piracy

=Piracy=

Piracy
Industries such as writing, film making and music have recently hit an economic slump. Middlemen required to distribute an artist's work to the audience take a large portion of revenue and the artist receives the least amount of payment in the entire process. Technology has allowed for alternatives, for instance, selling the artist's work online and delivering it directly to the customer or, putting the work online for free and making profit off of the advertising on the website.

Micropayments
A micropayment is a small payment with low transaction fees for the artist/website and provides a secure spot for the user. There is a "new economy" that may affect all artists when direct payment becomes a pratical alternative to retail shopping. Piracy happens when the consumer does not compensate the artist for what s/he has produced. A micropayment provides a direct connection between the artist and the (online) user who supports them. It is logical to suggest if a user admires an artist s/he will not want to steal from him/her. The market for online comic books would eliminate the need for middlemen and the "success tax." Without the middlemen, "creative pricing" by the artist may occur, for example offering special deals to the client. Micropayments would start a "new economy," which in turn encourages more production of new work.

Countries with highest SOFTWARE PIRACY rates VIETNAM ZIMBABWE INDONESIA CHINA PAKISTAN UKRAINE CAMEROON



A man was sentenced to life in jail Thursday for running what was described as the country's biggest ever DVD and VCD piracy operation, Reuters reported, citing state media. Lin Yuehua and 11 gang members were found guilty by a court in the Guangxi region of smuggling over 30 million bootleg discs into China between 2002 and 2005 from five foreign-based production units. The total value of the discs was said to be around US$23.9 million. The foreign country in which the discs were produced was not named, although fingers have been pointed at Vietnam as it borders Guangxi. Lin's accomplices received sentences of between two and 15 years. The US copyright industry claims piracy cost it US$2.6 billion in sales in China last year, with bootleg DVDs widely available for as little as US$1 each. http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/subscriber/newsdetail/8204.html
 * "LIFE SENTENCE FOR BIGGEST DVD PIRATE"**

Source
http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/icst/icst-5/icst-5-full.html