Tech | June 28, 2010 | 143 comments

Obama administration announces massive piracy crackdown

source: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=18815

Image
liveroadkill
While they may never be able to truly defeat piracy and drive it from the lurking depths of the internet, copyright protection attack-dog organizations like the RIAA and MPAA have long dreamed of the day when they would no longer have to pay for their own copyright enforcement. Now that dream is on the verge of coming true, thanks to the Obama administration.

After countless lobbyist dollars from the music and film industry and a brief "public review", the administration rolled out its vision to fight piracy yesterday afternoon. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden -- whose blunt speech has sometime left him in trouble -- did not mince words.

He states, "This is theft, clear and simple. It's smash and grab, no different than a guy walking down Fifth Avenue and smashing the window at Tiffany's and reaching in and grabbing what's in the window."

The sound-byte comparing downloads to stealing jewels from New York City's finest jeweler quickly lit up the web. Bob Pisano, interim chief executive officer at the Motion Picture Association of America praised the VP, "It is especially critical that the United States has an effective framework for protecting creative content online and enforcing intellectual property rights in the digital environment."

According to the Obama administration, the RIAA, and MPAA, the world economy is pretty much doomed if we don't start prosecuting pirates at home and abroad. Without such a crackdown, businesses will go bankrupt the coalition argues. Biden states, "Piracy hurts, it hurts our economy."

Interestingly, the statements seem to fly in the face of a recent Government Accountability Office study released to U.S. Congress earlier this year, which concluded that there is virtually no evidence for the claimed million dollar losses by the entertainment industry. That study suggested that piracy could even benefit the economy.

Another noteworthy study from three years back notes that virtually every citizen violates intellectual property laws in some way on a daily basis.

The White House press release was full of buzz phrases, but short on details. It did however indicate that the U.S. government may increasingly monitor filesharing networks and BitTorrent sites and assist media groups in their prosecution/threat letter efforts. It speaks of improved "law enforcement efforts at the Federal, state and local level."

The biggest effort, though, will be devoted to cracking down on piracy websites in the U.S. and overseas. The administration was short on details of how exactly it would convince piracy-loving nations like China to change their ways, but it did say it would try to do so by "being as public as we possibly can" about infringement.

The press release states, "As we shine the spotlight on foreign governments that have rogue actors doing illicit business within their borders, it's the government's responsibility to respond."

Such efforts have shown mild success. After lots of threats against the Swedish government by the U.S., the European Union nation finally tried admins with the nation's largest torrent site The Pirate Bay last year and found them guilty. The trial was later exposed to be a perversion of the justice system, with the judge who gave the verdict have multiple ties to copyright protection organizations. The verdict -- $3M USD in damages and a year of hard prison time for the admins -- is currently being appealed.

The White House's vision is perhaps a prelude to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which will go before Congress later this year. The bill would make P2P or BitTorrent client development a criminal offense if the distributed software was used for infringement. It also implements an interesting provision called "imminent infringement", which allows the government to charge people who they think might be about to infringe with a civil offense (for example if you searched "torrent daft punk"). This is among the first official "thought crime" provisions to be proposed by the U.S. government. The bill also makes it a criminal offense to bypass DRM.

Ultimately, it should be interesting to see how American taxpayers react to President Obama's decision to spend their money on efforts to prosecute them and try to choke out piracy at home and abroad, particularly when the current evidence is inconclusive of its effects. One thing's for sure, though. Top politicians on both sides of the aisle are firmly behind the music and movie industry anti-piracy and money-collection efforts

Guess were starting a war on media piracy next?
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143 comments // Obama administration announces massive piracy crackdown

  • Mikek10
    • 0
      Mikek10  

    • I think radio has suffered and the general quality of the music being put out by record companies has also suffered. The revenues are not there now to support many record companies. Music is a production and requires the talents of many people and is a vital industry. So in that way we should support it and stop illegal pirating.

    • 1 year ago
  • Mikek10
    • 0
      Mikek10  

    • While it may seem cool to illegally download movies and music in reality it is killing those industries. In the end music and movie quality will suffer as the revenue isn't there. These websites have to be stopped to save the health of these industries.

