January 28, 2012

On the Portuguese Private Copy Levy – Tao of Mac

…Furthermore, the whole thing seems positively medieval if you consider that the stated motivation behind the bill is to recoup the content industry’s “losses”, at a time when media locker services (like, say, iTunes Match) and content streaming services (for both music and film) are reaffirming the two basic tenets for any market:

1. People will always take the legal option when it’s available.
2. Only the good stuff sells.

So perhaps the local Authors’ Guild might, say, instead of spending roughy €6 million a year on staff (which, I’m told, totals around 160 people, goodness knows what for), want to consider sponsoring its members to make the leap towards digital publishing and distribution – otherwise I’ll just keep buying readily available, guilt-free and sensibly priced English-language books, movies and computer accessories online, and my kids will grow up bilingual and perfectly in tune with what is happening outsidePortugal without owing the SPA a dime.

On the Portuguese Private Copy Levy – Tao of Mac