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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gez" data-source="post: 1970199" data-attributes="member: 1328">I hope I'm not straying into politics, but harsh punishment doesn't work as a deterrant. If anything, it just incite petty criminals to move to the more serious (and dangerous) things, since they do not have much to lose anymore.The only good deterrant against delinquancy and criminality is not the "intensity" of the punishment, but the certainty of it. If copyright infringement is just punished by a $50 fine, but you get fined every time (or at least something like 80% of times) you upload something you do not have the right to distribute on a P2P network/warez FTP server/binary newsgroup/whatever, you'll stop ASAP.On the other hand, if the punishment is the death penalty, but there's barely a snow ball's chance on the Sun to get caught, who cares? If things goes for the worse, you'll just go on a Bonny and Clyde-like rampage, killing as many cops as possible while you flee toward South America.That's why the watermarking may work. It certainly improves the chance of the leaker getting caught.So, harsh punishments aren't a good deterrent and never have been. Efficient investigations techniques and zealous antipiracy cops are. The same way sueing one random schoolgirl for dozens of millions of dollars is ludicrous and useless, but fining a sum equal to the price of a couple of CDs to something like at least 75% of people who shared songs would work much better.</blockquote>