The Case for Copyright Reform (16 page)

This IS The Market, Stupid!

Henrik
Alexandersson writes:

Working with
Pirate MEP
Christian Engström
in the European Parliament, I often come in
contact with advocates for Intellectual Property – lobbyists from the
film, music and book industry. And one thing almost always strikes me...

They don’t seem to have a clue about what’s
really going on.

They don’t seem to realize that we now live in an information society
with hyper distribution. And if some of them might have some sort of a clue
after all, it seems they think the Pirate Party or Christian himself invented
the Internet, free flow of information and file sharing.

(We sometimes respond to that, saying
“No, that was someone much more clever”
. But they really don’t seem
to catch the subtle humor, nor the message.)

What the Pirate Party does, is “just” to point out what policies are
reasonable in our new society.

Billions of people are online. All of them can, at least in theory,
connect with each other. And there is often a surprisingly short distance (or
few links) between person B and person Q. A thought, an idea, or an application
can spread over the world in just a few days. All kinds of data that are on my
computer could be transferred to yours. Or to that of a bike repair man in
Chile. If it is good and interesting enough.

Some entrepreneurs have got the message. They start net applications,
they set up web stores (that often are more successful, the more specialized
they are), they start their own media channels and they start projects where
people cooperate. In most cases it can be done with very little money. And if
they choose, they can address a global market.

The IP-lobbyists from the entertainment industry, on the other hand…
They refuse to see or to accept the real world as it is. They are upset,
because people don’t want to go downtown to a store to buy their products
engraved to plastic discs anymore. They go bananas if someone shares the
information he or she has bought with someone else. They curse the Internet.
They want so supervise, filter and control the flow of information. They want
to cut people off from the net. They have no problem making the world a worse
place for everybody else – all the entrepreneurs, scientists, students,
activists, artists, bloggers, and ordinary people that every day spontaneously
fills the Internet with life and creativity.

The IP-lobby does not make any real effort to accept, embrace and make
use of our new reality and of the information society. They could, if they
wanted. And they could make a lot of money doing so. But so far, they seem
unable and unwilling to think outside the box.

Sometimes it’s almost amazing. We met with a person from the book
publishing sector. That person told us, with a stiff upper lip, that the amount
and the multitude of information on the Internet is a problem – as no one
can handle the selection process, deciding what should be published and not.
So… condescending.

An online information society with a multitude of information and hyper
distribution is the new market. And in many ways it is a much more free market
than the old one. You should accept it – or get out of the way.

And let’s face it. Some products, business models, concepts and stuff
will end up in the trash can – as they don’t fit our modern society. And
they should end up in the trash – making open space for things that are
new, profitable, focused on the future, viable and blooming.

No one can tell what tomorrows business concepts will look like. But you
don’t need to worry. We’ll find out, eventually. The market will solve that. On
its own. There will always be talented people developing new stuff for new
markets. You might call it capitalism, spontaneous order, progress, the
invisible hand, dynamic effects or whatever you like. But it will be there.

Trust the Force!

Acknowledgements:

Chapter 3: Monica Horten, www.iptegrity.com: EU gives notice of ‘Net
blocking schemes’ Creative Commons CC-NC-BY 3.0

Chapter 5: Mike Masnick at Techdirt.com: More Charts The Record Labels
Don’t Want You To See: Swedish Musicians Making More Money

Ernesto at Torrentfreak.com: Artists Make More Money in File-Sharing Age
Than Before It Creative Commons CC-SA 2.0

Mike Masnick at Techdirt.com: Artists Make More Money in File-Sharing
Age Than Before It

Professor Michael Geist, www.michaelgeist.ca: Harvard Study Finds Weaker
Copyright Protection Has Benefited Society Creative Commons CC-BY 2.0

Chapter 7: Henrik Alexandersson, henrik-alexandersson.se: This IS the
Market, Stupid! Creative Commons CC0

Links:

This book can also be found on paper and in other e-formats at
www.copyrightreform.eu

Follow Christian Engström:
christianengstrom.wordpress.com

And Rick Falkvinge:
falkvinge.net

Edition information:

The Case for Copyright Reform

Christian Engström MEP & Rick Falkvinge

This book is published by Pirate MEP Christian Engström with support
from the Greens/EFA-group in the European Parliament.

2012 · No rights reserved · Creative Commons CC0

Contact details: Christian Engström: christianengstrom.wordpress.com

Rick Falkvinge: falkvinge.net

Greens/EFA in the EP: www.greens-efa.eu

This book also can be bought as a paper book from Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/christian-engstr%C3%B6m-and-rick-falkvinge/the-case-for-copyright-reform/paperback/product-20066463.html