The Prisoner's Dilemma

[ashesmonroe]

I was reading this because generally speaking I'm in favor of a new system where information moves more freely, (for example, I think p2p and people downloading movies etc. is an unavoidable symptom of a world of digital information)but I think a lot of things will need to change first. I'm not sure if micropayments is really the answer, but I was

Comments

[subvertere]

What makes p2p work- or one of the large Pro's (or cons depending who looks at it) is the ability to stay anonymous through the entire transaction- search, download, watching. The moment a payment method gets involved there is an immediate disclosure of personal information and a paper trail of what has been "purchased" Even if its a low monthly fee, there is an accounting process that is put in place (or surely will be for marketing purposes at least).

[ashesmonroe]

....wait, what? I think I missed your point in there somewhere. I meant micropayments in terms of an underlying economic structure, I just used p2p as an example of what people do (and I think will continue to do, as long as we progress in the digital exchange of information) I just got in a huge discussion about this yesterday, but instead of the ridiculous tactic of suing these people that download 'dude where's my car' etc we should think about changing the way we think about "property". I'm not proposing that I know the answer to this problem, only that I can see that trying to force people to *not* use all the information that is at their fingertips is just pointless. Instead we should discover a way to embrace this new freedom of intellectual exchange and find new ways to support ourselves from it

[subvertere]

oh!

Misinterpreted, go me. I've been sick with a cold the last few days... brain is full of goo... more than usual.

Anyway, I would agree with you- that an adjusted economic structure is needed, something that fades away from the set standards of buy low sell high or even fixed prices.
Property is a tough one to tackle, especially when something mass produced is bought. i.e. when someone buys a dvd, they own that dvd- now at that point should the content of that dvd be free for them to use in any way? or is the purchase of the dvd really just buying some plastic that contains someone's property that they are sharing with you in a limited fashion?
On the flip side, people buy cars all the time and cut them up put in new parts from all over the place and turn them into new creations and sell them as their own- Car manufacturers dont care- in fact it drives their economy some... perhaps the film industry (for example) can learn from this.