Tim O'Reilly on Sopa

Piracy is not a problem.

O’Reilly takes a bold position against SOPA. I wonder if “piracy is not a problem” only because O’Reilly sells tech books, not music or movies? To be fair, I’ve never seen compelling evidence that the music and motion picture industries are negatively impacted by piracy. Sure, I’ve certainly seen data counting the number of illegal downloads, or tallying their dollar value, but I’ve never seen an honest discussion of how this impacts the bottom line. The assumption that a pirated album or movie would otherwise have been purchased by the pirating customer is clearly false. O’Reilly is quick to point this out.

Do I agree with O’Reilly? His stance is probably too strong for me, but at least his argument is refreshing.