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

[Joebert]

13. Trash Smuggling

Somehow I figured raccoons were a bigger nuisance.

Re:Sounds like a great waste of time all around

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not that drugs don't have inherent risks, it's more that criminalizing them does nothing to prevent addiction. When drugs were first criminalized, it was because a whopping 7% of the population was estimated to be addicted to drugs. Now, close to a hundred years later, after many billions of dollars have been spent, and organized crime (gangs, mafia, etc) have been given control over these insanely profitable items leading to gang violence, filling and overfilling our prisons, underprivileged sectors of society have been demonized, etc etc etc... we have finally brought our national drug addiction rate down to... 7% of the population. That's why the drug war is not morally justified... if the resources funneled into fighting drugs with the police force had been channeled into public education, treatment and rehabilitation, and most of all improving the quality of life of citizens at risk for developing addictions (Read about rat park) there might have been a significant decrease in addiction rates, but the current policing model does NOTHING to prevent addiction.

Re:Completely unsurprising

[dwandy]

What a lot of people don't seem to realize is that the media industry is small potatoes.

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.

Intellectual monopoly laws create an enviornment of unprecendented disposable profit.
Couple that with a political system that demands bribery as a requirement to win and we have laws that are disproportionately strong for the industries' true importance in the economy.

Counting oranges alongside apples?

[cralewyth]

On the havocscope illicit markets list, Drug markets are measured alongside counterfeit products and pirated products.

The problem comes when figures for pirated & counterfeit products are from those industries, quotes of how much is lost... Now, somehow I doubt that the illicit marijuana industry value is based on how much that industry has lost. Considering that it is illegal in most countries.

So here we have two sets of figures - one which is basically "estimated loss on profit, based from industry" and the other is "estimated products sold".

Does anyone else see why this list isn't conclusive?