Posted by anthonyberet on 12/27/06 21:31

Don M. wrote:
> "anthonyberet" wrote in message news:4vdtqbF1b2kncU2@mid.individual.net...
>> anthonyberet wrote:
>>> From:
>>> http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36574
>>>
>>> HD disk format wars are over
>>> <snip>
>>> Piracy, the better choice(tm).
>>>
>> Sorry - I lost the bottom section in my first post:
>>
>> On the down side, the RIAA/MPAA/PATSY/TOOLBOY have sued probably
>> 10,000 people now, and each 'settlement' is, well lets just use $5000
>> for the sake of round numbers. Now, the conservative estimates of P2P
>> usage was around 30 million people, but I am pretty damn sure that is
>> far lower than the actual usage. Last time I saw anything serious, it
>> was 35M and growing fast. Lets just assume that it is now 50M users.
>>
>> 10,000 * $5,000 = $50,000,000. The net cost to each P2P user, assuming
>> everyone out there settles is $1. To look at it another way, if you look
>> at it in the worst case light, you have a 1 in 5000 chance of getting
>> nailed. A lot of people buy lottery tickets with far far worse odds than
>> that, and spend more than $5000 doing so every few years. To be even
> =========
>
> Your per capita "settlement cost" is not meaninful. It doesn't cost anybody anything when
> others are sued; it's not like everybody pitches in to help.
> Being sued is not a random event and the plaintiffs don't just pull an IP address out of
> 50,000,000 from a big hat to determine who gets sued.
>
>
I wouldn't have used that methodology either - I don't mind having it
suggested to me though. That kind of expression of risk is used in game
theory from time to time.

>> more cynical, hands up everyone who personally knows someone who got
>> sued by the RIAA. Now, hands up everyone who knows someone who
>> downloaded music or movies. Any guesses which one is bigger? Piracy, the
>> better choice (tm).
> --------
>
> What does piracy have to do with this group?
>
Oh tons.. Tons!

>> What do we end up with? A year or more where the CE industry pushed,
>> pulled, legislated and litigated their way to obscurity. Along the way,
>> they killed yet another promising consumer technology, well 5 or 6
>> actually, and made Intel and AMD their bitches. We all were on the verge
>> of losing this format and DRM infection war until a dark horse champion
>> emerged to snatch victory from the jaws of evil. Piracy, the better
>> choice(tm)
> ---------
>
> "to snatch victory from the jaws of evil"... Please identify this which you're naming
> 'evil'. Do you believe 'evil' exists?
>
I do believe that evil exists yes, and quite active in the intellectual
property industries ;o)
I think Charlie Demerjian had his tongue-in-cheek though.

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