Tainted "Piracy" Statistics

newtley writes, "The music, movie, and software cartels claim 'piracy' is a Number One problem not only for themselves, but for the world as a whole and so successful are their continuing dis- and misinformation propaganda campaigns that they've been able to dragoon entire governments and police forces into acting as industry enforcers. But, says p2pnet, far from being at the top of the pile, movie and music piracy rank 16th and 20th, respectively, on a global index of illicit markets. (Software piracy ranks 7th.) And even those positions are subject to considerable doubt."

Comments

Sounds like a great waste of time all around

[dada21]

That list gives me even more reason to believe that society and the States that surround us are both inept. Look at the rundown of the top 10 items and the reasons why the item is "contraband."

1. Marijuana -- The State says what you can put into your body (doing no crime to no one else), probably funded by the big medical business

2. Counterfeit Technology Products -- This is why you shop at stores that guarantee their products with a refund. If there was no law against counterfeit goods, I'd let the retailer find out what is best for me. In some cases, something counterfeit might be of the same quality as the "official and legal" version. Look at Fendi handbags and their knock-offs

3. Cocaine -- See #1. No crime committed against anyone else. Now if you kill someone (when on drugs or off), I can agree that a crime is committed, but the intoxicant shouldn't matter. Sometimes that intoxicant is adrenaline.

4. Opion/Heroin -- See #1 (doing crime to no one else).

5. Pirated Web Videos. Supply and demand here. The supply of digitally transmitted products is nearly infinite, therefore the price falls to the floor. Then again, I am I am against copyright.

6. Counterfeit Pharmaceutical -- Here's another place that the retail and distributor can excel at. Don't trust your distributor? Shop at one that's insured and bonded against dispensing dangerous drugs, or knock-off ones.

7. Pirated Software. See #5 (supply and demand).

8. Human Trafficking. Here's a place I can understand goverment being involved in, but it is also one they're doing a terrible job in fighting. The worst concern is my thought that a lot of States might even be involved in this problem. I know the U.S. government trafficks in human lives and bodies. See Guantanemo Bay.

9. Amphetamines/Meth -- See #1 (doing crime to no one else).

10. Animals and Wildlife Smuggling. Here's a problem better solved through groups like PERC. If you care about rare animals, spend YOUR money to make wildlife habitats to keep them out of the open arms of the State that is part of the problem with extinction.

11. Ecstasy -- See #1 (doing crime to no one else).

12. Counterfeit Auto Parts -- See #2 (shop at trustworthy retailers if you're concerned).

13. Trash Smuggling. A friend of mine is a famous pastor in Uganda. I told him we should go into business to take trash from the U.S. on boats to Uganda and let people find value in the trash. He loved the idea. He deals with the absolute poorest people in Africa every day (I'm going there again in December) and he loves the thought that one man's trash is another man's treasure. They'd probably find millions of dollars worth of treasure in our trash.

14. Human Smuggling -- See #8 (State's failure).

15. Art and Antique Smuggling. I insure against theft, so should you. The State is worthless here.

16. Pirated Movies -- See #5 (supply and demand).

17. Smuggled Cigarettes -- Thank the market for cheaper tax free smokes. I noticed they were $7 a pack in Chicago a few weeks ago. Tax free they're about 70 cents. The State created this problem.

18. Gas and Oil Smuggling. See #17 on the State destroying the market of goods through taxation/theft.

19. Pirated Music -- See #5 (supply and demand).

20. Illegal Fishing -- See #10 (privately funded habitats).

22. Pirated Mobile Phone Entertainment -- See #5 (supply and demand).

23. Pirated Video Games -- See #5 (supply and demand).

24. Counterfeit Cigarettes -- See #17 (market provisions) and #2 (shop at trustworthy retailers if you're concerned).

25. Small Arms Trafficking -- See the second amendment.

27. Counterfeit Shoes -- See #2 (shop at trustworthy retailers if you're concerned).

28. Pirated Books -- See #5 (supply and demand).

29. Counterfeit Sports Memorabilia -- See #5 (supply and demand) and #2 (shop

Re:Sounds like a great waste of time all around

[Cadallin]

Meth is only a problem because safer things are illegal and harder to get. Cocaine/LSD/Psilocybin (The list is due to the many effects of ampetamines which range from straight stimulant to psychodelic)are adequate replacements that are perfectly safe assuming a safe supply (that is, created in an actual chemical lab/plant, not a toilet bowl, as meth often is). Heroin is only dangerous to use because it is cut with quinine, which causes death by pulmonary effusion in overdose, and because needle sharing spreads HIV, another phenomena that wouldn't occur with legal availability.. And has anybody EVER adequately justified why marijuana use should be illegal? Because people get high and drive? I'll acknowledge that its dangerous and a bad idea to do so, but alcohol is a much worse problem, and Driving under the Influence of any pyschoative drug known to cause accidents should be illegal. Prohibition does not work! Drug Addiction (which is different from drug use) is a Medical problem, and should be treated as such!

Completely unsurprising

[swillden]

What a lot of people don't seem to realize is that the media industry is small potatoes. Seriously, look up some hard numbers aggregating the worldwide revenues and profits from music, movies, TV and video games and then compare them to the numbers from other industries. I did this a while back and found that any two of the biggest IT handful of IT companies exceeded the *entire* media industry. And IT is itself small potatoes compared to manufacturing, distribution, energy, agriculture etc. Any one of the major players in those real industries, the ones that actually make stuff, absolutely dwarfs the entire worldwide entertainment and media industry. Consider the fact that most of the music industry's US revenue is channeled through Wal-mart, and then consider what a tiny part of Wal-mart's business music is.

Even if media piracy were absolutely massive, the net effect on the US and world economies would be almost negligible. Piracy can't be a major problem because media isn't major.

But even though media is small potatoes financially, what they have is a direct line to the masses. Because communication is what they do, they have influence, and therefore power, that is orders of magnitude greater than their real economic importance.

Re:Completely unsurprising

[swillden]

Until you look at the number that's important: gross profit available to purchase politicians. While the sales in these other sectors is far larger than media, the dispensible income (and concentration thereof) is no where near.

Actually, profits in those other sectors *also* dwarf the profits in the entertainment industry. And, by and large, the political contributions are on a similar scale. The charity that manufacturing and agriculture extract from the federal government, for example, is mind-boggling. No, the only difference is that the media industry is more visible, both when they want to be and when they don't want to be.

Even in the political donations arena they're small potatoes financially, but wield inordinate influence.