Tuesday, March 08, 2005

The slightest bit of research. Really.

"Now, when your core consumers discover that foreigners are paying a lot less for the same product than they are, they sometimes get angry — especially if the product is one that can be imported at relatively low cost, like, say, drugs. The same is true for entertainment. Why should law-abiding Americans pay $15 for Martin Scorsese's latest masterwork when Chinese consumers [...] have to pay only $3 for the exact same product? Markets being what they are, mechanisms—legal, quasi-legal, illegal—spring up to allow American consumers to gain access to the goods at something like the same terms that foreign consumers enjoy."
-- Daniel Gross, "Next Up, DVD Reimportation: A fantastic moneymaking opportunity for Slate readers"

Apparently someone hasn't heard of region codes. Or Google. The question is--are people really this clueless about the copyright protection hidden in everyday items, and should they be banned from ever sharing their opinions with the public?

2:32:14 PM    comment []