P2P file sharing: helping to defeat crime

[DaBees-Knees]

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/25820

Two ploys used ad nauseum by the vested-interest entertainment cartels in their continuing efforts to dominate the internet and turn it into an exclusive corporate pipeline are »»»

P2P file sharing is responsible for “massive devastation” to the multi-billion-dollar movie and recording industries
P2P file sharing funds the international narcotics trade, prostitution, white-slave trafficking, etc, etc …
But maybe it’s the other way around, suggests Australian economist and p2pnet contributor Tom Koltai.

In a Reader’s Write to the p2pnet story on how, in an amazing triumph, Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music’s IFPI (International Federation of Phornographic Industry) suborned Spain into launching an operation involving 100 police officers against copyright-infringing jukeboxes (Yes - you read that correctly), “I just wrote an article about how file sharing was positively impacting crime statistics in the USA (decreasing it) resulting in over 3 million less americans in jail than before the internet went commercial,” says Tom.

He’s referring to his post in Perceptric in which he states, “Free-speech via the social networks and P2P would appear to be assisting in lowering the crime rate.”

“1992 was the year that competition hit the USA with tremendous growth in pay-based online services, like Prodigy, GEnie. AOL and Compuserve,” he says, going on »»»

Compuserve introduced the first known WYSIWYG e-mail content and forum posts, with forums growing rapidly to allow individuals to post opinions and commentary on a wide variety of subjects.

The Compusurve (and other competitive offerings) forums evolved into the present day Blogshere and social networking that has taken the Internet by storm and gave the people of the world a non edited conduit to their peers.

1992, was curiously also the year that crime rates started to drop in the USA; and 1998 was the year that another noticeable dip occurred. The year that Napster was born.

Of course this is anecdotal at this stage. (I’m an Economist, not a social-behavioral Psychologist.) But it would seem that when the population have an alternative, economically priced entertainment, they turn away from crime.

An interesting thought. Oh how I would like to be able to prove that was true.  

[Cobra]

It makes sense. If you sit at home and spend more time on the Internet, you have less time to go out and steal, buy drugs, murder, or whatever.

But with how it is worded, the article seems to be only focusing on non-Internet crime since, back then, we weren't trying to throw people in jail for sharing files. So the RIAA/MPAA would consider the points in this article to be moot.