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Ask HN: Is piracy actually a problem? (SOPA)
7 points by nupark2 on Jan 19, 2012 | hide | past | favorite | 1 comment
In all the media coverage, it seems to be taken as fact that foreign piracy is something that must be solved.

However, looking at year-over-year profits for media companies, it doesn't look like they're doing poorly. In fact (excepting a blip due to our economic foibles) they're doing better than ever.

Is this assessment correct? If so, why isn't the media picking apart these claims?



Economist, Dean Baker, thinks piracy concerns are overblown: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3482767

That said, it's generally not in the economic interest of the incumbent media businesses (particularly the TV Networks, a.k.a. media aggregators) to present the case against the SOPA/PIPA legislation. This is because they are trying to protect their existing revenue streams that come from business models which rely upon traditional media distribution, the internet presents a challenge to this.

When (if) the protests against SOPA/PIPA are presented, it's always balanced against the "fact" that "everyone agrees piracy is a problem that needs to be addressed".




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