This post popped up in my RSS reader just now, which refers to an older 2002 article by Tim O'Reilly, entitled Piracy is Progressive Taxation, and Other Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution).
Here are the bulleted headers–but please read the article for a better discussion.
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Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.
Piracy is progressive taxation.
Customers want to do the right thing, if they can.
Shoplifting is a bigger threat than piracy.
File sharing networks don't threaten book, music, or film publishing. They threaten existing publishers.
“Free” is eventually replaced by a higher-quality paid service.
“There's more than one way to do it.”
I just thought it was a good read and pertinent to PK's stance on letting the market work things out in copy-wars.