Our New Economic Future

We are in a global economy today and in a huge adjustment period which is causing weakness in the US economy. The addition of developing countries along with their billions of citizens to the global capitalist marketplace has created shifts in production based on comparative advantage. They are not yet rich enough to buy American goods in bulk, but will be though that will take a decade or more.

What America "manufactures" has also changed. We now create a lot of intellectual and information goods such as movies, drugs, and processes that have no physical basis. However the international legal protections and recognition of these new goods are still being formed and so we are not receiving the full benefit of our production.

We are moving into a world where tangible products are cheap and plentiful. However, humans will always need entertainment and information. Whether the manufacturers of those products will be compensated is the question, fortunately we seem to be moving in the right direction although enforcement is still very sparsely seen. If other countries would pay for all the software, movies, etc. that they use, the United States will be in good shape and those sectors could grow, but we need to do better at getting others to enforce and pay for what we produce, otherwise the US economy will be sunk as that is our future.

Make Piracy A Foreign Policy Issue

Billions are lost every year due to piracy of our intellectual goods. These are the high value products that America manufactures and dominates in. Our music and movie industries are matched by none, yet piracy reduces our rightful rewards to a mere pittance. America is still the most innovative nation in the world, but what has changed is that we no longer are being rewarded fully for our innovative ideas that are being enjoyed around the world. As millions listen to our rap and pop artists, music record sales continue to drop. Software sales are stagnant even as more and more people use them. Our drug innovations are immediately stolen or forced to be sold at barely above manufacturing cost.

I'm astonished that this topic hasn't received very much attention though the effects are huge. Imagine if all the music, movies, software, drugs, etc. were paid for instead of stolen, the gains to the American economy would be huge and they would have a multiplier effect. Tower records would still be in business, employing tens of thousands of youth working their way through college. Software companies might actually hire programmers and release more software instead of declaring bankruptcy or praying for a white knight larger company to come along.

This should the the second most important foreign policy objective, taking a backseat only to terrorism. How China and others can steal our products with impunity while we beg them to extend us more credit so that we can legitimately purchase their goods is beyond me.

Internet Piracy: A Response to Pirates' Justifications

I can't believe either the irrational crap coming out of these people trying to defend pirating. Do any of you understand economics? Logic? You see, there are certain things called goods. People want goods, the very act of trying to get a good means you want it, and that means it has some value.

So we're supposed to believe you will take time to download stuff you do not enjoy and you do not want? That's ridiculous and no intelligent person will even bother making that defense. Do you go around taking grass from parks and front yards? Do you take sand from the beach? No, you won't bother to voluntarily spend time to collect stuff that is worthless to you, the very fact that you do spend time downloading music, movies, or software means that they have value, and means you are getting something for nothing. In the real world, that's usually only possible with theft.

If it's worth nothing to you, then it won't hurt you if it is taken away and you don't ever spend time on it. If there were a pile of sand in your room, would you care if I took it away? No, maybe you'd even pay me to take it away. If these games and stuff are truly worthless, that you aren't getting any benefit, then it shouldn't matter if I prevent you from accessing these things beyond the free demos and trailers given to you buy the owners. You can prevent me from accessing toxic waste, that's worthless to me and I don't care that I can't have toxic waste or play round in it. You can also come and take away what I put in the trash bin anytime you want and I don't care. I'd actually thank you for taking it away, again, it is worthless to me. But it's funny to hear you people complain so loudly about having your "worthless" music and software taken away from you. Why you'd think it was WORTH SOMETHING to you the way you argue and try to make LAME excuses that are so easily dismissed that the very intelligence of those making them has to be questioned. THIS is the best you can come up with? We all know you pirates are getting something valuable and not paying. That's wrong, and that's destructive for the economy and for society. We cannot have a class of people (artists, bookwriters, software developers, etc.) who are not allowed to make money for their labor. That would be slavery and no one allows that anymore. If they should be allowed to make money from providing you a VALUEABLE good or service, then it's up to them to decide the price. Yes, too high a price and you won't buy. Too bad for them huh? The seller absolutely has a right to set a price or to reject a price for the goods/services he is selling. I could go on and on destroying every argument you pirates make, but I think the point has been made. Enough of your BS, you can't justify pirating and so the decent people of society WILL stop you.

