Bullshit. Economics 101. They will also gain loads of customers who's Marginal Utility from the good is greater than or equal to Marginal Cost, but lower than the price it was when they had to spend money on costly DRM. i.e. demand will increase if they lower the price. If the consumers's Marginal Utility is lower than Marginal Cost (or whatever the price was before) then it will always be cheaper for them to get pirated products, in which case they will never be potential customers. (Assuming of course that pirated products cost less than or equal to the consumer's Marginal Utility, which in this case is less than or equal to Marginal Cost) If the product is not worth it to them, adding DRM won't make it any more worth it, it will probably make it less so. Stop looking for customers who aren't paying, and look for ones that will pay. Saying no DRM lowers the cost of pirating doesn't work either. They would only pirate if the product was worth less to them than the asking price in the first place (since pirating still has a positive Opportunity Cost). All this assumes Demand is Elastic, which it clearly is in the case of entertainment. I would think this probably doesn't apply to software (most people don't care if their computer runs Microsoft or Linux, they just want it to work.) Maybe DRM might work in that case.
As for the post below about bootleggers, that is also bullshit. Just flip the problem around. In this case, bootleggers are suppliers. They can spend time and resources on developing their own product, but it will always be cheaper for them to crack the DRM of anything else and sell it as their own. Bootleggers will always crack any DRM, no matter how hard or complicated. This is clearly the case in practice. It is already addressed through other laws, it's illegal for them to deceptively pass off some product as their own, DRM or not. DRM is also a waste of money in this case. Stop 'em through other means.
gini coefficient, kuznet's 'U',.. I've seen data for Cuba on those and it's reliable too, just search Google Scholar.. Undergrad. level Development Economics stuff..
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couldn't you just take a differential of the linear regression and optimise that?
Bullshit. Economics 101. They will also gain loads of customers who's Marginal Utility from the good is greater than or equal to Marginal Cost, but lower than the price it was when they had to spend money on costly DRM. i.e. demand will increase if they lower the price. If the consumers's Marginal Utility is lower than Marginal Cost (or whatever the price was before) then it will always be cheaper for them to get pirated products, in which case they will never be potential customers. (Assuming of course that pirated products cost less than or equal to the consumer's Marginal Utility, which in this case is less than or equal to Marginal Cost) If the product is not worth it to them, adding DRM won't make it any more worth it, it will probably make it less so. Stop looking for customers who aren't paying, and look for ones that will pay. Saying no DRM lowers the cost of pirating doesn't work either. They would only pirate if the product was worth less to them than the asking price in the first place (since pirating still has a positive Opportunity Cost). All this assumes Demand is Elastic, which it clearly is in the case of entertainment. I would think this probably doesn't apply to software (most people don't care if their computer runs Microsoft or Linux, they just want it to work.) Maybe DRM might work in that case.
As for the post below about bootleggers, that is also bullshit. Just flip the problem around. In this case, bootleggers are suppliers. They can spend time and resources on developing their own product, but it will always be cheaper for them to crack the DRM of anything else and sell it as their own. Bootleggers will always crack any DRM, no matter how hard or complicated. This is clearly the case in practice. It is already addressed through other laws, it's illegal for them to deceptively pass off some product as their own, DRM or not. DRM is also a waste of money in this case. Stop 'em through other means.
gini coefficient, kuznet's 'U',.. I've seen data for Cuba on those and it's reliable too, just search Google Scholar.. Undergrad. level Development Economics stuff..
exactly how many commercial jets have *ever* been attacked by missiles?? and who is going to pay for the $40 billion i wonder.