How much research is needed to understand that copyright enforcement is bad?

In one of my last posts, I've explained how filesharing has caused an increase of interest in multimedia products.  What's amazing is how much research from various governments have come to the same conclusion.

Dutch - Artists don't think that filesharing hurts them in a survey.  However, there is still enforcement occurring even though Dutch unions want to legalize filesharing.

US - The United States has had various governmental agencies to discuss copyright infringement.  The Government Accountability Office, has said the information for piracy data was unreliable (link to original report is in the article).  Just recently, even more information has been found by Techdirt's Mike Masnick.  The fact remains that Hollywood is thriving despite any negative aspects of piracy.  Further, the work of Joe Karaganis and his team in Media Piracy in Emerging Economies has shown the ineffectiveness of copyright enforcement in various countries.

Swiss - Filesharing is not a big deal.  As evidenced by the study, most of the money goes to entertainment products anyway.

Bolivia - Has no copyright.  Their music industry thrives along with all other industries introduced.

China, Nigeria, India - All thrive because of piracy.  The ability to share files leads to more chances to sell merchandise.

Japan - As Glyn Moody has pointed out, the lost sales revenue only occurred when the pirates figured out how to fulfill demand not met by the industry.

As each article shows, piracy is unmet demand.  Those that rely on copyright enforcement are already established, not helping the artists or smaller individuals in their efforts of promotion.  Does piracy have bad effects?  I continue to doubt that more and more each day.  Perhaps more research will show a negative aspect, but as it stands, piracy encourages increases sales far more than enforcement.

Stop Online Piracy and the Hearings

The events of Nov 16 were very interesting.  The internet rose up to fight a bill going through the House and Senate to criminalize sharing online.  In an effort to reduce piracy, Congress has tried to fight the public with two forms of legislation, giving very broad and vague powers to rightsholders that do not represent artists or creators.  The bill from the Senate is Bill is the Protect IP Act while the bill in the House is Bill the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Both bills seek to disable websites with a vague definition of "rogue website".  The major complaint of both bills are the overbroad definitions and the ability to turn anyone into a felon.

An overview is here.  To say that the internet did not like so much power given to a small group would be an understatement.  Here is the tally on just one day.

The fight for the internet is far from over.  There continue to be problems with new legislation in various form. Let's hope that more people wake up to the fact that copyright is not a tool for innovation but a nail in censorship.