    • 1 year ago
  • alicynx
    • 0
      alicynx  
    • Mikek10:

      I have a hard time believing this when it comes to music - everyone has music in them, and money doesn't make them sound any better. The only thing money does is allow musicians to live off royalties. I don't have to quit my day job to create great, inspiring music, and I don't need a major label to be heard either thanks you YouTube, CD Baby, Reverbnation, and others. Now, film is a whole other animal, but for my two cents if they would stop churning out crap I'd be happy to pay to see the films that are out. Granted, taste is subjective but we can all agree that Megan Fox should not be given the status she has - imaging if she were trying for the same status in 1954? Yeah, no way. There's something to be said for substance, plot and a great story; most of the schlock out there now has none - the world could have done without Transformers 2, srsly.

    • 1 year ago
  • alicynx
    • 0
      alicynx  

    • It's interesting - there are really only two professions one can go into where you do something one time and you can be paid for it for the rest of your life. There's entertainment (movies and TV, music, writing) and software development. Me? I have to go to work every day and prove that I deserve to be paid for the same repetitive actions I take day in day out; a musician can record one song and, if it's liked, they'll get royalties in perpetuity.

    • 1 year ago
  • Atalanda_Cameron
  • alicynx
  • UtopianSky
    • +1
      UtopianSky  

    • Well, it's more like walking down Fifth Avenue, leaving the window at Tiffany's completely undamaged, not taking anything, but walking away with an exact duplicate of what's in the store.

      If that was technically possible, I'm not sure it would be illegal.

      Not that I support piracy, but hyperbole does not help.

    • 1 year ago
  • kulahptik
    • +1
      kulahptik  

    • In the midst of the great recession I am glad that the Obama administration is spending the time and taxpayer money to pursue this course. I mean it is dumb to focus on states who have gone so deep in debt they have stopped paying pensions and bills. I am glad they "smashed and grabbed" 700 billion dollars from the american public to pay wall street and all the other irresponsible elite so that their millions of dollars wrongly earned were able to be kept, unlike the millions of people who lost their job because of them. I am glad that the administration is making these decisions now because hopefully the american public will wake the fuck up and realize that their rights are being steadily revoked and hopefully we will be able to elect someone less concerned with the hollywood wack jobs and more concerned with the ones living one paycheck ahead of forclosue and download movies as the only viable means of entertainment. I say we cry financial discrimination. If it is ok for our employers to pay us less than it takes to pay rent, utilities, and car payments (don't even get me started on health insurance) then they have to understand that some can not afford hundreds of dollars a month on entertainment. Are we supposed to sit in a dark room between work hours? We are on the brink of living in financial slavery, like the workers living in the corporate facilities they work in in china, and I hope that the american people have the balls to stand up against our corporate government.

    • 1 year ago
  • coleman89
    • +1
      coleman89  

    • The only real question is where is the line for "sharing" drawn? Can I let my brother download the CD I just bought into his iTunes? Can I put my music on several computers? Can other people listen to my music?

      I don't get how sharing music/movies is any different than giving someone the actual physical CD to borrow? Sure, if you do it MASSIVELY online, it might be wrong. But where do we draw the line? And I don't know if anyone has statistics for movie/music sales, but I'm pretty sure people still spend gobs of money on purchasing movies/music. I still buy lots of music from iTunes. But I also have no problem asking a friend to send me a song he already has. =/

      I just think the last thing the nation needs right now is big, over paid execs suing average middle class people for gobs of money because they downloaded a song off the internet. We're in enough of a financial crisis right now, wait til afterward to steal all of our money.

    • 1 year ago
  • bombastinator
    • +1
      bombastinator  

    • Not much of a "massive crackdown"
      "The White House press release was full of buzz phrases, but short on details. It did however indicate that the U.S. government may increasingly monitor filesharing networks and BitTorrent sites and assist media groups in their prosecution/threat letter efforts. It speaks of improved "law enforcement efforts at the Federal, state and local level."

      What does that mean? It means they didn't actually DO anything. Let's wait and see what is ACTUALLY going to happen before we drop our collective shorts and run in circles screaming.

    • 1 year ago
  • political_junkie
    • +3
      political_junkie  

    • Biden -"It's... no different than... smashing the window at Tiffany's and reaching in and grabbing what's in the window."

      So downloading Ass-atar and f%cking DIAMOND THEFT are the SAME THING!!

      In this country we recognize there are different levels of MURDER!!!!!!
      Its NOT the SAME...
      PERIOD!

      Sorry, this kind of crap gets me mad.

    • 1 year ago
  • observer2121
  • political_junkie
    • +1
      political_junkie  
    • observer2121:

      Haven't you ever heard of Murder I? Murder II? Manslaughter?
      A person dies in each case, but they are different crimes.

