Villian or hero?

[TheFaQQer]

What???

So if you were a software designer you would be okay with people using your software for free if they only used a 768*1240 screen res but if they used 1080*1940 you would charge?

Really I think firkin not?

No, but if I released a limited functionality product for a low- or no-fee and also had a feature-rich version I could charge more for it.

Some companies operate quite successfully on this basis.

[TheFaQQer]

Or, which is much more likely, people will still pirate the high quality ones. I use pirate bay and have saved literately thousands over the years on extortionate cinema/blu-ray fees. If some fat-cat producer or egomaniac actor can't buy another yacht because of pirating then WGAS.

OK, as long as you don't mind waiting for the thing to be available in high quality.

If you want something that has just hit the screens and the production companies made a low-res version available instantly for little or no money, then it's an option.

[TheFaQQer]

Plus look at all the kickstarter projects, like Elite: Dangerous. When the industry starts to suffer the model will change because people want movies. Perhaps they'll start getting better stories again & less expensive but pointless effects.

I've backed a few film projects on Kickstarter because they were things that I wanted to see that otherwise wouldn't get made.

Veronica Mars, Wish I Was Here, The Internet's Own Boy, Year at Danger and The Moo Man are all film projects that I've supported, although I've only seen one of them so far...

[MicrosoftBob]

Again.... what does legally allowing theft have to do with capitalism?

Why not ask the EU they pushed through the legislation

Vote UKIP!

[VectraMan]

The sequence of data that a movie is encoded in is NOT a scarce resource (although the physical media that hosts that encoding may be). You can copy data infinitely without ever denying anyone else the possession of that same data at the same time. As such data is by definition not able to be owned.

That's still me out of a job. Probably you too.

That's fine, but you've torpedoed half the economy. If anything digital is a free for all, i.e. not a scarce resource, then anything that can be distributed as data: software, music, films, TV, newspapers, books, magazines, or even just good old data, is therefore valueless and only idiots would pay for it. Forgive me for thinking that is a Very Bad Thing, if indeed there's any truth in what you're saying which there almost certainly isn't.

One of the important parts of capitalism is that you also have to law enforcement to make sure people pay for things legally, and don't just take what they want. Without that you don't have an economy.

[SpontaneousOrder]

I've backed a few film projects on Kickstarter because they were things that I wanted to see that otherwise wouldn't get made.

Veronica Mars, Wish I Was Here, The Internet's Own Boy, Year at Danger and The Moo Man are all film projects that I've supported, although I've only seen one of them so far...

I'd prefer a model where I get some equity though. Even if it's tiny, I'd like to at least recover my investment - that way I'd feel happy investing larger sums for a project I believed in.

[SpontaneousOrder]

That's still me out of a job. Probably you too.
if indeed there's any truth in what you're saying which there almost certainly isn't.

Sorry, but only a moment ago you couldn't see the difference between someone watching a film for free when they would never have paid for it anyway, and stealing someone's car
I strongly suspect that your doubt lies not in any credible evaluation of truth, but rather your distaste for perceived implications.

What I'm saying is why on earth would you say "which there almost certainly isn't" ? It's not a dark hidden away secret - it's a simple and clearly observable fact of reality. All you have to do is read the short paragraph I wrote and identify any logical mistakes. If there aren't any then it's almost certainly truth.

[original PM]

That's incredibly common in software. You get a limited experience for free, and pay for the full experience.

Yes indeed and I can watch the trailor of the film for free but if I want to watch it all I pay?

[VectraMan]

What I'm saying is why on earth would you say "which there almost certainly isn't" ? It's not a dark hidden away secret - it's a simple and clearly observable fact of reality. All you have to do is read the short paragraph I wrote and identify any logical mistakes. If there aren't any then it's almost certainly truth.

I was observing that there is a digital economy, and that governments, the EU, hundreds of thousands of lawyers probably, have looked at the issue of intellectual property and of piracy and haven't concluded that there's no value to anything in the way that you have. I think I have the weight of evidence on my side.

[SpontaneousOrder]

That's still me out of a job. Probably you too.

Er... no.

That's fine, but you've torpedoed half the economy. If anything digital is a free for all, i.e. not a scarce resource, then anything that can be distributed as data: software, music, films, TV, newspapers, books, magazines, or even just good old data, is therefore valueless and only idiots would pay for it.

Not at all. I write software and there is enormous amounts of money to be made from giving software away for free.

One of the important parts of capitalism is that you also have to law enforcement to make sure people pay for things legally, and don't just take what they want.

No argument with you there (although given the context of the conversation I guess you actually mean 'copy what they want' rather than 'take what they want').
You've made the mistake though of presupposing that because you personally don't like the idea of an IP-free world that the law should be used to create such a fiction as IP. If anything sounds like 'taking what [you] want' then that does.

I think I mentioned earlier though that I do actually support the concept of copyright (unfounded in IP - so the legal definition would be a little different). I think it would be hard to enforce in most cases, but that's besides the point.