Dear Jim Ray, >Steal This Essay 2: Why Encryption Doesn't Help > ----------------------------------------------- > by Dan Kohn > Why is all content becoming a public good?
It isn't, because most content providers are smarter than Dan Kohn. Suppose I have content that I seek to exclude from public scrutiny until I am paid for it? Encryption helps me in this area, big time, if I want to store it where nobody else can see it, even if they hack my system. So, how do I get paid? If I'm a stupid mainstream media jerk, or dependent on their industry, in all likelihood, I don't. Which, by and large, I don't see as a downside. Suppose, though, just for a moment, that I'm a highly talented singer-songwriter-musician with a following. We'll touch on how I get a following here in a minute. I have written, sung, and played a brand new song, in my top-secret studio where nobody but me has the key. Soundproof, enabled with high tech stuff to record and encrypt automagically. I have my content product, and now I seek to make two million dollars from it, because while greedy, I'm not insanely greedy. I alert my fans that I have a new item. Perhaps I give them a five second sample of what it might be like, perhaps not. I ask my fans to subscribe this new product. They pay me $1 per person for the content until I have obtained $2 million. So, I need to have 2 million fans for this business model to work. If I have a following, as many of the currently popular artists do, I should have no trouble getting ten million subscribers. As soon as the period for subscriptions ends, or as soon as the goal is reached, whichever I prefer, the product is released. My fans get what they want, each receiving a password to obtain the product from a web server, or each receiving the product itself via e-mail or what have you. I get what I want, which is to be paid for my content. Now, that works great if I'm already fabulously popular. It works less well if I'm only regionally popular. So, maybe each product I release is only worth $50,000. That still pays plenty of bills, if I can produce a new product each month. If I'm less productive, it produces less money, of course. At some point, though, I have zero popularity, and seek to break into the field. Easily done. I release product for free, I play gigs for next to nothing (which is pretty popular with musicians already), and I showcase my talents wherever. Once I have a following, then new releases are for sale. Perhaps I keep back one or two "best" items and from the very start offer these on the same basis. Now, what about copying? Copying becomes irrelevant. I don't release any copies until I've been paid what I judge to be a fair price. If I don't get enough subscribers, I have my choice: I don't release, and continue to wait for subscriptions to come in, or I release at a lower return for this product, in the expectation that more fans will be generated as a result of more of my product being available to interested users. This process would seem to be even easier for software developers and prose writers and other content producers. Some musicians have proven unsatisfied with the quality of digital sound. And coding or writing in private doesn't require a soundproof room. I suppose van Eck phreaking means that a Farraday cage is useful for real privacy, but big deal. Content isn't a public good until the owner says it is. Sure, the whole idea of copyright or patent holding becomes somewhat silly, but these are state-sponsored "protections." And we've seen how little use the state is in the protection of private property; it isn't set up to protect, only to steal. For a little extra effort, you can see where trade secrecy protects the inventor as well as the content producer. Why doesn't Dan Kohn see it? I dunno. Maybe he's just some sort of goofy socialist who hopes to see content providers starve. Still. Regards, Jim http://www.GoldBarter.com/ ==> a free market is your best friend. It could save your life. --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Did you know that e-metal is a wonderful holiday gift? Avoid the hassle this year!
