EA had the potentially dubious distinction of releasing the most pirated game in 2008, The Sims 3, an early release of which was downloaded (primarily in Poland and China) over 200,000 times.
Instead of trying to track down, sue and/or imprison anyone who had anything to do with this nefarious crime, EA CEO John Riccitiello understands that this was actually a whole lot of free promotion for a game that can only be fully enjoyed by purchasing a full copy and gaining access to all the game’s add-ons availabe online.
Here, Riccitiello, lays out everything you need to know to fight and win when it comes to pirates:
And here’s the trick: it’s not the answer because this foils a pirate, but it’s the answer because it makes the service so valuable that in comparison the packaged good is not. So you can only deliver these added services to a consumer you recognize and know; people don’t pirate servers very often, but it has happened. So I think the truth is we’ve out-serviced the pirate. … By the way, if there are any pirates you’re writing for, please encourage them to pirate FIFA Online, NBA Street Online, Battleforge, Battlefield Heroes… if they would just pirate lots of it I’d love them. [laughs] Because what’s in the middle of the game is an opportunity to buy stuff. LINK
Got that? Don’t sue potential customers. Earn them back instead.
H+ has a fascinating article on the growing practice in China, and around the world, of online vigilantism or “ren rou sou suo” as it is called in China.
There is a new movement being fueled by emotions ranging from revulsion to rage pulsing through the veins of the internet. It’s a 21st century update to the old school lynch mobs. Thousands have joined in and believe it’s an efficient way to make criminals answer to the netizens. With three billion Internet users, attempts to hide will only add thrill to the chase. With all eyes fixed to computer screens, people all over the world watch in fascination as this force continues to define itself. It is called “ren rou sou suo”. The phrase is Chinese and can be translated directly as “human flesh hunting” or “human flesh search engine”. It simply means an Internet search that is being powered by people with retribution and people’s justice on their minds.
In China, the most common variety of this justice involves tracking down creators of deeply offensive videos and outing them to the public along with their addresses, phone numbers and employers along with a call to humilate the accused perpetrator. This is certainly happening in the US, as well.
In addition, many are realizing how to mobilize potentially millions of internet users to a cause such as flooding a website with so many visitors that it is forced to shut down (DDoS) or using the limitations of online banking to cause the cost of payment to be higher than the payment by making large payments in hundreds of tiny increments. This is what one of the founders of The Pirate Bay has threatened to do if forced to pay fines – he will ask all of his supporters to each send in a $1 payment to the opposing council, forcing a massive workload along with endless banking fees to be shouldered by the opposing council.
Then there are flashmobs, online petitions and a host of other ways that ordinary citizens are using the power of crowds to rather startling effect.
Where this will lead is anyone’s guess, but there is a distinct breakdown of traditional paths and processes due to the global reach of the internet and I think this will lead mostly to positive outcomes.
But I’m a rather silly optomist.
Recently, I was drawn into the HBO series “Rome” after seeing the first episode for free online via a very nice site in China that streamed it for me in low quality.
Wanting to see more I was fascinated to discover that while episodes 3+ were also on the same site, episode 2 was nowhere to be found.
I now had a couple of options.
Most directly, I could walk to a store and buy a new copy of the season one DVD for around $30 – a lot considering I wasn’t sure I was ready to commit to the whole season. I could also look online for a used copy that I could get for around $20. Finally, I could download the entire thing for free from a site like The Pirate Bay.
While I was weighing the moral, social and finacial implications of each option I had the following thought:
What is the difference, economically speaking, between me buying a used copy on Ebay from some kid in Nebraska and just downloading it for free from The Pirate Bay, as far as the studio/MPAA is concerned.
Unless I buy a new copy of the DVD than HBO will not be seeing any of my money. Nor will any of the people involved with making “Rome.” So, the notion that downloading the copy from The Pirate Bay is directly “stealing” from the producers and artists is kind of absurd. Am I equally “stealing” from them if I buy the used DVD on Ebay?
The New York Times has an interesting article about a plan from Google and the Major Record Labels to distribute their music for free in China and make their money solely through advertising.
Why would the labels just cave in like that in China while their still dragging American’s into court for downloading a pirated Jay-Z track? This pretty much sums it up:
According to the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, which represents the global record makers, 99 percent of the music downloaded in China violates copyrights.
Lawsuits by major music labels and promises by the Chinese government to crack down on Internet piracy have failed to deter the practices.
