Antidote to Piracy

There is no concept of piracy in the open source world as long as the “pirated” goods adhere to open source licenses. It can be software, online content or even hardware (talk about Arduino). You see, piracy is just an artificial term created by the usual suspects: patents and intellectual property. Piracy strikes fear and guilt to end users. For the actual producer of “pirated” goods, it’s just business.

The complaint is valid but superficial. Of course, there are production costs hence customers need to pay. But when producers have recouped their production costs, cost of reproduction is marginal.

And here’s the rub: Software and content can be easily copied and distributed. Hence, the existence of DRM.

But what if vendors localize their prices? Same quality DVD movies but for lower prices that masses of people can afford? It’s not just DVDs but software and music as well.

Producers just need to rethink their distribution strategy and the whole ecosystem, because people are willing to pay if the price is right. Not dirt cheap prices but just right. Supply and demand must meet at a certain price point.

The fact that piracy is rampant is not a moral problem. It’s more of economics, or to be specific, localized economics.