Google co-founder Sergey Brin has told The Guardian that the entertainment industry is “shooting itself in the foot, or maybe worse than in the foot” by lobbying for legislation to block sites offering pirate material.

According to Brin, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) bills championed by the film and music industries would have led to the US using the same technology and approach it criticised China and Iran for using. He suggested that the entertainment industry failed to appreciate people would continue to download pirated content as long as it was easier to acquire and use than legitimately obtained material.

“I haven’t tried it for many years but when you go on a pirate website, you choose what you like; it downloads to the device of your choice and it will just work – and then when you have to jump through all these hoops [to buy legitimate content], the walls created are disincentives for people to buy,” he said.

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Categories: Articles, Content, Piracy