Piracy as Free Advertising

“My whole life I felt like an animal.” – Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (20th Century Fox – 2009)

Purloined Copy – One way or another an early copy of X-Men Origins was illegally uploaded to the web.  While the copy circulated the Internet and is undoubtedly being saved/shown in various corners of the globe.  Many black hatters asked people not to view the yet-to-be completed film and see it as it was intended…at the theater.   We’ll wait.  Source – 20th Century Fox

Hugh Jackman, producer and star of X-Men, said he was “disappointed” when an early version of his movie was prematurely set free on the Internet.  Wolverine on the other hand was P***ed !!!!  Oh yeah…so was News Corp’s Rupert Murdock.

The incident helped Hollywood strengthen their case that piracy is robbing them of revenues and hurting everyone…including consumers.

Pirates Everywhere – The pre-release of X-Men Origins on the web before the movie was released in theaters reinforces the opinions of many that Hollywood’s danger is within.  It is much easier and faster to send a digital copy of the movie halfway around the world than videotape it in a theater, make DVD copies and sell them on the street corner.  Source — MPAA

The furor may die down but the way the entire content industry is moving we doubt it!  The incident made us think that the Internet has desensitized our “always on” world.   Some people think you’re some type of hero if you hack into a corporate system and “liberate” people’s private information.

Blink of An Eye – Because the majority of today’s content – documents, video, photos, music – begins and stays digital throughout its life; theft and distribution is unnervingly easy.  Most security is inadequate so grabbing the content from one system and sending it around the globe is way too simple.  Source — ABI

Some think it is cool to set a movie, a song, a book, a game, an article free on the web.  Some feel they should be paid for their creative efforts, their content, their intellectual property and yes even the bandwidth folks use.

Free For All
We’ve never been certain if Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine, was serious or deeply, intellectually funny when he crystallized the concept that free is a superb Internet business model.

Oh Boy…Oh Boy – Like kids in a candy store, people with way too much time on their hands surf effortlessly around the web grabbing content from here…there…everywhere.  Yours?  Mine?  Doesn’t matter.   It’s out there to be taken.

Setting music free helped U.S. recorded music sales drop from $11.5 billion in 2006 to $9.9 billion in 2008 according to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).  Putting TV shows online has allowed us to timeshift, placeshift our favorites and using a little extra (free) software obliterate the commercials.  Throwing all the news (doesn’t even have to be fit to print) online lets people ignore copyright laws and share stories on anyone’s/ everyone’s site and blog.  Stryker sized up the situation differently when he commented, “Mutants, I don’t hate them. They must be controlled”

We agree with both sides of Stewart Brand’s aphorism at the first Hackers’ Conference in 1984 when he said, “Information wants to be free.  It wants to be expensive.  That tension will not go away. It leads to endless wrenching debate about price, copyright, ‘intellectual property’, the moral rightness of casual distribution.”

Jewels Should Fly – Information wants to be free and wants to be expensive.  It wants to be shared and it wants to be kept behind lock and key.  The ying and yang of content will continue for years.  Source – NY Times

True.  But at the end of each business day there has to be money in the cash register if the organization is going to open its doors tomorrow.  It is that little something extra that gives every stakeholder a return on his or her investment – sweat, brains, time, financial.