Interesting article on the FBI's website. The P2P cyber letter is worth reading.

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb04/pirates021904.htm

RB

How is a loss figure even estimated with so much sharing going on? Where do they get these figures? I'm sure the amount is very high but how is there a way to track all of this illegal distribution and sharing to come up with a definite amount or even an estimate of losses? It's all a great big ballyhoo just like the Nielsen Ratings (www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28245).

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Attention: Content Manager, FBI Home Page
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 7350
Washington, DC 20535
(202) 324-3000

What, so I can be at the top of their list! I think I'm going to just stick to trafficking narcotics, thank you.

Here's a link to their press release. Almost a year old.

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel04/piracy021904.htm

RB

I do not believe those numbers. I suspect they came from the RIAA. I was monitoring the Internet Radio fight by the RIAA and it was observed that price fixing at higher prices was responsible for a steady decline in sales before internet sharing really hit. It was also observed that internet radio and sharing may have actually had a positive impact on sales (a less steep decline).

Losses are often a fiction, a necessary fiction perhaps, but a fiction.

How do you realistically quantify what might have happened? That's what the entertainment industry is trying to do right now--they claim losses due to theft, but since the item stolen is an intellectual property, and since they can't identify every case of theft, they either make projections of lost revenues or statistical claims (guesses) of the number of illegal duplications. Both are error-prone.

Entertainment companies have good reason to weight the numbers in their favor, so I don't trust their guesses implicitly.

I too have heard that music sales are actually up, despite this rampant piracy.

I wish someone sensible and independent would do a careful analysis of the real impact of illegal duplication--file trading in particular--on the film and music business. Haven't seen it so far. Anyone?

Michael

Where, I wonder, would one go to gather such data.

Realize that this thread is NOT aobut how much money is supposedly lost, it IS about the CONSEQUENCES of getting caught!

It doesn't matter if it is $23.00 or $23,000,000,000...what matters is that the Feds DO NOT have a sense of humor about your breaking the law, especially if it involves headlines.

The recording industry is, of course, going to inflate their losses with figures that are not tangible. Who's to tell them otherwise?

There is a very old saying in law enforcement..."You can beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride!" Trust me, the ride is NO fun at all.

RB

That's sort of like, you can outrun the law but you can't outrun the Motorola!

Illegally trading, distributing and/or selling media is definitely wrong. However, it will never be completely controlled or stopped because there's no way to monitor every download at any given time throughout the world. So, the entertainment industry needs to accept that fact and prosecute those that get caught just like they do illegal street vendors. Whining and complaining about it right now is just futile. How is this any different than copying media at home before the internet was available? The difference is that they can see it happening but only with the dumbasses that get caught by publicly displaying it with these filesharing websites. Dumbasses!

I think that 7 years is the statute of limitations, so...

YES, YES, YES, I admit it...I reproduced LPs to 8 tracks and cassettes and gave them to my friends!!!

Boy, do I feel better now!

RB

I don't want to hear any, "what's an 8 track?" comments!?

RB

They assume every copy that was illegaly distributed was a potential sale and then make a forumal that adds all that together. If their products were half as good as their marketing they wouldn't face the problems they do.