For those of you who like to follow the whole situation with piracy and the aftermath of SOPA and PIPA, an article was just run in today’s Forbes magazine following the release of a new study released in France (on the occasion of a trade show) which was commissioned by the Computer and Communications Industry Association about revenues generated by the entertainment industry (including books, music and video). It advances the basic notion, prevalent among opponents of the two bills which recently suffered a quick death, that the entertainment industry’s claims that the loss of revenues to the tune of 20 billion due to internet piracy have been exaggerated–to quote the study, “the numbers paint a quite a contrast from the vision of doom and gloom the entertainment industry has pointed to lately.”
The study’s author, Mike Masnick, goes on to say, “By any measure, it appears that we are living in a true Renaissance era for content. More money is being spent overall. Households are spending more on entertainment. And a lot more works are being created.” A blanket statement which is being applied a little unscrupulously to the book, video and music industries.
We’re guessing that this is the final nail in the coffin for SOPA and PIPA? Perhaps yes and perhaps not. Whenever any new study of any kind comes along, another one will eventually follow that will destroy all of the first study’s arguments. More to the point, this analysis only provides a cursory examination at the movie and video industry’s complex financial ecosystem. Its suggestion that the Internet provides the industry with a bigger audience and more ways to monetize content and that therefore claims about piracy are probably moot is likely far from being the be-all end-all argument.
Of course the MPAA had a bone to pick, but I also think SOPA/PIPA was a ruse by the Feds to legislate Internet censorship. They were crapping themselves when they saw the Internet’s potential after the Arab Spring and Occupy movements took off. Think about it: A protest breaks out, and how does it gain legitimacy? Via the local media coverage. So everyone starts to Tweet and post to Facebook. But if that content can be considered as copyrighted, SOPA/PIPA could have presented a way for the Feds to shut down such “piracy.” It’s probably more than a coincidence that after SOPA/PIPA was shelved by Congress, Twitter announced their new censorship rules.
Remember: SOPA/PIPA hasn’t disappeared for good: look for it to be reintroduced under a new name, or inserted into other legislation that has no connection to Internet piracy.