Pirating can't be stopped, really? What if a mandatory 5 year jail term in federal prison PER item pirated with NO chance of parole or early release? Are you still sure? How about mandatory software that comes with every computer and every OS that tracks and reports to a government agency what you are doing on your computer so encryption can't hide your piracy? Add that to the mandatory jail term in federal prison, do you still want to tell me piracy can't be stopped? Piracy can be stopped with very draconian and invasive procedures, it's best for society if some other means could be found to make pirates stop without resorting to those measures. The first step is to stop enabling pirates. Take away their BS arguments and make it clear that they have no justification whatsoever for what they are doing. Just like the thief can't claim poverty or that someone else stole from him, as justification to steal. We have to establish in EVERYONE's minds that pirating is wrong. Some people won't do an act that they consider wrong even if they can do it and get away with it. That's a start, but it needs to happen or the draconian stuff will be the only solution left.

Pirates Justify Their Theft

My initial post on pirating received several comments from thieves defending their actions. As usual, the responses tried to blame software developers while minimizing the illegal and immoral actions of the pirates themselves. One of them even played the definitions game, pointing out that intellectual property infringement and theft are different actions. My response makes clear that this line of argument is irrelevant to the issue. What is wrong is wrong no matter what you call it, and pirating is wrong. Below is a typical comment and after that, my response to all comments.

Wow, dude, you're a judge or something ? Military ? Police officer ? Let's purge the world of the unworthy eh ?

I've got what, at home right now, in a box and around my computer, maybe 400 $ OF **** GAMES THAT I BOUGHT THESE LAST YEARS ? And all I am is a thief ? A criminal none the less ! I'm not rich that's for sure. And certainly not rich enough to enjoy playing a game for 3 days for 50 $. That's insane man, seriously. I'll have to prostitute myself to continu playing video games. Actually, is it worth it .... maybe, I dont know... I could get some easy cash with that guy ... NO, STOP !

You see, I'm against all those crappy developpers making crappy and unplayable games, tossing them one after the other for 50 $ +. PLAY OUR GAME, IT'S THE BEST ! And then, nothing. They fix a couple of things for a month, and then they forget you. They don't care anymore, you already got their stupid **** unplayable bug infested piece of crap game. THEY'RE MAKING ANOTHER ONE ! Why fix something you already bought, haha ! Buy the next one and see if it's better !

Anyway, I'm not as worse a criminel as you make it sound man (is this grammatically correct ? I'm not english, sorry !) ! Fallout 3 is coming out soon, and I'll certainly buy it. The least i can do, as i got Oblivion and Shivering isles pirated, and got a **** of gameplay hours (200 hours or something) ! Great game, but I just can't get myself to finish it. Ans then there's L4D, but like i said, with the support Valve offers, I'm buying everything they throw at me.

Hey, maybe we found the solution ! HOW ABOUT SOME SUPPORT FROM THE GAMES WE BUY. Update your ****, improve gameplay, add campaign missions, story modes, characters, VS options, MAPS, QUESTS, ANYTHING.
Thanks valve ! Vote Steam

CMON !

Love it when thieves try to hide behind semantics, stealing is taking something that doesn't belong to you without the owner's permission. Regardless of how you want to define theft, pirating is wrong, immoral, and illegal. That's the bottom line. You are taking and benefiting from someone else's hard work and depriving them of their deserved income. If I'm a game developer or musician, how am I supposed to make a living if everyone steals what I create?

Bashem, what another lame excuse. It's like a bank robber saying, "I deposited over $1500 in my account last month, and I paid $50 in overdraft fees while also having a CD at this bank! So what if I rob the cashier every once in a while? I do legitimate business with the bank!" What would a jury think of this defense? They would laugh, maybe they would find the robber not guilty due to insanity, clearly such a defense is so ridiculous that not even the most desperate defense lawyers would dream of using it.

