Matt Mason’s book on "The Pirate’s Dilemma" is now out. I was lucky enough to get hold of a preview copy of this a few months ago, and to talk (very briefly) to Matt after his presentation at Business of Software 2007. At the time, I thought Matt was onto something very big. I now know he is.
His is one of those big ideas that just clicks. Matt’s premise is that pirates perform society a valuable service. They show where the marketplace is broken. Pirate radio DJs were the bellwethers that created the path for commercial radio in the UK. File sharing and online music pirates opened up the way for iTunes. Matt puts it better himself in this blog post about other people’s property.
You should buy Matt’s book.