> SA writes:
>
>> My sub had lapsed for a long while and I decided to re-up when I saw
>> there was something in an issue that I wanted
>> to read. I'm not sure I would have done it if I could have
>> just peeked at the pirate website ...
>
> I think you're making my point (one of them, anyway): if you only got
> a sub because there was a single item you wanted to look at, this is
> no Business Plan For Doug.
Actually, I subbed because I wanted to get LBO delivered fresh in my mailbox each issue. The piece I wanted to see was just a spur/reminder about what I'd been missing....
> You are an outlier in the question of What Does Copyright Do For
> Doug. The fact is that you're uninterested in reading his newsletter,
> and while I think you're poorer for it, I don't think it would matter
> one way or another to Doug if you either a) pirated the one item you
> were looking for or b) forgot about the whole issue (i.e., didn't get
> a one-use-only-subscription that you won't renew).
See above.
> The fact is that you *can* pirate almost anything you want
But aren't there lots of people who make good money selling legit copies of things that can be pirated? Aren't we forgetting this detail?
> and it hasn't seemed to make much of a difference to all but a few
> producers. The music industry *distributors* have gotten nailed in the
> last 15 years, for sure -- but so what? Likewise, Doug will soon have
> his revenge on book producers when all that's left is secure paywalls
> like Kindle: they will be cut out forever.
That will cut out the distributors - but other than that, wouldn't the basic situation then just revert to the pre-internet copyright status quo - i.e. you have to pay the legal copyright owner if you want their stuff?
SA