With high-speed Internet access, we have reached the point where even voluminous full-length feature films are being pirated in essentially the same way as songs.  If current trends continue, this could result in an environment where the economic reward for creating professional-quality content of all kinds is no longer sufficient to justify its continued production.

One way to address this threat is to create content that wouldn’t be the same if it were downloaded.

What would be the point of downloading an unauthorized copy of a modular item from the type of interrelated content tapestry described in this essay, if the user loses the ability to navigate at will to other related items?  He might attempt to also copy related modular pieces, but no matter how big a gob he selects, he ends up cutting himself off from the ability to explore potentially interesting related items.

Also, why would he go to all this trouble, purely to avoid seeing an ad? (Or in a pay-per-click environment, paying maybe a nickel?)

In the final analysis, complex interdependence among content items could prove to be the only deterrent to online piracy that is truly effective.