      Are you saying that a person who puts a pipe bomb in someone's
      grocery bag after weeks of planning commits the same crime
      as a father who, defending his family's safety, accidently kills
      a home invader?

    • 1 year ago
  • ryanmac3
  • coleman89
  • alicynx
  • political_junkie
    • +1
      political_junkie  

    • The one question you need to ask yourself to know if this is capitol-B Bullsh!t is:

      If the recording industry didn't spend one dime on lobbying,
      how high do YOU think internet "piracy" would rank
      on the national agenda?

      Food for thought.

    • 1 year ago
  • observer2121
    • 0
      observer2121  
    • political_junkie:

      You question is irrelevant. The government routinely does more than one thing at a time so dealing with Internet Piracy does not take away from it's other activities. Why don't you just buy your music then you wouldn't have to worry.

    • 1 year ago
  • political_junkie
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  

    • I am not sure I understand some of these comments. Some have indicated that they are appalled that the Obama Administration is acting on this issue when there are so many more important issues. The fact of the matter is that the Administration is acting on dozens of different issues every day. There are a buttload of federal administrative agencies rendering decisions or issuing new rules all the time (think Food and Drug Administration, Federal Communications, Commission, Internal Revenue Service rulings, Labor rulings, etc, etc). Some are of greater importance than this issue and some are of lesser importance.

      The notion that the people who share music and/or movie files would not purchase that entertainment if it were not available for free online is a red herring. There are people who can't afford to purchase new cars, but that is no reason why car companies would or should give new cars away to those who can't afford them.

      I can't see the legitimacy of the argument that people shouldn't pay for music because the artist gets such a small percentage of the purchase price. Most of the people who make money from the sale of a CD or DVD other than the artist nonetheless have legitimate jobs -- from the people who mix the music to those who manufacture the disks, create the cover art, market the disks, sell the disks in their retail music stores, etc. -- all have bills to pay and most have families to support.

      The only argument that holds water with me is the one that says that avoiding piracy is technologically impossible. That may very well be true.I don't think prosecuting people for file sharing is necessarily the right way to go. But I am blown away by people who think the entertainment industry has no right to at least TRY to keep their products from being given away. It may not make you happy, but it is certainly their right.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
    • -1
      artemis6  
    • cztheday:

      I agree . Piracy is the new radio . As an artist that has been getting airplay for over a year , I would like to give my music away for free , and have , in the past . It has been for sale directly on various websites , and I have been dissapointed with the results . It is not working out for me , though . I have always been proud of the hard work I do . I just can no longer afford to do it . My unemployed friends , need , they feel , to have this music . It makes their life bearable in times of high stress . My car , my computer and my heart all need repair . I have no more strength to do shows to packed coffee houses , for free , or for a meal . If you think I have NOT payed my "dues" or that the music is "bad" , think again . I have two awards for songwriting and a strong rep in the business . I have no more strength for paying anything . As it stands , the listeners are being sreved . The artist , except for the few I see listed , are not . Just think of the great music you will never hear , because no one wanted to consider it valuable enough . I had hoped some , like myself , would pay the artist direct . This needs to be done , or those music lovers actually rob themselves and their generation of the chance to define a culture . If an artist has brought joy to your life , it is thier joy and privlege to do so . Do not abandon and forget this gift and your part in honoring them for this contribution to you life . Return the favor . Be in partnership with the artist . I think it wrong so many artist die in squalor throughout history . Mozart , Van gogh , yet they contribute all they have . There needs to be a better systen . What ever it should be , is not in my power to create . Perhaps it is simply , in an artist nature , to be far too generous . You know , if real creativity gets squelched , all that will be seen or heard , is the crap promoted by the corporate world for their uses . If you don't know the difference ......

    • 1 year ago
  • alicynx
    • 0
      alicynx  
    • artemis6:

      "I have no more strength to do shows to packed coffee houses , for free , or for a meal ."

