Something I been chewing my "brwains" on have a read and post a thought. “DATA INFRINGEMENT” CP/IP infringement is the rage these days but let’s consider a few things sharing data is a null zone for corporations there is no profit there is no profit loss, if there was profit loss companies could not stay afloat with the poor business decisions they are making so let’s within reason look at reasonable truths. A. The main Factors 1. Convenience rules the consumer market and free dose not equate convenience, the same reason people do not make their own pizza, bread, cookies and such is because it’s cumbersome and not convenient this leads to why legal sharing of data will not drastically harm the industry. 2. Public right, the public has a right to be un bullied and spied on by business and government they also have the right to data to expand their world and minds, by having a fully protected gray area you increase media penetration worldwide and because of that you will raise profits because people will be actively looking for media to consume and by media I mean audio, video and paper. 3. Business right, business has the right to make a profit but not at the price of poor business practices or the cost of citizen rights when data sharing goes encrypted the corporations will be given more means to spy on users, corporations with government should focus on illicit profit and toss bootleggers under the jailhouse with drug dealers and confiscate properties and share that money with the industry. You cannot keep business on artificial life over losses that amounts to a CEOs paycheck spread out over years and nor can you waste the courts time on such trivial matters. 4. Goverment, making out of publish and old version data legal to share means that most nonprofit data sharing will be ignored because it’s not worth anyone’s time to play the part of Ipod police, but balancing it out illicit profit rings which may have ties to the black market will be cracked down on heavily as well as corporate infringement since the big boys always get off with a slap on the wrist while a normal person gets charged 200K for 10 “illicit” songs. B. Downloading the myth the legend, the trouble with data sharing no one knows what the real damage is, looking in the middle and human nature from a worldwide perspective I see this 1. It’s a mirror of how well the industry is doing. 2. Most of it is downloaded because it’s there or because it’s not available in the region. 3. Most people who download are not “consumers” that any industry can easily market to and gain profit from. 4. Proven word of mouth IE “I saw it I like it I’ll buy it” puts money that would not be there or heavily diminished into the hands of the market be it 2nd hand or retail, remember 2nd hand indirectly supports retail it puts money into high traffic shops the profits are spread out to not only retail but consumers as well since you can double your money’s worth in 2nd hand shops gaining the store more profit to get more goods and if they sale new media or buy lots and bins from retail chains the money spreads out. 5. Data archiving is big business between costly high speed net, storage hardware and devices money is being spread to retail shops, ISPs and hardware makers who own parts of or are partners with the media industry, money dose trickle up. C. What’s the cost? I am a fool for many a thing but I would be more a fool to say there is completely no damage associated with downloading however looking at things going on behind the market and the flow of content quality and price V cost its simple the damage is minimum from an industry known to over reach its bonds to protect itself IE the industry is an intuition to protect itself and itself alone, the industry is a machine that needs to be tuned to the law not have the law tuned to it, with that said what now? A quick note CP and IP are basically the same but IP can have trade rules attached to it, however if a famer out in the boonies uses a device he made off plans off the net saving thousands a year by using it he cannot be touched because he is not remaking the device to sale, the one that leaked the plans is in up to his neck if a mechanic is cranking out the devices to sale he might be in for a crackdown as this is infringement for profit, however normal IP rules still may apply, if it’s that easy to make then it cannot be reasonably protected and I just might have mixed CP and IP. D. Plan 1 “Compromise” 1.Ensure fair use and first sale are protected and tweaked to ensure protection of the consumer and their goods, this means the 5 year data “gathering” for “hard to get/find” media is protected leaving normal data sharing up to the industry to sue consumers over. 2.Media fines for consumers will be standardized and rounded up to a reasonable price of 5X the song sale price per download fines are imposable to track and burdensome on all parties, however charging 5$ a song X the number of songs or media you own is reasonable the maximum charge is no more than 50$ a item on anything. 3. Hardware circumventions (mod chips) are protected under fair use as the copied media is not always a violation. 4.Rootkits and protection software that gather data on consumers will net you High fines (100K+) “a complainant”. 4. Consumers get full right of returned back all media may be returned in a timely manner (under 15 days), a return charge of no more than 5% may be issued by the retailer. E. Plan 2 “Free and legal” Let me make this the clear the moment something falls from publication and is 2 years of age or older it’s free to trade, this means if it’s been 16 months and falls out of publication it has time to go if it’s been out longer than 2 the minute it falls from publication its free to trade, with the advent of digi distro it’s the CP owners job to keep it concurrent if they do not maintain publishing they themselves make the product irrevalant! 1.Ensure fair use and first sale are protected and tweaked to ensure protection of the consumer is absolute, fair use is expanded to a 2 year out of publication and old version setup if something is out of publication/digi distro or if it’s an old version of media its free to share when it hits 2 years of age after publication/digi distro and its stops being published or is replaced with a new version, in publish and new repackaged versions of media will be protected, the same burden of proof will be placed on the one suing and on a failed case they must pay double court costs once to the state once to the defendant, the up side is there is no limit to what they can sue for. 2. Illict profit will be treated as drug selling with all the fines and confiscations that go along with it, the money made from the sale of property will be split with the industry. 3.A tax on net and storage devices of no more than 10% will be shared by government and industry. 4. Mid and low end media companies making X amount will receive a reduction in all federal and property taxes up to 90%. Plan 2 will shift more money into the industry than free sharing could EVER lose and this is a boon for all IMO.
One of my trains of thought on this is that free data is something a healthy society needs to grow and expand on, by artificially propping up industries you stagnate not only technical progress but human development as well. Yes it is important that profit be protected but there comes a point where industry has to change with the times not maintain a status quo.
More thoughts hot off the spell checker! We have seen governments take IPs/designs of of things like Cyrus McCormick mechanical reaper after profit has been made and deny their monopoly on the patents for the good of the people, with data the same thing needs to be closely looked, this it's not altruism, its not absolute it just means that the people need fair and free access to information and data is just that, there are some data which should be reasonably withheld from the populace that would be governmental data. By balancing profit with a system that makes things that are uncared for by industry free to trade is to important to write off as silly philanthropy, media in all tis forms is the life blood of the mind and soul you can not call some of it spam and some of it slow roasted suckle pig, for some people treat their treat and spam as their caviar,one cannot be the judge of media its either data important to the growing of minds and souls or fodder for industry to rape the public on, this is why I like the idea of freeing up all old media into the free trade sphere while protecting the newest version of it and new media from trading until its abandoned by the industry. edit (can't find the info on the re patent refusal the history channel was talking about but the point stands, the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few.)
