Porn biz as a model

Almost every time I discuss the dramatic expansion of fair use to encompass all non-commercial use with someone who is a skeptic, I always get the same argument: "How are people supposed to make a living creating content for us if we just 'steal' it by downloading it?".

If you've been reading this blog for long for some reason,  you'll know that I take "offense" to about six different assumptions in that question.

1. It is a given that we all need to be concerned about how people can make a living creating art.
2. Copyright infringement is stealing.
3. Creators have some intrinsic right to total control over what is done with their creation.

Okay three things.  Now, I am concerned about numbers 1 and 3.  But I do not feel an obligation to be concerned.  This is my inner Ayn Rand speaking, and I think I'm right.

Nobody owes anybody else a living.

I personally feel that we should be concerned about that, and even that government should do something about it, sometimes, which makes me a liberal.  But I don't feel that we have to, which makes me a Tea Partier.

People just don't like change, and they resist seeing things in any way that they haven't always seen them, it seems.

I often tell people about my game, and how much I've put into it, and how badly I want people to please pirate it.  The idea being that I've got some skin in the game.  But generally it falls on deaf ears, appalled at my arrogance and apparent sense of entitlement.  They can't get past that.

So fine, let's explore that.  HOW ARE THE ARTISTS SUPPOSED TO MAKE A LIVING CREATING CONTENT FOR US IF WE'RE ALL JUST GOING TO STEAL IT?

Well, it's already being done.  Never mind the ad-laden nightmare that YouTube has become, where free streaming is apparently working.  Let's look at porn, right now, together.

High quality pornography is available, today, for free, in infinite quantity, on the internet.  And they aren't going under.

Let me assure you--hosting a streaming movie service is not a trivial technical or financial task.  I am a web hosting type of guy--a unix geek.  It's expensive, time consuming, and resource intensive.

And yet they're giving it all away!  For free!

With one glaring exception, you don't see pornographers running around suing people.  They just get busy...making money.  Giving away porn for free on the internet.

So it can be done.