How can internet piracy be stopped?

First, let us agree on a common definition of piracy. This will lead us to the concept of ownership of digital goods, so the next step will be to agree on a common definition of the ownership of digital goods. This will lead to the concept of copyright laws, and we will need to agree on what is more important – innovation or ownership [also read as progressivism and capitalism, respectively].

After laying out these layered arguments, we can then tackle the issue of internet piracy and methods of curbing the proliferation of infinite goods.

It cant. As long as there is internet there will be piracy. Sure you can shut down one service but it will quickly be replaced by another, probably better one.

The only way i see to stopping it is to do something like what korea did. They have a legal P2P service. You can download and share an unlimited amount of DRM free music for only a small fee that is added onto your ISP’s bill.

Change the will of the people, not the ability.

Spargett has the ultimate answer.

But the only real way to stop any form of theft is to give up any and all rights of privacy.

why would we want Internet piracy to stop?
I’m not going to pay $100 for a f ing program that I could get for free somewhere, and I refuse to pay $1 for 1 god damn song just so the poor millionaire artists can get a private jet or whatever stupid novelty item they want for their mansion. Maybe if the money was going to a charity more people would pay for songs.

I really believe we pay to
much, so I dont pay. Artists, well a lot of them just want to make money. I won’t give them mine. Pirate Bay FTW

considering to music piracy: I think the artist should be payed for his work of art, BUT NOT THE EXPLOITING BIG MUSIC LABELS!

Here are the facts, pirates started around 13th century BC, so if it hasn’t been stopped yet, then i honestly don’t think it ever will be. It to hard to control, it never going to happen, and if it does, then new ways will be found.

@monalisa – As a recording musician myself, sure I would like to get paid for my work through record sales but I’m also a realist. I know people will pirate my work and that anything digital always will be pirated and there is nothing to stop it. I think most musicians will come to realize that they will make money like their brethren of old, before the record industry existed, they will earn it through live performances.

<soapbox>

As an actor who lives off of residuals and a long-time professional creator of software, piracy is a subject very close to my heart.

Before I begin, let’s get real about why people pirate: for 90% of us, it’s not because the prices are ridiculous, or because piracy is a political act against the hegemony of evil corporate capitalism. It’s because people like getting stuff for free. It’s analogous to [most] hackers defending their actions as political acts, when, let’s face it: defacing that girl’s Hanson fansite on Angelfire is a real power trip.

@squirbel frames the discussion very nicely (though I think it’s markedly more complex than progressivism vs. capitalism). Do we need more granular ways of defining ownership and copyright? YES!!! Do we need better methods of distributing art and digital property? YES!

But let’s talk about the people at the big record labels. Most of the low and mid-levelers are kids in their late twenties, scrounging to make a buck, and when Electra folded when Napster exploded, they lost their jobs.

Now, the topics of “whether art and capitalism can co-exist” and “the productization of art” are beyond the scope of the question, but for every “rich artist” there are thousands of “working artists” who depend on that commercial gig to make ends meet, and when the providers of those gigs—the labels, the studios, the commercial agencies—cut back on the work because of piracy, or because people stop watching commercials and the companies have to rely on product placement instead, the “working actors” are the ones who get screwed. You cannot be a working artist in the US without a commercial source of income.

I think the real question we should be asking is: “How can we make piracy irrelavent?” Better distribution and monetization technologies to address the obvious market desire is great (see iTunes). But even better would be government subsidies for artists so that when people do pirate your songs or TV show or your code, you don’t hurt as much—but that will never happen in the US (and perhaps it shouldn’t).

But, until subsidies arrive, or we change our methods of paying for media, I’m still saying that piracy really, really stinks.

</soapbox>

So you’re saying that everyone should pay for the misdeeds of pirates? Even those who are not pirates?