      Covers? Charge $2 at the door, and split down the middle with the venue. Ninety-nine percent of venues will do this, if you're established and they believe you'll bring enough people in to meet their needs. If you've been doing this for awhile, you should have no problem working out a small cover. In addition, you can move your CDs and other wares at the shows. As an unsigned musician you have to become all aspects of a small business - just because you can play a guitar or sing well doesn't mean that you'll have it any easier than anyone else trying to start a business ^_^ You have to constantly push your work, every time you're in public, if you want to make music your bread and butter.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  
    • alicynx:

      Alicynx , thanks for the encouragement . ; ) I agree , and I would be ,if that were at all possible , when I say no more strength , i meant that , literally . Got a heart condition . I am not allowed to exert myself for more than 15 minuets a day . It runs in the family . I though I could avoid it by taking superb care of myself . I would like to blame stress , it could well be in my genes . I still hope to get better .

    • 1 year ago
  • teller_of_tales
  • telcod
    • +1
      telcod  

    • Send money to the musicians directly. F the middleman. The movies are crap these days unless your a 12 to 14 year old. And that is the demographic that is probably steeling them. Crack down on Asia. Can't do that, too many potential customers. So many yellow butts to kiss, so little time. Oh, did I say that out loud? Is yellow poly incorrect? But black is still ok? Brown? Redskin? Oh, that's the name of a football team. A friend told me that Indians prefer Indian rather than Native American these days. He's Indian so he can make the call I guess. Some people call my daughter a Nazi because she is of German descent (also Scotch & Irish & and Indian-the American kind). Don't you just love people?

      That's what I like about pirates. A pirate is a pirate. Unless he is elected or corporate. Or a movie star or a singer. If he (she or it) is a black rap star, he (she or it) is a Niger, bitch, ho (my spell checker says I have to capitalize Niger) I like my spell checker. We are all black anyway (deep down and you know it).

      Arrrr matie.

    • 1 year ago
  • coleman89
  • andreii
    • 0
      andreii  

    • Most of today's music and films are crap anyways...

      All you have to do is autotune it...

      as for the movies, they cost too much. >.>

    • 1 year ago
  • observer2121
  • reactionforce
  • andreii
    • 0
      andreii  
    • observer2121:

      Is it not enough that they charge like $11 for a movie to watch at the theatres and after that they charge about the same for the DVD? I mean the movie industry has 3-D now, they should be able to make great revenue off that and music has live shows and merchandise... that should be enough.

    • 1 year ago
  • observer2121
    • 0
      observer2121  
    • andreii:

      Whether or not you consider it enough is irrelevant. The fact is that you cannot take the law into your own hands just because you feel like $11 is sufficient payment. Last time I checked the movie makers are not forcing you to go to the movies and they are not forcing you to buy DVDs. If you don't like the price don't buy it. I don't think a Ferrari is worth $400,000 but I'm not going to walk into a showroom and drive away with one without paying.

    • 1 year ago
  • alicynx
    • +2
      alicynx  

    • I think it's important to remember where the record labels came from, and why they were so important. Back when a musician wanted to be seen by the world, he needed a conduit to get out there. With the internet this isn't so much the case anymore - an artist can go through separate companies for manufacture, distribution and promotion, essentially becoming their own label. This means that there will have to be a fundamental shift in the way we look at the process a musician needs to go through to get global attention.
      Right now money still talks, but soon anyone will be able to go to a CD Baby or Tunecore and, combined with some viral Youtube hits, become an international sensation without ASCAP or the RIAA being in the way. I'm pretty sure that scares the hell out of an industry that has built itself up as professional leeches, making money off of the talent and hard work of others.

    • 1 year ago
  • Armageddon_Now
  • Buddha2112
    • 0
      Buddha2112  

    • I'd rather pay higher prices and go to concerts to support artists and venues, than have to pay record labels to sit on their ass and put their names on other people's work.

      Piracy isn't quite piracy, it's only spreading copies, and sharing. OH NOES not SHARING!

      They can't stop us all, unless we all get scared.

    • 1 year ago
  • observer2121
    • 0
      observer2121  
    • Buddha2112:

      As much as people love free music or sharing as you call it, it is theft plain and simple. The fact that you may not have bought the music unless it were free doesn't change the fact that by "sharing" you are stealing material that someone else made with the intent to sell.

    • 1 year ago
  • alicynx
    • 0
      alicynx  
    • observer2121:

      I have a question for you then - when you sing "Happy Birthday", do you go and put a dollar in the mail to AOL Time-Warner? They own that song, and by singing it (sharing the song with others) you're violating their copyright holdings on that song. Heaven forbid you record a group of people singing it! Imagine how much you've just stolen from AOL, purely and simply....

