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Meta admits using pirated books to train AI, but won't pay for it (www.techspot.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Microsoft famously never went after pirates in Asian countries because despite piracy, it made them the default operating system.

They wanted people to be so used to Windows that they would be willing to pirate it just to use a computer.

It worked and their OS dominance for consumer OSes continues.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There you go. Piracy helps. I'm sure game companies and TV producers and so on feel the same way quite often. People who pirate are free marketing for them because they'll tell other people about the product.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Further, piracy can be reduced or made to not impact you as much if you have the right business model.

Louis CK (before he wrecked his career) famously made millions selling his comedy special through his website for $5 a pop with no Digital Rights Management. You were able to download a copy and keep it forever.

With no DRM, this meant that copies of his special were able to be pirated easily. Prior to releasing this way, he had previously gone on piracy websites and made comments under his pirated specials politely asking people not to pirate, but understanding if they did it because they were too poor.

Despite massive piracy of his special, enough people were happy to pay $5 for a DRM-free copy of his comedy special and if I recall correctly me made $5 million+ on that first special he released like that. It was a massive hit and people were encouraging each other to buy a copy since it was so cheap and respected you as a consumer.

Gabe Newell wasn't wrong, a big part of piracy always was a service problem.

On December 10, 2011, C.K. released his fourth full-length special, Live at the Beacon Theater. Like Hilarious, it was produced independently and directed by C.K. However, unlike his earlier work, it was distributed digitally on his website, foregoing both physical and broadcast media. C.K. released the special for $5.00 and without DRM, hoping that these factors and the direct relationship between the artist and consumer would effectively deter illegal downloading.