Over here in Germany, the music industry, the movie
industry, and book publishers have put a surcharge on just about everything
from printers to USB sticks in order to make up for losses they say they
incurred because people increasingly copy music, movies, and books. You pay several euros, for instance, for that memory card in your digital camera. (Not sure how many people use digital cameras to copy material.)
Now, a website has been put up to show you what you pay
where. You can also enter the number of items you purchased over the past few
years, and the site shows you how much you paid in charges for stolen goods. In
my case, it is around 275 euros.
I have always found interesting the claim that copied
material would've otherwise been purchased. I wonder how many people copy or download something to see
whether they like it and then decide they don't.
