broadband communications implementing, what has been dubbed The Great Australian Firewall. Now I am not going to go into all the issues of such a program, or the many many MANY ways it can be circumvented, needless to say, its a REALLY BAD IDEA, that will punish EVERYONE BUT the intended target.
My question is, WHO THE HELL IS ADVISING THESE DUMB-ASS POLITICIANS, ON TECHNOLOGY THEY NO NOTHING ABOUT!?!?! Seriously, these guys don't know shit about shit, so someone has got to be telling them. And whom ever they are should be Named and Shamed!!
The three strike policy is a great policy you say?? Let me explain why its being pushed forward, then allow me to demonstrate JUST HOW BAD a policy it is.
You see, a lot of people are finding it very easy to find copyright material such as Movies, TV Shows, and Music, in a digital format on the internet. The Makers of the material, are finding that they are not making as much money as they would like to, even though more and more people are seeing their work. They blame this copyright infringement squarely on THEIR AUDIENCE! As opposed to giving THEM money, their audience goes out and buys a DVD for $3, or downloads the movie, tv show, or music for free. FREE, Damn it! How dare they? do you know how much time effort and money was spend developing that piece of crap? They want their GODDAMN MONEY for it.
And that's fair. If you work on something, you should be entitled to be paid for it. But, there now exists a way for everyone connected to the internet, to effectively get a copy of anything they want, without paying for it. So, in order to stop all these viewers watching and listening to their shit, without paying for it, the large Record companies and movie studios have pressured senators to implement this policy.
"So what" you say, thats a good thing right? WRONG!
Allow me to Demonstrate how BAD AN IDEA it is.
"118.208.244.130 IS GUILTY OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT! THEIR IP ADDRESS HAS BEEN OBSERVED AS TAKING PART IN COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, AND A STRIKE MUST BE ISSUED IMMEDIATELY"
If I sent that letter 3 times to the corresponding ISP, then the person at the end of that IP Address would be cut off from the internet. Who is at that IP Address? I don't know. What did they do? I have no idea, I have no affiliation with the person or persons involved at that address, and have no record of anything they have done. BUT because of my emails, they will loose their internet.
THIS CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE!!! NO REASON, IS NEEDED, NO EVIDENCE IS REQUIRED. THIS IS A REALLY REALLY BAD POLICY, VERY OPEN TO EXPLOITATION.
Now the problem lies with the legality of obtaining the IP Address. You see, the only way to do it is to engage in the "illegal" practice yourself, to determine the IP Addresses of others. So the system is flawed from the beginning.
So, how do you stop it? What should these companies do?
Well, we know that people can always (and probably - will always) be able to download content for free. But, this process is long, difficult, problematic, and at times unreliable. You never know what your getting until you have got it. Sometimes it can take a day or two (or maybe a few weeks...) , and for the novice internet user, its hard to find.
So why not pay the money to the companies? 3 main reasons, that need to be dealt with before the problem will be less of an impact.
#1 - Availability
If there is a piece of content I want to view, that is available in one country, but not MY country, what am I to do? Maybe I want to take part in a forum about the content, but can't because I have NO WAY of legally watching it. Now I know I can get it illegally, and then all my problems will be solved. I would like to pay for it, but there is just no way to do it.
And, if I am in a situation where I can view it, sometimes its very unreliable. I sit there clicking refresh, trying to get the thing to load, and figure FUCK IT, I will just download it, so I can see it already.
SOLUTION: Make your content available to EVERYONE at the same time, with a GOOD SOLID SERVICE
#2 - DIgital Rights Management
If I am going to pay for a piece of content, like a movie, I want to be able to play it on My computer, and My server, and My phone, and My Dads Computer, and My WORK computer, and the computer round at my friends house. I want to be able to play it when I want, How I want, on ANYTHING I FUCKING WANT. I don't want to pay for something, only to find out, I can't watch it somewhere else. FUCK THAT, if that's the option, then Why don't I just download it DRM free, and then I have the flexibility to view it HOW, WHERE AND WHEN I WANT TO!!!
SOLUTION: Make your content in a universal format that can be viewed by anything, and transfered to anything - DRM FREE!!
#3 - COST!!!
I am browsing through some content to view, and I see a Movie I want (for example). I figure, I want a copy of that movie, so I can watch it and any time in the future. Hey look, there is a series of Movies I want to have a copy of. What's this? 5 movies is gonna cost me $100?!?!?!? Are you FUCKING SERIOUS? I am not going to pay that, I will just download them. I don't have all that money.
One of the biggest reasons people illegally download content is because it doesn't cost anything except time. People like their time, and would be happy to pay someone, if it wasn't a lot of money for their time back. So, the solution is quite simple. make it cheaper.
A digital copy of content doesn't cost the distributor anything (outside of their static setup and hosting charges). So, if it doesn't cost them any MORE money to give me a copy of the content, then why should I have to pay SO DAMN MUCH???? You Greedy FUCKERS!!
SOLUTION: Movies - $1, TV Shows and Music $0.10, Games - $3
Think about it - if the Content is really that cheap and its available to EVERYONE, from a consistent source, and completely DRM-Free, Everyone would be much happier. The only people that are going to get a copy of your shit for free, are the people who would never give you a dime in the first place. and FUCK THEM!!