Gee, this sounds oddly prophetic when you think about the state of the music industry in the US and Europe. So, this revelation that you can’t sell songs for a profit and need a new business model that offers the music for free must be a sign of what’s to come here, right? Well, not according to the industry execs:
…they say the China deal is not a model for the rest of the world. They say different regions call for different approaches — some that charge for downloads, some that stream music for a single subscription price and some that are supported by advertising.In China, they decided an advertising-supported model was best.
Exactly what makes these execs think that they can quarantine segments of the internet from region to region? Yet more pie-in-the-sky dreaming or total misunderstanding of how the internet works?
It is difficult to see how this decision in China will not basically force the music industry’s hand worldwide. The truth is, they’ve been losing on all fronts simply because they refuse to let go of a dead business model.
LINK
There is no question that YouTube is THE place for people around the world looking to spread their message through video. User-generated videos of major news events like the earthquake in China or the protests in Burma have made YouTube the go-to site for the news that doesn’t make it to the mainstream channels.
So, it should come as no surprise that governments are now taking to YouTube to spread their own message.
According to various news reports, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) created its own YouTube channel carrying videos that include black-and-white aerial footage of attacks on Hamas weapon sites, and clips of Hamas terrorists loading rockets into trucks. (via)
Who knows what effect this will have on global public opinion but it is fascinating to see what has happened now that the power to distribute your message to the world is no longer limited by heavily controlled access to the masses.
Everyone likes to talk about the death of traditional news outlets like papers and the evening news. Of course, that doesn’t mean people aren’t interested in current affairs.
In fact, I would argue that many people are mostly concerned that they aren’t getting the news currently enough. This has led to all sorts of email alerts, readers and other ways to “stay on top” of the news.
Now, it is beginning to look like Twitter might be the next stop for news junkies (via CNet)
“I live in Beijing, which is about 950 miles from the epicenter. Along with others, I first learned of the quake via Twitter, which has been lit up with first-, second-, third-, and many-hand information about various personal experiences, and hundreds of links to other reports. By contrast, mainstream media such as Sohu.com were partially responsible for a massive rumor mill that pervaded Beijing on Monday evening, with an apparently incorrect prediction of a quake in Beijing between 11:00 p.m. and midnight local time–right now.”
And SAI says YouTube is the place to be:
“Want to know what that giant earthquake in China’s remote Sichuan looked like? Better yet, want to know what it’s like to experience a 7.8 magnitude quake? Someone claiming to be a Sichuan University student posted the following video to Tudou (SAI 25 #22), where it’s No. 2 on the homepage, and it was reposted on YouTube.”
This is part of a growing trend of non-traditional “news” services scooping the more traditional destinations.
This morning, while I was trying to find something to watch other than Easter Sunday services I found myself over at CurrentTV watching a report on Chinese bloggers and the “Great Firewall of China.” In the “pod” reporter Laura Ling showed how she could completely circumvent the system by using a piece of software from the company UltraReach.
“Founded by a group of successful entrepreneurs and renowned professionals in computer and Internet who dedicated to providing technologies and service for people to exchange information on Internet freely and safely, UltraReach is the first company with a mission that offers Internet technology and service immune to the national Internet censorship in China and other censor countries. ”
This all sounds pretty interesting and highlights the challenges faced by any government attempting to block or restrict access to the internet.
However, The Atlantic has some rather sobering reporting about just how far China is willing to go:
“Taken together, the components of the control system share several traits. They’re constantly evolving and changing in their emphasis, as new surveillance techniques become practical and as words go on and off the sensitive list. They leave the Chinese Internet public unsure about where the off-limits line will be drawn on any given day. Andrew Lih points out that other countries that also censor Internet content—Singapore, for instance, or the United Arab Emirates—provide explanations whenever they do so. Someone who clicks on a pornographic or “anti-Islamic” site in the U.A.E. gets the following message, in Arabic and English: “We apologize the site you are attempting to visit has been blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political, and moral values of the United Arab Emirates.” In China, the connection just times out. Is it your computer’s problem? The firewall? Or maybe your local Internet provider, which has decided to do some filtering on its own? You don’t know. “The unpredictability of the firewall actually makes it more effective,” another Chinese software engineer told me. “It becomes much harder to know what the system is looking for, and you always have to be on guard.”
I find it hard to believe that anyone will be able to completely control access but this shows that control can often be attained psychologically when it cannot be done so technologically.
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June 23, 2009 1:04 pm | 
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