What is the real reason behind all the recent anti-piracy activity?

By Mangone

Sat, 28 Jan 2012
  • 1192 reads
1 comments
 

I suggest that America has finally realized that it can’t compete with China on manufacturing but it can compete on innovation, be it artistic or technological, and so strengthening copyright and anti-piracy legislation is imperative for the US to keep its financial head above water.

"There has been criticism of Apple's portable devices, whether iOS-based (i.e. iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad), or other non-iOS-based (i.e. iPod Classic, iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle), being locked into iTunes and creating an iTunes Store monopoly for these devices...
Because of this, Steve Jobs was ordered to attend a court hearing regarding antitrust violations specifically with iPods and iTunes.

Similarly, Apple has not licensed its FairPlay DRM, or its proprietary lossless format codec Apple Lossless (ALAC), to any other company, thus preventing content —either purchased from the iTunes store, or Apple Lossless encoded in the iTunes computer application or bought from non-iTunes sources— from being used on other manufacturers' devices."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Apple_Inc.

All music on the iTunes Store became DRM-free as of April 2009... quite possibly due to the wide spread use of the free MP3 format on other platforms. How long can Apple withstand the pressure on other media fronts?

Even Fox has repeated reports that Apple co founder, Steve Wozniak, said earlier this month "I Wish my iPhone did everything my android does."
It seems that Wozniak claimed that Android "...offered more features than the iPhone and that the built-in satellite navigation in Android phones is another advantage."
http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2012/01/17/steve-wozniak-wish-ipho...

Essentially, I see the attempt to strengthen copyright legislation as a desperate attempt by companies like Apple to fend off foreign competition while sticking to their propriety ethos which (in the case of Apple) locks users in and does all it can to lock everybody else out.

So why the desperation?
Because user get sick of all the restrictions that come with such an ethos and I have talked to many people who have come close to throwing their Apple gadget against the wall in sheer frustration.

Remember the, almost, worldwide attempt by Apple to prevent the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy?
In a way, ironically, it is a war between Apple and Google - and we, are caught in the middle...

Support one and you get locked in to getting more or less everything from the hardware supplier but support the other and, it is alleged, lose your online privacy.

So what is it to be?

Well, I suggest that the Apple cult will quickly fade. You can't keep people 'locked' in forever.
Since so many high tech products are now built in China how long will it before they are designed there too?

"Back at the factory, where the buildings are swathed in nets after 12 workers committed suicides in a single year, a young girl emerges from the gates. Her job is to clean the iPhone screens before they are packaged.
She says she is 13." http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/24/apple-factories-china-i...

How can US manufacturers hope to compete with Chinese factories without subsidies?

"Foxconn clients include American, European and Japanese companies wishing to reduce labor costs without sacrificing quality.
Notable products which the company manufactures include the Amazon Kindle, iPad, iPhone, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii.
Foxconn is the largest exporter in Greater China.

It seems that, according to figures released today, Samsung Galaxy's are already outselling iphones...
"Samsung shipped more smartphones last year than Apple did iPhones, with the popularity of its Galaxy models helping the Korean company sell a record 300 million handsets."
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-LYFJA36KLVR401-3TPTOLBT77...

So, how could the computer playing field be leveled to make PC’s a less attractive home for pirated software?

Well, I’d say that Microsoft is in the best position to stop piracy if it were to be ‘persuaded’ to do so by fresh legislation. How?
Well, most people use Windows Update…

How hard would it be to add some code to the next version of the Window OS that searched for dubious software and alerted a newly created Official Anti-piracy site?

Then, one day you’re downloading the latest updates and you get a warning that you will be liable for prosecution if certain dubious programs are still on your computer after a certain time limit…

Don’t get me wrong - I don’t think that such a development is remotely likely but it does give a hint of the terrors that future Internet computing could hold for the children of the extended electronic community if we do not remain united, vigilant and ready to fight to protect our privacy and our online freedoms.

Comments welcome.

Certificate U
Non-fiction
Tales Of The Rainbow Dragon
Opinion

Comments

Submitted by Mangone on
'A report written by three U.S. professors showed that only about “$10 or less in direct labor wages goes into an iPhone or iPad is paid to Chinese workers.”' If this is so why bother making it in China? Surely having $10 dollars of work done in the US couldn't add that much onto an all American iPhone or iPad! Mind you 'According to China Daily, citing the report, each unit sold in the U.S. for about $600 adds between $229 and $275 to the U.S - China trade deficit per unit sold.' http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/01/31/how-much-of-the-iphone-... It's very hard to see how if China really is getting only $10 per item that the US ends up losing an average of some $250 extra per item . Perhaps Apple just feels sorry for the poor starving Foxconn workers and gives them a $250 bonus per gadget ;O) I must admit it seems more likely to me that Apple China is getting the money and so it is actually going into Apple's swelling coffers. Whatever the reason it is hard to see how Apple adding an average of about $250 per item to the US trade deficit can be seen as a benefit to the US economy! Unless of course you are being paid to see it that way... It must be that China buys the parts and assembles them rather than Apple buying the parts and leaving only the assembly to Foxconn. Hence, essentially the total cost of the gadgets is reflected in the US - China 'trade deficit' even though, allegedly, most of it is made up of parts purchased from other countries by China. Still, it would be interesting to know what happens to the other 50%, or so, of the $600 - is much of that absorbed by paying for the American made parts? Are there any American made parts? No, it must be profit. The question that interests me most is how each gadget can add to the US trade deficit if the gadget sells at such a profit... It would certainly be revealing to see how much an Apple item sold in Europe effects the US - China trade deficit since the only cost to the US would then be limited to the Chinese manufacturing costs (including parts and labour) which we presume is the $250 or so - and that would be offset against the sale price... in other words it would reveal a large net trade surplus for the US... Perhaps Apple should stop selling domestically and help cut the deficit ;O) Apple Inc Taxes 2011 Sales Revenue......... $108.6B Cost of Goods Sold... $64.08B Gross Income........... $44.52B Tax Current Domestic. $4.65B Tax - Current Foreign.. $0.77B Money to China $64.85B?