Feds Question Big Media's Piracy Claims 261
WrongSizeGlass writes "CNET is reporting that the GAO's study of big media's piracy claims has raised some questions. (Here are the study's summary, highlights [PDF], and full report [PDF].) 'After spending a year studying how piracy and illegal counterfeiting affects the United States, the Government Accountability Office says it still doesn't know for sure.... The GAO said that most of the published information, anecdotal evidence, and records show that piracy is a drag on the US economy, tax revenue, and in some cases potentially threatens national security and public health. But the problem is, according to the GAO, the data used to quantify piracy isn't reliable.'"
Thinking about the popularity of D&D (Score:3, Interesting)
You know, despite the seemingly ultranerdy reputation of Dungeons and Dragons, there are actually quite a few un-nerdy people who play it. Skipping past a slew of big names, I think one super-cool, hyper-athletic example is enough. Vin Diesel. This guy, who plays total badasses in his movies, is actually a laid back D&D player in his spare time.
How can you effectively attack a position without a comprehensive understanding of it? If you want to say piracy is not leading to a decline in sales, then you need real numbers to back it up. For all the vitriol we throw around here on /., there is a whole lot of anecdotal posturing, but not a whole lot of solid numbers. The same goes both ways, of course, and I'm ecstatic to see the GAO investigating these claims.
Let's lay myths to rest. The truth is where we must start from, not from our foundation of biases. As long as you think that D&D is just for loser nerds, you'll never be able to understand the game and its enthusiastic audience.
Should it include (Score:2, Interesting)
Should piracy claims include finding copies of "Star Trek" on hard drives you bought as Best Buys?
God. some common sense from an us. govt agency (Score:4, Interesting)
apparently they werent able to fill that agency full to the brim with lobby endorsed appointees yet.
Bad Dog! (Score:1, Interesting)
So much for not biting the hand that feeds you.... Hmm, maybe they're just trying to get them to up their bribes, sorry I mean campaign contributions to match that of the pharmaceutical industry, then they'll release an update stating that it's even worse then they thought.
Re:Not reliable? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:As a rule of thumb... (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, that's the thing. You can't tell how many women have been raped, only how many have reported being raped. You can't tell how many people smoke pot, you can't tell how many hookers there are, and there's no way of knowing how many pirates there are and what their motivations for piracy are. A pirated tune or movie may turn into more than one sale, there's just no way of knowing.
Re:Not reliable? (Score:5, Interesting)
They included accidents wherein passengers had alcohol in their systems, even though the drivers were completely sober.
And regardless of which car the person who had been drinking is in.
As in: You're stopped at a red light, passenger in your back seat had a couple drinks, and some douche talking on their cell phone rear-ends you. That counts as an alcohol-related accident.
Re:Not reliable? (Score:4, Interesting)
Do they report piracy losses as tax writeoffs? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:In Soviet Amerika (Score:3, Interesting)
Or to beat a dead analogy... If I pass my test it is because I'm a bright student; if I fail the test it is because the teachers are incompetent.
this is an excellent question (Score:3, Interesting)
and the answer is "very little, if any $"
and then i ask you: so what? how has anything changed?
this is the way it has always been, and always will be: a few artists make millions, the other 99% struggle in obscurity. the internet doesn't change this
except... it does
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Tail [wikipedia.org]
with the internet and the new economic phenomenon the long tail that the internet makes possible, all those little acts that in previous eras would be cut out of the action, now they get action. they're not all going to become millionaires, but they'll make 5 figures rather 4 figures, or 6 figures rather than 5 figures, or even 4 figures rather 3 figures is nice even
with no riaa ownership trolling of our culture, the fringe just got more lucrative, in aggregate, than a world where you only got ANY exposure if you signed a distribution deal (and even then, you were usually screwed: only the HUGEST hits had any bargaining power with the distributors)