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one more way to look at it
VTR were produced by sony for years for tv stations
they cost $10,000 each, the tapes cost $25 a pop and could record without degrading maybe a maximum of 10 times.
the betamax VTR (VCR) was a cheap ($999) consumer version of the product, which provided the technology to finally fullfill the fair use right of "Timeshifting" viewing rights.
when it was moved from a commercial enviroment to the non commercial enviroment, a new use came about one unrelated to the distribution use it was originally planned for.
large scale duplication systems (DVD presses) are being technlogically provided for via the torrents.
but their use in a non commercial enviroment results in a new fair use (access shifting).
I predict that when this gets to the supreme court the fact that bit torrent users never give a full working copy of the file will finally allow the fair use right of access shifting to be realized.
The right to take content you paid for (bought a cd, or paid a piracy tax) and shift it to any device you want to enjoy it on (thru the swarm) will become a protected fair use.
And when that happens there will be lot of money to be made taking advantage of the technlogy. Those that prepare for that day, figure out how to make money using the technology now will see a massive explosion in their income. Those that try and fight it will end up following all those leaders and earning a lot less.
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“When crimes occur through the mail, you don’t shut the post office down,” Steve Wozniak
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