The cost of piracy...

In piracy there is a key point which is often ignored. Would the people who pirate have otherwise bought the thing? According to the Software Piracy Association, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America, and every other industry sponsored group, every case of piracy is worth, against them, what the item costs.

I personally have many pirated items. Most tems that I do not use, and that I would never buy. I also have other items, items which, as soon as possible, I will buy, or that I have bought before and have lost due to Real theft or other reasons. Among the items I will buy are many I would not have otherwise known about. Many are the people I have told about many movies discovered this way, encouraged them to watch, and then buy these things which were unknown to me before.

In my particular case, more people have bought things on my recommendations, than the cost of what I have in actual use, by far.

If we as a society are ever to get to the root of this matter we must disallow companies and the groups which represent them to misrepresent the actual damage done. We must insure that every aspect of the issue is taken into account. Piracy can never be put back in the box. Deal with it as it really is.