The Content Downloader's Profile
Malignant Self Love - Buy the Book - Click HERE!!!
Relationships with Abusive Narcissists - Buy the e-Books - Click HERE!!!
READ THIS: Scroll down to review a complete list of the
articles - Click on the blue-coloured
text!
Bookmark this Page - and SHARE IT with Others!
Go Back to "Digital Content on the Web" Home Page!
April, 2005
Interview granted to Tim Emmerling, a student at Eastern Illinois University.
Q. What do you know about people illegally downloading files over the internet?
A. I know what everyone knows
from being exposed to the news media and to lawsuits filed by publishers: the
phenomenon is widespread and most of the millions of exchanged files are music
tracks and films (though book rip-offs are not unknown as well).
Q. Why do you think people are taking part in these
electronic transactions? Does the cost of purchasing the media come into play?
A. It's a complex canvass of motivations, I guess. Many media products (especially in developing and poor countries) are overpriced in terms of the local purchasing power. Illegally downloading them is often an act of protest or defiance against what disgruntled consumers perceive as excessive profiteering. It may also be the only realistic way to gain ownership of coveted content.
The fact that everything - from text to images - is digital makes replication facile and enticing. Illegal downloading also probably confers an aura of daring and mystique on the "pirates" involved (whose life may otherwise be a lot drearier and mundane).
Additionally, these products resemble public goods in that they are nonrivalrous (the cost of extending the service or providing the good to another person is (close to) zero) and largely nonexcludable.
Most products are rivalrous (scarce) - zero sum games. Having been consumed, they are gone and are not available to others. Public goods, in contrast, are accessible to growing numbers of people without any additional marginal cost. This wide dispersion of benefits renders them unsuitable for private entrepreneurship. It is impossible to recapture the full returns they engender. As Samuelson observed, they are extreme forms of positive externalities (spillover effects).
Moreover, it is impossible to exclude anyone from enjoying the benefits of a public good, or from defraying its costs (positive and negative externalities). Neither can anyone willingly exclude himself from their remit.
Needless to emphasize that media products are not public goods at
all! They only superficially resemble public goods. Still, the fact that many
books, music, and some films are, indeed, in the public domain further
exacerbates the consumer's confusion. "Why can I (legally) download certain
books and music tracks free of charge - but not others?" - wonders the baffled
surfer, who is rarely versed in the intricacies of copyright laws.
Q. Do you think this leads to a feeling of disrespect toward the various
pieces of media by the person that steals it so frequently? (If I download music
all the time, will I lose interest in it?)
A. I am not sure that the word "respect" is relevant here. People
don't respect or disrespect music - they enjoy it, like it, or dislike it. But
frequent illegal downloading of media products is, probably, the outcome of
disrespect towards content intermediaries such as publishers, producers, and
retail outlets. I don't know for sure because there is no research to guide us
in this matter, but I would imagine that these people (wrongly) perceive content
intermediaries as parasitic and avaricious.
Q. Downloading is still a widespread act today. The threats
of lawsuits and legal action against downloaders hasn't stopped the problem.
What, in your opinion, needs to be done to stop this behavior?
A. Law enforcement activities and lawsuits are already having an
effect. But you cannot prosecute thousands of people on a regular basis without
suffering a commensurate drop in popularity and a tarnished image. People do not
perceive these acts as self-defense but as David vs. Goliath bullying. Sooner or
later, the efficacy of such measures is bound to decline.
Media companies would do better to adopt new technologies rather than fight them. They must come forth with new business models and new venues of dissemination of content. They have to show more generosity in the management of digital rights. They have to adopt differential pricing of their products across the board, to reflect disparities in earnings and purchasing power in the global marketplace. They have to transform themselves rather than try to coerce the world into their antiquated and Procrustean ways of doing things.
Q. Psychologically speaking, is there a certain kind of
person who is more likely to take part in this behavior? Do you feel that this
is a generational issue?
A. I cannot but speculate. There is a dearth of data at this early stage. I
would imagine that illegal downloaders are hoarders. They are into owning things
rather than into using or consuming them. They are into building libraries and
collections. They are young and intelligent, but not affluent. They are
irreverent, rebellious, and non-conformist. They may be loners who network
socially only online. Some of them love culture and its artifacts but they need
not be particularly computer-savvy.
Also Read:
Will Content Ever be Profitable?
The Disintermediation of Content
The Future of Electronic Publishing
The Case of the Compressed Image
Free Online Scholarship - Interview with Peter Suber
The E-book Evangelist - Interview with Glenn Sanders
The Disruptive Engine - Innovation and the Capitalist Dream
Copyright Notice
This material is copyrighted.
Free, unrestricted use is allowed on a non
commercial basis.
The author's name and a link to this Website
must be incorporated in any
reproduction of the material for any use and by any means.
The Internet Cycle
The Internet - A Medium or a Message?
The Internet in Countries in Transition
The Revolt of the Poor - Intellectual Property Rights
The Demise of the Dinosaur PTTs
(Articles are added periodically)
Visit my other sites:
World in Conflict and Transition
Portfolio Management Theory and Technical Analysis Lecture Notes
Microeconomics and Macroeconomics Lecture Notes
Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited
Poetry of Healing and Abuse: My Poems
FREE - Read New Short Fiction (Hebrew)
Feel free to E-Mail the author at palma@unet.com.mk
or at
narcissisticabuse-owner@yahoogroups.com