[LINK] DVD pirating costing industry $1.7b: Debus

[Fernando Cassia]

On Sat, Nov 8, 2008 at 4:39 AM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn  "Instead many
of the DVDs that are being bought by members of the
> Australian public today are effectively being bought from crime
> syndicates who are also engaged in drug trading, child pornography and
> other henous crimes," he said.

This "piracy is costing industry $x.xx" argument is totally bogus. It
assumes the number of pirate copies sold would equal "legit" sales of
an equal volume.

It's akin to saying "the bicycle industry is costing car manufacturers
$x M" or "pedestrians are costing the car industry $xxxM in lost car
sales".

The people whom buy pirate DVDs often have NOT ENOUGH MONEY to buy the
real, legit DVDs. And if they have to choose between eating and buying
a pirated movie VS not eating and buying a legit DVD, what do you
think they'd choose?. In fact, as soon as the same people got any
extra money, they often DO buy the legit versions because of the extra
qualities (packaging, inserts, extras, better quality vs VCD/DVDR,
etc).

At least that's the reality I see down here (at the other side of the globe).

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/08/31/price-of-latest-simpsons-pirate-movie-less-than-1

Just my $0.02...
FC