MAC309 slides. Drawing on the recent work of Lessig (2004, 2006, 2008) and Mason (2008), the session looks at some of the problems associated with 21st century copyright and piracy. Draws on material covered in MAC281 - see my tags for details

1. The Pirate’s Dilemma:
Compe3ng with piracy
MAC309
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2. ‘War on piracy’
• Aggressive rhetoric of the content industry in
recent years
• Adamant that piracy ‘threatens’ the ‘survival’
of culture/media industries
• Policing of alleged copyright infringement via
legisla3on
• Extension of copyright terms
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3. Can the war be won?
• Maybe not…
• If that is the case, what can be done?
• Wage a more vigorous war and make
examples of kids?
• Rethink through how copyright works in a
digital future?
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4. Piracy as ‘punk capitalism’
• Piracy can mean illegality
• Piracy can also mean innova3on
• Piracy will not go away, so how should it be
confronted?
• Copyright law not fit for purpose
– (see Lessig, 2004, 2006, 2008; Mason, 2008;
TapscoW & Williams, 2008)
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5. Let’s go crazy
• February 2007
• Stephanie Lenz and her 13 month old son
Holden
• Uploaded video to YouTube
• Within 4 months an employee of Universal
Music Group saw it and wrote to YouTube
• Video was taken down
See Lessig 2008
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6. Let’s go crazy
• Quality?
• Detrac3ng from sales?
• EFF took up the case and filed a counter‐no3ce
against Universal
• Universal’s lawyers refused to back down
• Risk fine of $150,000
• Is this worth Universal’s while?
• hWp://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/08/judge‐
rules‐content‐owners‐must‐consider‐fair‐use‐
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7. Copyright history
USA 19th Century
•
Founding fathers ignored European patents
•
USA known as bootleggers
•
Referred to as ‘Janke’ (Dutch for ‘pirate’)
•
William Fox fled to West Coast form New York
•
to avoid Edison’s expensive patents
– (Mason, 2008: 36‐7)
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8. Copyright history
John Philip Sousa
•
Composer
•
June 1906; Library of Congress
•
Tes3fied about the state of
•
copyright
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9. New technologies; old laws
• Player piano; gramophone
• Mechanical music had copied
original work
• Ar3sts weren’t reimbursed
• Sousa pushed for copyright law to
go further (but with limits)
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10. • “When I was a boy … in front of every
house in the summer evenings you would
find young people together singing the
songs of the day or the old songs. Today
you hear these infernal machines going
night and day. We will not have a vocal
cord [sic] lep. The vocal cords will be
eliminated by a process of evolu3on, as was
the tail of man when he came from the
ape”
• Cited in Lessig, 2008: p24‐5
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11. Technology transformed our
relaBonship to culture
Amateur Consumer
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12. Technologies of consumpBon
• Culture would be
– less inclusive
– less crea3ve
– less par3cipatory
– less democra3c
– the preserve of an elite
• Instruments were tradi3onally taught
• Love of music developed through learning
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13. 20th century
• Cultural produc3on con3nued to be
professionalised
• Huge growth in media/cultural industries
• Decline in par3cipa3on
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14. Successive technologies of
consumpBon
1900
Sheet music/live instruments
Player piano/gramophone
Radio/television
Tapes/CDs
Video/DVD
2000
Value? $626 billion 14

15. • Once again, new digital technologies are
transforming our rela3onship with culture.
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16. Net GeneraBon
• “The ability to remix media, hack products, or
otherwise tamper with consumer culture is
their birthright, and they won't let outmoded
intellectual property laws stand in their way”
• (TapscoW & Williams, 2008: 52)
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17. Now?
Amateur
Consumer
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18. Culture as a 2‐way street
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19. 19

20. The infinite album?
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21. Digital data
• Internet facilitates new forms of
communica3on and data exchange
– Piracy creates chaos
– Piracy forces debate
– Piracy adds value
• Look to the example of pirates for solu3ons?
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22. Copyright out of control?
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23. Pirates….
1. Look for gaps outside the market
2. Create a platorm
3. Harness the power of people (ie the
consumer?)
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24. P2P
networks
Music
industry
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25. P2P
networks
Music
industry
iTunes
25