Hey buddy, no one forces you to buy the games. But guess what? You get a lot of enjoyment from these games, that's why you keep on going back for more. Yeah I wish my car had a lifetime warranty and never broke down either. I wish that car makers would guarantee the car for life and pay for all maintenance too. You know how much I pay for routine maintenance? Why don't they make cars that never ever need repairs? I guess I should go and "borrow" a car, I return it after it breaks down. Hey, in the real world, that's grand theft auto and I'm a car thief if I do that. Blaming YOUR theft on the producer is just insanity.

Quote : The least i can do, as i got Oblivion and Shivering isles pirated, and got a **** of gameplay hours (200 hours or something) !

Wow, 200 hours of enjoyment, and you still aren't willing to pay $50 for that? Let's see, a movie runs 2 hrs, that's 100 movies, and at $10 a movie, that's $1000 of entertainment if you go to the movies, even rental would cost you around $300. And you're still trying to justify your theft?

You are a thief, stop trying to justify your actions. You are not a good person, it's time to look in the mirror, you are a common criminal, no better than the pickpocket on the streets, except that you don't have the courage to do something like that where you can get caught.

You received a lot of enjoyment from the games you pirated. How it is fair that the people who spent months and millions to make the game get nothing in return? Why do those people who make the games get nothing while you get to play them? How is that fair in any system, by any code of ethics, by any moral belief, by any religion on Earth?

It's too bad you can't "afford" those games, but I bet that you can, you just don't want to pay for them because that means you have to cut expenses elsewhere. And in the end, these games are entertainment, you have no right to these games under ANY social philosophy, failed or otherwise. I want a lot of things I can't afford, like a beach front property, a Ferrari sports car, my own basketball team. You can't justify your actions, just admit you are a criminal and yes, society would be better off without your illegal and immoral actions.

Hey, I'm paying a lot for my apartment, how about I come over and share your space for nothing? You still get to sleep in your bed and have your place. Why would it matter if I share it, I can't afford my own space! There's plenty of room for both of us, I'll only use your bed, your stuff when you're not using them, it doesn't change anything does it? OF COURSE IT DOES! That's why we have property rights. That's why you can't go and use someone else's stuff if they're not using it. You aren't allowed to benefit from what someone else paid for without their permission. Otherwise people from you city could come into your room and use your stuff when you're not there. That's called trespassing and is banned in every society and country on Earth. From China to Russia to the USA, you can't go into someone else's home and use it without their permission. You have zero argument.

An Open Letter to Pirates

Some people are saying pirating is going to continue. What is their point, that we should accept pirating and pirates? Yes there will be criminals and murderers in the future too, but does that mean we should sit back and allow them to harm our society? No, this type of behavior is unacceptable and needs to be dealt with.

Do you think it's easy to make a game? That these corporations aren't taking risk or providing a good? If you don't think a game is worth it, then fine don't buy it, but that does not give you any justification to steal it. I don't think a Porsche is worth $100000 or whatever they cost, I'd pay $20,000, but guess what, they are free to set their prices and I'm a criminal if I take it. These companies provide jobs and a good living for a lot of programmers, not to mention marketers and all those people needed to set up a good gaming convention. Gamespot, Tom's games, and all those sites wouldn't be in business without games to talk about! People who pirate do a lot of damage and perhaps the only way to reduce pirating is for us to demand harsher penalties including criminal penalties.

DRM sucks, all copy protection is a hassle, but I don't blame EA for wanting to protect what cost them millions to make. I think one thing they should focus more on is suing people. I don't like more government intervention and regulation, but perhaps the only way is to require or allow software companies to track the downloading of their software on PtP networks and on the internet. The software companies would then sue the hell out of the pirates, probably causing them to go into bankruptcy. Once a few people lose their homes, then pirating will be reduced. It's not worth pirating if you're going to put everything you own at risk.

That will be unpopular I'm sure, but it'll upset the pirates the most and who cares if they get their panties bunched up? What are you going to do, stop buying....oh I forgot you pirate, you don't buy anyway. It's too bad that it might have to come down to that, but oh well, pirates screw it up for all of us. Thank you aholes for bring on DRM and ruining the experience. Thank you aholes for all the copy protection and new crap we'll have to endure in the future. You are a scourge to society, don't even pretend that you're not. Don't like DRM? Blame the pirates.