6 Notes
What TuneSecure forgets is that, “Human beings are complex creatures who are going to do whatever it takes to make themselves as well off as possible,” writer Charles Wheelan explains in his book Naked Economics. “Sometimes it is easy to predict how that will unfold; sometimes it is enormously complex.” This is what economists call the law of unintended consequences. Steven Levitt, author of the book Freakonomics, explains, “Even when you have someone clever designing the rules, the incentives, with thousands or millions of people with something at stake – scheming on the other side – they almost always figure a way around whatever system you set up.” Levitt continues, “The most powerful idea of [this law] is that anyone who thinks they can set up a set of rules, thinks they are smarter than the market, in some sense, usually loses.” Music piracy can’t be driven underground. At first, the average person might be detered. They may give up. But someone else will come along and figure out an even easier way to do it.
It’s not complicated.
- Hypebot, on the idea that piracy can be stopped by making it inconvenient. Really thoughtful, guys - I love this.
