On: Netflix to block proxy access to content not avail...

[Suncho]

People often ask me: "If there were no copyright law, how would studios earn money?"

They'd work on commission. They'd work on crowd-funded commission. If you want a movie made, you pay for it yourself. If you want to watch a movie that's already been made, why shouldn't that be free? The work has already been done and paid for.

[waterlesscloud → Suncho]

Neat. Does that apply to cars and houses and food as well?

The work has already been done and paid for, after all.

[JupiterMoon → waterlesscloud]

Yes when I want a car I buy one (i.e. pay for it to be made). The OP is suggesting that film studios operate the same model.

Personally I disagree, I don't think the current model is so broken that it can't be fixed. Although some things about it are just plain dumb. The primary part that is almost comical in this case is the bit where content owners refuse to make the extra money that they could so easily make by selling/renting to the millions of people that want to pay them and instead spend a fortune on "public relations" and copyright trolling.

[kuschku → waterlesscloud]

Indeed. Once the work has been paid for, you can usually copy your car as much as you want. You can also use your car as many times as you want.

[Karunamon → waterlesscloud]

Cars and houses and food are physical goods (and in at least two of your examples, fungible and/or life-sustaining) with distribution costs, intrinsic value, and scarcity.

Digital files have none of these.

[waterlesscloud → Karunamon]

That's not the point under discussion.

The rationalization here was that the work was already done, so why shouldn't it be free?

It's a silly rationalization and I'm pointing that out.

[Karunamon → waterlesscloud]

The rationalization only works on goods that meet the criterion I just described.

[bmelton → Karunamon]

Then it doesn't work for pirated movies, which has distribution costs associated.

You'll need to add yet another caveat to your original claim to make it work.

[Karunamon → bmelton]

Once again, I was speaking of digital content. The "distribution cost" of a 600-4000MB file is effectively nil.

[vidbina → Karunamon]

Netflix seems to spend a fortune in encoding and distributing this type of content. I think that distribution may not always be as simple of a problem and should not be marginalised as such. Especially if you consider the numbers in terms of demand and quality expectations for such services.

[Karunamon → vidbina]

Literal thousands of people are distributing various content, for free, right now. Out of sheer altruism most of the time - they get nothing back after their initial download. Pick your favorite torrent site.

The fact that the business landscape wouldn't tolerate this as a legitimate method is a failure of ego and imagination, not something inherent to the system.

[chris_wot → waterlesscloud]

You did it in the least effective way possible. Once I pay for a car and my food, I never pay for it again if I don't want to. In fact, I've never paid for my food more than once.

If you have a point, you need to find a better way of making it.

[chris_wot → waterlesscloud]

I've only ever paid for my food once.

[chris_wot → chris_wot]

Two people evidently missed the point.