Grant this book its air of impunity. It?s uplifting. It?s heady. It?s quaint. Almost as if the ink of its printed text has been remixed with whiffs of argon (Ar) or something. Whatever it is, read it. In essence, The Pirate?s Dilemma is the earnest testimony of a one-time pirate radio jockey in favour of intellectual piracy, ownership particulars be damned. It is also a celebration of the doughty remix, the musical wonders of which waft into Indian ears nowadays with Chaar Din, a restively youthful remake of an elegiacal old classic.
Matt Mason, the ex-pirate who wrote this book, doesn?t forget to nod in the general direction of John Perry Barlow (of Eff) and Frans Johansson (The Medici Effect), whose influence is evident, but relies a little too heavily on his own musical influences to underscore his case. He casually credits the coloured-hair punk rock scene of the 1970s with virtually all the rebellions that came after it, busting barriers to give the world such faves of freedom as personal computers, open-source software and MP3 music. Most of the guys who came up with all this, he contends, were just do-gooders who didn?t see why it?s theft if you take something (say, a tune or snippet of software code) without depriving anyone of it.
Mason?s proposition: piracy produces innovation. Why, that?s exactly how America got its act together, stealing stuff from Europe during the Industrial Revolution. In fact, the word ?yankee? comes from the Dutch word ?Janke? for pirate. And if William Fox hadn?t fled to the Californian Wild West to escape Thomas Edison?s patent on film technology, there wouldn?t have been any 20th Century Fox. Piracy, in short, is a long honoured practice, its silken flag fluttering with renewed pride in an array of markets old and new. Just look at Internet music downloads. Millions out there are at it. As Gnarls Barkley sang in 2006, you?re crazy if you think you can control it.
The fun part of the deal is this: often enough, what comes of it is art. Consider cinema. Tarantino?s acclaimed Reservoir Dogs is but a remix of Kubrick?s Clockwork Orange and Ringo Lam?s City of Fire, so why pick on Kaante for lack of originality? Internet junkies, meanwhile, are busy making and reloading their own versions of movies. ?As the Old Testament, the iPod, and a million other innovations have already proved,? writes Mason, ?a good remix is much more than the sum of its parts.? Gee, if one is of itself, and itself alone, so be it. Take The Matrix: Dezionized. As a severely snipped version of its own original, the film was an online blockbuster.
At the end, this book is not as anarchist as you?d imagine. Mason dismisses neoclassical economics as ?autistic? in its ignorance of humane interests, but does not reject the financial incentive for innovation in the prospect of intellectual property ownership and royalty receipts. And he does, eventually, go legit himself. Beyond self-absolution, this book?s purpose is to help businesses formulate a defence strategy against losses inflicted by all-too-rampant piracy. This, indeed, is what the dilemma of the book?s title refers to ? a game theory solution drawn from the Prisoner?s Dilemma.
In the original, two accomplices kept apart in separate dungeons are pressured to confess to some felony. If one betrays the other, the betrayer goes scot-free and the partner is locked up for life. If both squeal on each other, they both get half life terms. And if they both hold their peace, they?re jailed only for a few months. If either goes by simple self-interest, you get a suboptimal outcome. It?s best if both assume mutual assurance.
In Mason?s book, the prisoners are two rival companies, each faced with the choice of responding to piracy by either fighting under the aegis of the copyright law (the legal position), or adapting to it under prevailing market conditions (if done unilaterally, this is betrayal, since dropping price hurts the rival more than pirates). Mason freely asks both players to cooperate in adapting their prices to piracy. If it?s a force the market needs, compete with it, don?t squash it. Something of the sort has already played out in the global music industry. While the biggies banded together in court against Napster and other MP3 music sharers, Apple?s iTunes sneaked up, grabbed this hot digital format and ran with it. And legally, too. Today, all-round cooperation is still their best bet, even as pirates get it off in crazier new ways. But relax, one way or another, some good will come of it.