The point that stood out to me in the article was "In 1997, copyrighted material contributed more than $400 billion to the national economy and was the country’s single most important export." Quite simply it truly is a matter of economics. Americans in particular got a small taste of what's at stake when Hollywood writers went on strike. While most people were lamenting about re-runs, I must admit that I was applauding their demands for contract stipulations to provide them with equitable compensation as everything goes digital.
Although the article alluded to the fact that foreign governments are aware of the piracy, that to me is the real travesty of justice. Especially in the case of China, a country whose government can and does take action swift action to quiet dissenters (e.g. Tiananmen Square and Myanmar). If governments wanted to honor copyright laws it could be enforced to a much stricter degree. Again, it is a matter of economics.
In terms of my class, I teach economics and government so I would definitely use this article in both classes to stimulate debate about the impact of the digital age.
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2 comments:
Great idea to use this article with your students to begin a discussion on how priacy can effect the economy.
I too was particularly surprised by the amount of piracy that was taking place as described by the author in his article on China. Though the statistics may be off, surely an impressive sum of money is lost on account of stolen intellectual property. I think it is great that you will be using this article for your classes.
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