    • 1 year ago
  • observer2121
    • 0
      observer2121  
    • alicynx:

      First of all in the case of the Happy Birthday song payment only applies when the song is used in film, television, radio, anywhere open to the public, or even among a group where a substantial number of those in attendance are not family or friend to whoever is performing the song. I have never sang the song in any of those circumstances so there is no need for me to mail a check to Time Warner. AOL split from Time Warner and is a separate company now.

      Also there is a huge difference in me singing a song and me downloading a song from the internet and listening to it without any compensation to anyone. Suppose you operated a bus and I bought a ticket then I passed the ticket out the window and gave it to my friend and he did the same thing until the bus was full of people who used the same ticket, would you not classify that as theft or is it simply sharing. You can rationalize all you want but you can never escape the fact that it is theft.

    • 1 year ago
  • alicynx
    • 0
      alicynx  
    • observer2121:

      Copyright is Copyright, and is NOT confined to film and non-family. If you've sung that song at a park, in a restaurant (and you cannot tell me that never once have you sung it in a restaurant if you live in the US), or anywhere outside the confines of your home - that is the ONLY place it applies. The law doesn't care if the group you're singing to are friends or not - if you've sung it in public and haven't paid for it, you've violated their copyright. You don't have to be profiting from the performance either.
      The passing off of a bus transfer is also a spurious analogy, as it is the handling of a piece of physical matter - it is not the same as filesharing, nor is the ownership in question at any point. A rider owns the transfer, which in turn provides a service. To pass a transfer to another is the equivalent of handing over a receipt and not a good or service. I could give my friend my receipt from a Target purchase, does that mean I'm to blame if they use it to fraudulently return an item to Target that they didn't buy? No. Similarly, if I toss my transfer into the trash and someone else picks it up and uses it, is that theft? All of this is irrelevant, of course, but still proves a point.

      Copyright infringement is not a crime, and it is not theft. Because there isn't physical matter being stolen, it is not a criminal act. This is backed by precedent, and it is the reason why the RIAA is confined to civil court for their actions against downloaders. In fact, the RIAA is the one stealing, since they collect fines that they do not pass on to the artists. Two great articles are here:

      http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1036800/riaa-collects-fines-doesn-pay-a...

      http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Music/Musiclaw4.html

      It's important to remember that an mp3 is intellectual property, not physical property, and as such is not subject to criminal law. This is exactly why folks who download are not in jail. If it was as simple as 'theft is theft', then this would be considered a criminal act and as such warrants would be used for the arrest of downloaders. It's obvious that this is not a cut and dry situation, or we wouldn't be here talking about it, now would we?

    • 1 year ago
  • mitekillem
    • 0
      mitekillem  

    • You know if they really want money, they should go after Apple. If I sell a song on iTunes that cost someone $0.99, I might see 9 cents of that. Now, for a milti-platinum artist, it's less, because the royalties go to the music industry first.
      Artists have to make most of their bead and butter off of other merch like T-Shirt sales.

      The current music industry is a racket, and Apple is robbing artists of their hard earned cash.

    • 1 year ago
  • observer2121
  • Idoknow19
    • +2
      Idoknow19  

    • Millions without jobs (me included), corrupt military-industrial complex, exploding gap between the rich and poor, imminent environmental consequences a background priority, and piracy is the problem.

      Yeah, okay. I get it now: I don't have millions of dollars to influence where policy goes.

    • 1 year ago
  • Mattchicago
    • +5
      Mattchicago  
    • Image

    • this might turn out really bad and backfire in many aspects. especially if someone's kid or teen is typing in torrent korn or some sort of video and they get charged by the federal government or RIAA. So basically if they are going to charge per keyword entry or strings then basically the internet provider will be monitored as well. There should be a Boycott of this and everyone should download to show them how many people actually copy or "steal" things on the internet that is available to the general public. If they really want to combat illegal downloads and copyright they should block the sites that host the files, and eliminate P2P programs.

      I just think this is going to backfire sooner or later and it might have to be re-thought about how they want to combat this piracy issue.

    • 1 year ago
  • thepatient
    • 0
      thepatient  

    • public access to music is a threat to their vision of control. we can't have people enjoying things. lets try to fuck that up for them.

    • 1 year ago
  • Hipstar
  • reactionforce
  • NiceN
    • 0
      NiceN  

    • Must be a slow news day; either way, smash and grabbing in the internet is as common as tripping on the wireless router.

