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Copy Protection A 'Boom Business', Except When It Isn't
from the doesn't-add-up dept
A story over at InformationWeek raised our hackles a bit with the headline "Copyright Protection A Boom Business" followed by the summary saying, "Cracking down on piracy contributed to 6.6% of the U.S. gross domestic product in 2006, according to an industry lobbying group." Just sounds like more typically inflated and ridiculous claims about piracy that regularly stream out from the content industry, which then get presented to legislators as reasons why we need more laws to bolster their aging business models. Just one problem, though: the facts of the story don't support the headline at all. An industry group merely presented a report saying that "core copyright industries" -- basically content and software -- made up 6.6% of US GDP in 2006, which is a reasonable enough claim. While the group's claims don't match those of the headline, they do go off the rails in their own way. It says these industries were responsible for 13% of the country's GDP growth in 2005, and that means that they deserve more significant protection from the government in the way of stricter copyright laws and enforcement. That's a pretty pathetic admission that the only way for them to maintain their sales and growth is through increased government support and protection, instead of realizing they've got a lot more to gain if they'd quit seeing their businesses as dependent on copyright, and using it to try and manufacture scarcity.
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piracy & numbers
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But the otherside...
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Just the facts...
So in the scheme of things, the 'core copyright industries' are no more important than your grocery store, your hospital and bunch of miscellaneous services.
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Lies, damned lies and...
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Sounds about right..
But just because they are wasting money does not mean they deserve more laws that will allow them to waste more money.
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Benjamin Disraeli was the first person to come up with the three categories of falsehood. He was a Jewish politician (as in d'Israeli) who became Prime Minister of the UK
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Re:
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