■"Cable Pirates Thrive in Brazil: Rather Than Fight Them, the Government May Legalize Them," by Todd Benson, New York Times, 10 November 2004, p. W1.
Cable piracy is huge in Brazil, but all that effort at connectivity—however illegal—represents a serious capital outlay when it's all added up.
So what's a government to do? Tear it all down and throw ordinary citizens in jail?
Or maybe just accept the idea and start charging people for the service, forgiving them the past transgression? After all, that's a lot of effort that would have gone wasted, pissing off a lot of voters, and just bypassing the chance at revenue.
This is pure Hernando de Soto stuff (making you wonder if he wasn't in on it, because he advises Brazil): accept the informal economy where you find, credentializing the assets accrued and allowing the system to take advantage of the taxes/revenues.
Here's how one Brazilian TV official put it:
"The cable companies are well aware that the problem of pirate television isn't going to be solved through police repression," he said. "We have to be intelligent. And that means letting a market that is already thriving continue to thrive by giving it the legal means to do so."
In other words, better to switch than fight!
| Permalink |
