Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 1538307" data-attributes="member: 177">Ah, okay.&nbsp; I think I see the source of the disconnect here...You're talking about contracts.&nbsp; Under the contract, if you don't undertake one of the allowed mechanisms for acquiring the product, yes, you are committing theft.But &quot;loss of sale&quot; has nothing to do with the contract.&nbsp; It has to do with bookkeeping.&nbsp; We, as a society, are still trying to figure out how to deal with the issue.&nbsp; So, memebers of an industry (like the RIAA), poke around.&nbsp; They get some estimates, and they go to Washington DC...&quot;We estimate that X songs were copied without a sale.&nbsp; If we had sold all those songs instead we would have made $Y more this year.&nbsp; Therefore, we have lost $Y in sales to this copying.&nbsp; Please pass a bill that will stop us from losing so much money.&quot;However, the &quot;if&quot; in &quot;If we had sold all those..&quot; is a big one.&nbsp; As noted - not all those who copy would have bought if copying were not available.&nbsp; If we could turn back the clock and run the universe without this copying, the companies would get something notably less than $Y more in revenue.I don't think anyone is saying that no sales are lost to copying.&nbsp; However, equating 1 copy to 1 sale lost is a naive estimate.&nbsp; It is a tool used by industried to over-represent their economic losses.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 1538307, member: 177"] Ah, okay. I think I see the source of the disconnect here... You're talking about contracts. Under the contract, if you don't undertake one of the allowed mechanisms for acquiring the product, yes, you are committing theft. But "loss of sale" has nothing to do with the contract. It has to do with [i]bookkeeping[/i]. We, as a society, are still trying to figure out how to deal with the issue. So, memebers of an industry (like the RIAA), poke around. They get some estimates, and they go to Washington DC... "We estimate that X songs were copied without a sale. If we had sold all those songs instead we would have made $Y more this year. Therefore, we have lost $Y in sales to this copying. Please pass a bill that will stop us from losing so much money." However, the "if" in "If we had sold all those.." is a big one. As noted - not all those who copy would have bought if copying were not available. If we could turn back the clock and run the universe without this copying, the companies would get something notably less than $Y more in revenue. I don't think anyone is saying that no sales are lost to copying. However, equating 1 copy to 1 sale lost is a naive estimate. It is a tool used by industried to over-represent their economic losses. [/QUOTE]

Verification