26. Music industry
iTunes
eMusic
Amazon
P2P
networks
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27. UK music market 1997‐2008 (millions)
200
150
100
50
Singles
0
Albums
01/01/1997
01/01/1998
01/01/1999
01/01/2000
01/01/2001
01/01/2002
01/01/2003
01/01/2004
01/01/2005
01/01/2006
01/01/2007
01/01/2008
Data supplied by The Official Charts Company (BPI Press Release: 7th Jan 2009)

28. The Prisoner’s Dilemma
Game theory
•
Economists use to predict markets
•
Developed in 1950s by RAND corpora3on
•
Behaviour determined by self‐interest
•
This idea has been a dominant force in
•
economics, poli3cal science, military strategy,
psychology, etc
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29. The Prisoner’s Dilemma
• Two burglars are arrested by the police,
separated and taken to the police sta3on.
• Given the following op3ons:
– Confess
– Stay silent
– Grass (aka confesses the other’s involvement)
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30. The Prisoner’s Dilemma
Prisoner B stays silent Prisoner B confesses
Prisoner A stays silent Each serves 6 months Prisoner B goes free
Prisoner A serves 5 years
Prisoner A confesses Prisoner A goes free Each serves 2 years
Prisoner B serves 5 years
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31. • In reality, people frequently help others out
without seeking reward
• Not always self mo3vated
– Linux?
– Non‐profit organisa3ons
– Chari3es
– Pirates
• Pirate spot gaps in the market place and fill
them
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32. The Pirate’s Dilemma
• Similar to Prisoner’s Dilemma
• 2 compe3ng organisa3ons in same market
under threat from a powerful force (piracy)
– Eg EMI and Universal vs piracy
• How do they respond?
– Compete with each other?
– Co‐operate?
– Compete with piracy (ie innovate)?
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33. The Pirate’s Dilemma Mason, 2008
Player B competes like a Player B does not
pirate compete, fights piracy
instead
Player A competes like a • Both gain from moving • Player A gains share of
pirate into new market space pirate’s market
• Each becomes more • Player B loses market
efficient share
• Society benefits • Society gains moderate
value
Player A does not compete, • Player B gains share of • Both make profits in
fights piracy instead pirate’s market exis3ng market but lose
• Player A loses market out to pirates
share • Each stays inefficient
• Society gains moderate • Society gains liWle value
value 33

34. InnovaBon?
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35. 35

36. 36

37. 37

38. 38

39. Michael Masnick:
The Trent Reznor case study
• hWp://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Njuo1puB1lg
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40. 40

41. 41

42. 42

43. 43

44. 44

45. 45

46. 46

47. 47

48. 48

49. How might the content industries go
forward?
• Microsop and piracy?
• Burberry and piracy?
• Books and piracy?
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50. Piracy
Microsop
Linux
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51. 51

52. 52

53. Cited and related links
• Valve Exec Explains How To Compete With Piracy
hWp://www.techdirt.com/ar3cles/
20090219/1124433835.shtml
• Disney – we can compete with piracy
hWp://www.zeropaid.com/news/7726/Disney+‐+we
+can+compete+with+piracy
• Spo3fy Aims To Compete With Piracy
hWp://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Spo3fy‐Aims‐
To‐Compete‐With‐Piracy‐99999
• Spore: most pirated game ever thanks to DRM
hWp://torrentreak.com/spore‐most‐pirated‐game‐
ever‐thanks‐to‐drm‐080913/
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54. Sources
• Lawrence Lessig, 2004, Free Culture: The nature and future
of crea2vity, London: Penguin
www.free‐culture.cc/freeculture.pdf
• Lawrence Lessig, 2006, Code Version 2.0, New York: Perseus
hWp://pdf.codev2.cc/Lessig‐Codev2.pdf
• Lawrence Lessig, 2008, Remix: Making art and commerce
thrive in the hybrid economy, London: Bloomsbury
• MaW Mason, 2008, The Pirate’s Dilemma: How hackers,
punk capitalists and graffi2 millionaires are remixing our
culture and changing the world, London: Allen Lane
• Don TapscoW & Anthony D. Williams, 2008, Wikinomics:
How mass collabora2on changes everything, London:
Atlan3c Books
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