

Ask HN: Is piracy actually a problem? (SOPA) - nupark2

In all the media coverage, it seems to be taken as fact that foreign piracy is something that must be solved.<p>However, looking at year-over-year profits for media companies, it doesn't look like they're doing poorly. In fact (excepting a blip due to our economic foibles) they're doing better than ever.<p>Is this assessment correct? If so, why isn't the media picking apart these claims?
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joelhaus
Economist, Dean Baker, thinks piracy concerns are overblown:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3482767>

That said, it's generally not in the economic interest of the incumbent media
businesses (particularly the TV Networks, a.k.a. media aggregators) to present
the case against the SOPA/PIPA legislation. This is because they are trying to
protect their existing revenue streams that come from business models which
rely upon traditional media distribution, the internet presents a challenge to
this.

When (if) the protests against SOPA/PIPA are presented, it's always balanced
against the "fact" that "everyone agrees piracy is a problem that needs to be
addressed".

