Hacker News Reader

Comment by majani | Hacker News Reader

I've found that in the recent piracy debates, there has been a high level of dishonesty, where people don't want to admit that the absolute number one reason people resort to piracy is because that shit is free.

I'd like to challenge the founders of TPB to charge for their superior distribution system and report the traffic numbers before and after.

View on HN

Quite a large number of people pay to pirate, like those who paid for Megaupload, and those who pay for Usenet access. The charge is almost what Netflix charges (~10$ a month), but the selection and quality is much better (for pirated content), and catalog is also better. And better yet you don't loose the stuff that can be watched because some licensing agreement failed.

I think even if Piratebay starts charging what Netflix charges, it will remain a huge website.

  > I'd like to challenge the founders of TPB to
  > charge for their superior distribution system

1) The logistics wouldn't be there. Not necessarily because people won't pay, but because paying is a barrier to entry. Even paying a penny would filter out a number of users. Would you really believe that the reason those people wouldn't pay a penny is because they are cheap? Or is it more likely that the paywall is a barrier that they are too lazy to overcome?

2) Charging out-right for the service vs. making money on advertisements would also be a shift in their image. This may cause a number of people to jump ship out of principle. I.e. a 'hipster filter' if you will ("they're too big and corporate now", "they've sold out", etc).

Your argument beats around the bush. You and I both know that if TPB were to charge, their traffic would drop by several orders of magnitude. This is not because of logistics, not because of image, not because of inefficient distribution and not because of DRM. The simple reason for the huge drop off would be that most pirates want that sh't free. Why oh why do people insist on sugar coating this blatant reality?

Because this heads towards the concept of thought crime. Who cares what the motive of a pirate is? Do we only want pure virgins who can lie in a unicorn's lap downloading stuff? Or can we get beyond criticising people for not being pure of heart.

The only issue with piracy isn't the motive of the pirate - it's whether it damages the industry, and studies regularly show it doesn't. In fact a) the biggest pirates tend to spend more, and b) isn't it about time we found ways of rewarding creators that didn't involve artificial scarcity?

We're heading for a time when we can deliver all of human culture to everyone and the only thing stopping us is that some people want to rent-seek.

On your other point, I wouldn't advise anyone to pay for the Pirate Bay because payment identifies the payee. There's a significant chance it would be considered illegal and records seized by the US, leading to huge fines, extradition and prison. That alone would deter me.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com