Junto Boys

FILE SHARING CAN'T BE STOPPED WITH LAWS

Orrin Hatch wants to destroy your computer if you download music and other programs on the Internet. His opinion really demonstrates the how older generations have trouble understanding new technology.

No laws are going to stop the spread of software and music. The companies that make these things have long been overcharging for them. CDs were introduced in the mid 80s for $15 when record albums and tapes sold for less than $10. They benefited because digital technology was new. Now that the digital technology is old, they suffer. It all evens out in the long run. Besides, no law is going to stop file sharing. There will always be ways around legislation and coding. And even if you couldn’t download over the net, people can make digital copies of their friend’s CDs and software programs.

The music companies are just going to have to realize that the world has changed and price their products according to what the market will bear. They would sell a lot more CDs for $5, because the effort of downloading it would be worth less. Right now a person who downloads a CD saves himself $15. If the savings was only $5, more people would decide that their time is better spent doing something other than piracy.

Software companies should consider similar measures. When they realized that people were sharing software way back when, they raised the prices. But economics says a company should do just the opposite. By raising the price they convinced more users to pirate the product. Had they lowered the price, they would have convinced more users to buy it. It’s the same reason we buy a dining room table. We think that the effort of building one isn’t worth what we can pay for one.

Software and music companies want to sell their product for whatever they want and then insist that you can’t share it with anyone. Book publishers wanted similar things when they worried that libraries and used book stores were hurting sales. Publishers are still thriving.

The companies that learn the market won’t bear the current prices and adjust accordingly will solve a problem that cannot be solved by Orrin Hatch the Federal government.

UPDATE: Even Hatch's own website is using unlicensed software.