The New York Times has a great story (The Pornography Industry vs. Digital Pirates) on how the adult entertainment industry has dealt with piracy of their images and videos. The article basically points out that the adult entertainment industry has done surprisingly well by embracing rather than fighting the file-sharing capabilities of the Internet, and it suggests that the music and movie industries pay heed.
Let the music industry sue those who share files, and let Hollywood push for tough laws and regulations to curb movie copying. Playboy, like many companies that provide access to virtual flesh and naughtiness, is turning online freeloaders into subscribers by giving away pictures to other sites that, in turn, drive visitors right back to Playboy.com. . . .
Mr. Hymes said companies in his industry had come to realize that suing consumers and promoting "draconian laws" were not the answer. "No law written can stem the tide," he said. And so, he said, companies are seeking ways to live with the technologies that threaten them and are trying to turn them to their advantage. . . .
A few merchants in the industry who have tried the kind of aggressive methods used by mainstream entertainment companies say they have not received much in return for their efforts. . . .
Many of the businesses, however, are trying various techniques to make paying customers out of people who take their content. Titan Media, a provider of gay pornography, says it tracks down people who violate its copyright and, as an alternative to a lawsuit, offers amnesty if the infringer becomes a subscriber. . . .
The picture is not as one-sided as my excerpting would suggest--many companies do take a hard-line legal approach, and piracy is still a serious problem for their bottom lines. Still, this is a lesson from a less-than-mainstream source on how to approach more flexibly the problems of the digital age.