Statistical Anomalies in Reports Originating in the EU

by Tom Koltai on March 29, 2010 08:26PM (EST)

Introduction
Over the last several months a number of reports have been published on the impact of file sharing of popular music on Europe's macro economy.

The purpose of this paper is to identify a number of arguments that have been made that are provably false or present data that is contrary to other so-called factual data that is diametrically opposed the data in these reports.

The question is what the rationale might be for publishing reports that can be so easily disproven. While we can only surmise what is behind this, we have a very deep concern with the concept of publishing and promoting information that could possibly be treated as fact and which could then be used to argue changes in legislation governing various rights that ordinary citizens may have, particularly with respect to their ability to have an ongoing internet connection.

The fundamental problem with reports of this kind is that they create an environment where logical arguments are made based on false hypotheses. And as any good student of logic understands, if you start with a false hypothesis it is impossible to reach a provably true conclusion.

The pursuit of changes to legislation based on false hypotheses, if successful, would almost certainly lead to random unforseeable events and trends taking place that are totally contrary to the philosophical development of the human race and would overturn hundreds of years of enlightenment thinking.

For this reason we believe that the analysis of these recent reports should be carefully considered by readers interested in the legal structures that govern both content and communications as they pertain to citizens.

Unfortunately, the details of our response to these various reports now contain many pages [188] of dry, boring statistical data and there is unfortunately no real way to proffer a rebuttal suitable to present in a Blog format that would;

a)       Be of interest to the great majority of Perceptric readers.
b)       Be presented in a continuous format suitable for cross-referencing and comprehension.
c)       Be taken seriously by anyone in either Government or Ministerial advisory roles.

Therefore  over the next few days, highlights (the more interesting bits) of our research will be published as a series of articles here on Perceptric, and when complete, the entire report  will be tendered (in a more formal fashion) for consideration and comment by academics amongst the global community.

Report Number 1.

Building a Digital Economy : The Importance of Saving Jobs in the EU’s Creative Industries

The study focuses on three questions :

1) What is the contribution of the creative industries to the European economy in terms of GDP and jobs ?
2) What are the consequences of piracy on retail revenue and jobs ?
3) If current policies do not change in the EU, what will these losses be by 2015 ?

We urge readers to read this report in its entirety, so that the highlights of our research in answer to many of these reports findings will have relevance.