<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Becky Lentz, Dr.</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:roberta.lentz@mcgill.ca">roberta.lentz@mcgill.ca</a>></span><br>
Date: Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 5:56 AM<br>Subject: [Commoning] Media Piracy in Emerging Economies - The Consumers Dilemma<br>To: "Becky Lentz, Dr." <<a href="mailto:roberta.lentz@mcgill.ca">roberta.lentz@mcgill.ca</a>><br>
<br><br>Just released!<br>
<br>
<a href="http://piracy.ssrc.org/" target="_blank">http://piracy.ssrc.org/</a><br>
<br>
Media Piracy in Emerging Economies is the first independent, large-scale<br>
study of music, film and software piracy in �emerging economies, with a<br>
focus on Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa, Mexico and Bolivia.<br>
<br>
Based on three years of work by some thirty-five researchers, Media Piracy<br>
in Emerging Economies tells two overarching stories: �ne tracing the<br>
explosive growth of piracy as digital technologies became cheap and<br>
ubiquitous around the world, and another following the growth of industry<br>
lobbies that have reshaped laws and law enforcement around copyright<br>
protection. The report argues that these efforts have largely failed, and<br>
that the problem of piracy is better conceived as a failure of affordable<br>
access to media in legal markets.<br>
<br>
�The choice,� said Joe Karaganis, director of the project, �isn�t between<br>
high piracy and low piracy in most media markets. �The choice, rather, is<br>
between high-piracy, high-price markets and high-piracy, low price markets.<br>
Our work shows that media businesses can survive in both environments, and<br>
that developing countries have a strong interest in promoting the latter.<br>
This problem has little to do with enforcement and a lot to do with<br>
fostering competition.�<br>
<br>
Major Findings<br>
<br>
* Prices are too high. High prices for media goods, low incomes, and cheap<br>
digital technologies are the main ingredients of �global media piracy.<br>
Relative to local incomes in Brazil, Russia, or South Africa, the retail<br>
price of a CD, DVD, or copy of MS Office is five to ten times higher than in<br>
the US or Europe. �Legal media markets are correspondingly tiny and<br>
underdeveloped.<br>
<br>
* Competition is good. �The chief predictor of low prices in legal media<br>
markets is the presence of strong domestic companies that compete for local<br>
audiences and consumers. �In the developing world, where global film, music,<br>
and software companies dominate the market, such conditions are largely<br>
absent.<br>
<br>
* Antipiracy education has failed. The authors find no significant stigma<br>
attached to piracy in any of the �countries examined. Rather, piracy is part<br>
of the daily media practices �of large and growing portions of the<br>
population.<br>
<br>
* Changing the law is easy. Changing the practice is hard. Industry lobbies<br>
have been very successful at changing laws to criminalize these practices,<br>
but largely unsuccessful at getting governments to apply them. �There is,<br>
the authors argue, no realistic way to reconcile mass �enforcement and due<br>
process, especially in countries with severely �overburdened legal systems.<br>
<br>
* Criminals can�t compete with free. The study finds no systematic links<br>
between media piracy and organized crime or terrorism in any of the<br>
countries examined. �Today, commercial pirates and transnational smugglers<br>
face the same dilemma as the legal industry: how to compete with free.<br>
<br>
* Enforcement hasn�t worked. After a decade of ramped up enforcement, the<br>
authors can find no impact on the overall supply of pirated goods.<br>
<br>
<br>
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