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Subject: Re: The GOv gets tough on Net Users.....er Pirates..
From: James Rogers <jamesr@best.com>
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Date: 26 Aug 2002 12:39:29 -0700

On Mon, 2002-08-26 at 11:41, Mike Masnick wrote:
> 
> In which world are we talking about?  That may be true for the first sale, 
> but once something is out in the world, the "creator" loses control... If I 
> buy a chair you built, and then decide to give it away to my neighbor, by 
> you're definition, he just stole from you.


There are specific statutory exemptions to the "first sale" principle of
fair use in the US.  For example, audio recordings have such an
exemption (dating from the early '80s IIRC), which is why you can't
(legally) be in the business of renting audio CDs; the creators can
control what you do with it after they've sold it to you.  Certain
industries would like to extend similar exemptions to other products --
there is no theoretical limit to what Congress could revoke such
privileges on.

 
> Access to free stuff often helps to sell other stuff.  Just because you 
> (and the entertainment industry, it seems) can't be creative enough to come 
> up with a business model to leverage free stuff into paid stuff... don't 
> take it out on the rest of us.


The problem with the entertainment industry is that they engage in
business and pricing tactics that make anything Microsoft was ever
accused of pale in comparison.  If they can't figure out how to make
money doing something, they'll actually burn money to make sure no
"industry outsider" can either for all intents and purposes; control is
more important than maximizing profit as long as they can make a
profit.  They don't need your carrot, so they only engage in reasonable
business behavior when you are carrying a very large stick, and few
people swing a stick large enough.  They are being chronically
"investigated" by the DoJ for anti-trust, collusion, and similar
activities, but that is mostly just for show.

Which isn't to say that the entertainment industry won't fall victim to
its own stupidity, but their ability to do arbitrary and capricious
price manipulation with impunity is going to make it a slow decline.

-James Rogers
 jamesr@best.com



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