I think one way to look at the issue of piracy is to think of it like smoking in that it affects the utility of society--it's a cultural issue that has to be handled by the law but more importantly the newer generations. You can't just "stop it", it has to be grandfathered out because just like smoking was (or even is), the problem is systemic.

People started weighing the utility of smoking--and most rational people came to the conclusion that collectively it probably wasn't something we should be doing so they started picking away at the issue one cig at a time through legislation, programming, education, and taxation. And there was huge opposition too, especially by the people puffing away. It's taken years, and generations, but smoking is in a definite decline--hell, teenagers in my country (Canada) have stopped smoking twofold in the past 10 years as we're down from 24% to 12%--that's a big leap, but again it's a slow process. It's gotten to the point where smoking isn't cool.

What I'm trying to get at here is that the goal shouldn't be to stop piracy right this instant, that's an impossible task because it is so ingrained into our culture (especially young people like me, and yes, "shifty eyes" I said like me) it should be to systemically weed out the issue over time--and what the OP is doing, challenging the status-quo, and offering suggestions on how to help fix the problem is a step in the right direction (there are flaws, but he noted that); one cig at a time. You might think that piracy doesn't affect the greater utility of the world like say smoking does--there aren't health risks, but there are risks of losing our liberties (look at this madness!), risks of penalty and persecution, risk of moral degredation--not to mention the risks we don't even know about. And when I think of what the internet could potentially be because of SOPA I wonder if it's worth the few songs, or movies, or whatever each of us takes from the pile. I am sure there was a time when parents sitting in a crowded restaurant with young kids all around, smoke just filled in the air, wondered if that tiny bit of enjoyment they got from that lit object was worth it at that time too. And just like those parents then, I don't want newer generations to have to deal with long term consequences of my bits of joy.

Anyways Mr. Flores thanks for posting this, I like it when people try to honestly work towards a better future. Your idea probably won't get traction, but think about it as continuing that slow and daunting process of removing one bit at a time.

-signed a dumb kid who's never smoked

Cigarette smoking is in decline because science has demonstrated that cigarettes are decidedly harmful to one's health (though still legal). As far as smoking, piracy is more akin to using marijuana, an illegal activity that is on the rise despite the government's multibillion dollar crusade to make everyone JUST SAY NO. The fact is, similar to piracy, people don't feel bad about smoking pot because nobody is actually harmed in the process. So what happens when the government criminalizes harmless behavior that people enjoy? Many citizens go to jail, and the black market for illegal goods continues to boom. The status of pot in America (ubiquity) is the result of a failed attempt to regulate a risky tangible contraband that has to be carefully cultivated for months in the real world. Now imagine pot with 50x the demand, infinite supply, negligible distribution overhead and you've got yourself a completely ridiculous regulatory agenda.

All the threats you describe come from those who would seek to reverse progress so that they can delay adapting to a world with a computer in every pocket. The culture that needs to change is the one that purports we outlaw the transmission of certain binary sequences because someone else sequenced them "first" (although I'm permitted to transmit an arbitrary sequence of copyrighted bits as long as my work is considered derivative).