    • 1 year ago
  • currentlyreading
    • +1
      currentlyreading  

    • I think that the music industry should try and focus on the musical talent/creativity of the artist instead of their look which they focus on 99% of the time (the one percent left out is for indie labels). And the government should stop trying to show that they are doing something by accomplishing insignificant things like getting apologies from its own members for stupid remarks towards the president. As well as announcing that they are going to do something that can be done quickly if they wanted to: closing GITMO, ending don't ask don't tell.

      My favorite line of this whole article:
      "Another noteworthy study from three years back notes that virtually every citizen violates intellectual property laws in some way on a daily basis."

      Do you know how much money I owe Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein?

    • 1 year ago
  • coleman89
  • insaintity
  • insaintity
  • insaintity
  • PleasingPanda
    • +4
      PleasingPanda  

    • This is a declaration of war...give us liberty or give us death! The public has a right to affordable media...to define its worth for itself.Government should not mediate between public and corporate interests. Our government is supposed to stand for the people not corporations masquerading as people.

    • 1 year ago
  • MindsiMedia
  • Saladin
    • +1
      Saladin  

    • Oh look, another Federal subsidy for corporate corruption.

      Business. As fucking. Usual.

      Now YOUR OWN MONEY will go to prosecute people for frivolous crimes and to intimidate people for sharing content worth as little as 10 dollars.

      Remember that girl who got prosecuted for over 2,000 dollars a song for having 20 pirated songs? Yeah, those days are coming back.

      Of course, you know what the best form of protest is right?

      PIRATE EVEN MORE. Then prosecution becomes such a waste of time that by the time someone new gets voted in piracy will be more popular than ever before, not less.

    • 1 year ago
  • afloyd60
    • 0
      afloyd60  
    • Saladin:

      you are hereby deemed a thought criminal. you are to be placed under arrest immediately by the thought police and delivered to the ministry of love for political re-education. you will learn to love big brother.

    • 1 year ago
  • Andrew_Douglas
  • MoonLoon
  • SxVodk8
  • Einsam_Data_Old
  • Nephwrack
  • MindsiMedia
  • Elevator
    • +2
      Elevator  

    • Which hurts the economy more, record companies and major artists POSSIBLY making less money OR spending millions of dollar to catch individual Americans so they can be fined tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars (plus legal fees)? Don't forget their loss of productivity and standard from having a criminal record and then maybe even the tens of thousands to throw them in prison. What a load of shit.

    • 1 year ago
  • QuinlanT
  • tylervictoria1
  • ArchDruid
  • copperdragon
  • EmperorThan
    • 0
      EmperorThan  

    • "which allows the government to charge people who they think might be about to infringe with a civil offense (for example if you searched "torrent daft punk")"

      So Google searching certain words will become illegal?

    • 1 year ago
  • EmperorThan
  • lifestudentno83
  • lifestudentno83
  • mindcruzer
  • s_peak
    • +21
      s_peak  

    • THEFT is defined as "depriving someone else of their property". When you download, you don't STEAL it, you copy it. A more appropriate word for this is "sharing".

      Honestly, the RIAA and MPAA need to get their heads out of their asses and USE the download medium instead of trying so vehemently to stop hackers and pirates. Message to the MPAA and RIAA: YOU CANNOT STOP THEM. Even "military grade" (read: used by CIA and military) algorithms for digital protection of media have been cracked in less than two weeks.

      Really what they SHOULD be doing is trying to revitalize their business models to integrate these other channels. You can offer free movies online if you put ads in them or something. I don't know. The amount of users that download a movie can provide TONS of marketing data, potentially worth billions in the long run. EA makes games you can play online for free using a sponsor system where companies can even have ads inside games. Get creative, assholes. There's no way you can sue billions of people.

      Also... make decent movies and music, instead of flooding the market with crap that just wastes paper and plastic, while you're at it. Another reason to go digital!

    • 1 year ago
  • Sexirobot
    • 0
      Sexirobot  
    • s_peak:

      whatever you call it...it does deprive the entertainment industry of funds. Why spend money when you can get the product for free.

      "Honestly, the RIAA and MPAA need to get their heads out of their asses and USE the download medium..." Umm...who do you think these people are? a couple of fat old Luddites? the great lie about piracy is that it exist because those greedy boy scouts in Hollywood are unwilling to provide consumers with a workable alternative. Which is consummate bullocks...ever heard of netflix, zune marketplace, itunes and the lot? Inexpensive services that are in many ways more convenient than piracy.

