To Lend is the Right of an Owner – That is, Not You.
loper-os.org
loper-os.org
It's easy to criticize the content industry for their abusive practices and outdated business model, and point to something like the direct sales approach, which has had encouraging successes in books and music. But it's wholly unproven on the budgetary scale of, say, Game of Thrones, Lost, or The Avengers. And if content is distributed freely (through lending or otherwise), then it may be that the creators cannot recoup their costs, and this content simply won't be made.
It's possible that a Kickstarter-like model will emerge, but that's far from guaranteed, and I observe that Kickstarter projects themselves operate on a "scarcity emulator." For example, projects often provide artificially exclusive digital content at certain funding levels.
It may come down to a conscious choice to accept some limitations on our personal digital property rights in order to enable something we can all enjoy. We make that same tradeoff in the meat world all the time: you cannot block a river, sunlight, a view, a storm drain, etc. even though they're on your property. I would prefer limiting my property rights to that content over that content disappearing altogether.
Lastly, pirates are no allies of personal property rights. Pirates distribute unambiguously stolen content (for example, the X-Men Origins workprint) just as readily as merely copyrighted content.
Some things simply have to die, and the earth where they stood salted thoroughly, before any kind of viable replacement is even thinkable.
> the creators cannot recoup their costs, and this content simply won't be made.
Guess what, "content" was made for thousands of years before anyone had any notion of copyright. Creative people will continue to create.
> you cannot block a river, sunlight, a view, a storm drain, etc. even though they're on your property.
The "content industry" as we know it is quite like the air merchant described in PG's essay (http://www.paulgraham.com/property.html). DRM is quite like someone blocking off the sun and then forcing you to buy back the light. Bits are copyable at zero cost; the "air merchants" should be forced to simply suck it up, instead of being allowed to tie everyone's hands in a vain attempt to make water stop being wet.
I do really look forward to a distribution system that will benefit content creators and be convenient and fair to consumers. I just don't know what it looks like. It's an excellent opportunity for someone with an idea, though.
Ownership isn't just a matter of objects and revenue. It is control of information.