Tim O'Reilly Says Piracy is Progressive Taxation

Idmat writes "In Tim's latest opus, he reflects on the lessons of his experience as a publisher: (1) Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy, (2) Piracy is progressive taxation; (3) Customers want to do the right thing, if they can; (4)Shoplifting is a bigger threat than piracy; (5) File sharing networks don't threaten book, music, or film publishing. They threaten existing publishers; (6)"Free" is eventually replaced by a higher-quality paid service; and finally, courtesy of Larry Wall, (7)There's more than one way to do it. "

Comments

Re:Finally!

[floppy ears]

This is correct and should be modded up.

For a great and comprehensive look at the payola problem, check out Eric Boehlert's articles on Salon. The complete opus can be found here.