      But of course it doesn't matter...the incontrovertible fact is people like free shit. On the extreme, you have the lot who indulge in a bit of the smash and grab...but as you move further down stripping the enterprise (theft) of danger, plausibility of arrest and making the victims more nebulous... you arrive at piracy. When you use someone( whether it be a giant conglomerate or an indie outfit) else's intellectual property you should be required to pay accordingly.

    • 1 year ago
  • rosenthal
    • 0
      rosenthal  
    • Sexirobot:

      oh yeah i had forgotten about the poor entertainment industry thats being deprived of funds thanks to people file sharing.....are you serious? they obviously have enough money to lobby washington into pursuing piracy which is alot more than i have to spend on music. one would think that as artists they would be happy just getting their music out there so people could enjoy it but i guess thats not enough.... i'm gonna cry myself to sleep now knowing that britney spears cant't buy that island she always wanted

    • 1 year ago
  • existentialist
    • +2
      existentialist  
    • s_peak:

      "Really what they SHOULD be doing is trying to revitalize their business models to integrate these other channels. You can offer free movies online if you put ads in them or something. I don't know."

      They already have free movies online with Hulu and others as well as free music through Pandora and the likes. Not to mention ultra cheap commercial-free sites like netflix. It seems business models have been revitalized.

      "The amount of users that download a movie can provide TONS of marketing data, potentially worth billions in the long run. EA makes games you can play online for free using a sponsor system where companies can even have ads inside games. Get creative, assholes"

      So you want to listen to music, watch movies and play video games filled with product placement and pushing corporate agendas? I prefer to vote with my own dollar.

    • 1 year ago
  • Sexirobot
    • 0
      Sexirobot  
    • existentialist:

      stop making so much sense...

      "So you want to listen to music, watch movies and play video games filled with product placement and pushing corporate agendas? I prefer to vote with my own dollar." exactly

    • 1 year ago
  • FoosMaster
    • +4
      FoosMaster  

    • I am a music lover and I have made many compilation CDs of music I think my friends would like. Many times after hearing the CD, (which by the way was recorded on a cheap CD that will not last long, especially in a car environment), my friends would go out an buy the complete CD from a group they liked so that they can have All the music on the CD, not just what I put on one, and it would last a Lot longer. So I have actually been helping to sell their music. But if caught I would go to jail or have to pay a huge fine for helping them sell their products. What a F**ked up, Money controled society we live in.

      Also, Many people, like me, like to record their music on a cheap CD to use in their car so that they don't mess up the Very Expensive original CD. With this new policy you would not be allowed to protect your investment by copying it to a cheap recordable CD to use in a car.

      Like everything the government does, It's about the MONEY!!!

    • 1 year ago
  • ignignokt
  • Ajil
    • +5
      Ajil  

    • At this point in time, I couldn't care about the survival of the movie and music industry. I realize that stance must be applied towards all the artists of those industries, and it does. The world needs less action heros and million-dollar budgeted romantic comedies, less musicians singing about saving the world, and more people that actually engage citizens to be more involved. I understand that art inspires. However, considering the amount of music and movies that are being produced, there seems to be an abundance of inspiration and a lack of people that are actually inspired. People are streaming through life, living out experiences by substitute of entertainment. In regards to piracy, people want to be part of culture. Most of the popular musicians of the last decade owe their success to piracy spreading their content, and then making a profit by touring. The movie industry is failing all on it own. It could use a pause, to reconsider what material ought to be invested in.

      P.S.
      Thanks to a Fire Fox Add-On button, every Youtube video can be downloaded. Basically, if you have a movie editor (which you can download the most expensive ones for free) Youtube has become everyman's stock footage.

    • 1 year ago
  • ahappymintleaf
    • 0
      ahappymintleaf  
    • Ajil:

      I agree completely. I would be perfectly willing to pay for music if I knew it went straight to who earned it, the artist who wrote it. Many artists know this and are making it easier, releasing albums independently and setting up ways to pay the artist directly. At very least for the music industry, the days of intermediary forces (to which music artists are bound) try to suck every dollar out of consumers will soon be over. Most artists I know adamantly support so-called digital piracy, because it's obvious that a free listen would get them more support in the long run than one that had to be purchased. It's unlikely that huge acts will flourish in this system, but who needs them. It doesn't take a professional studio to produce a spectacular album anymore, and artists should grow locally, accessible to fans and creating flourishing independent art scenes.

      Maybe someday the film industry will function on a similar concept, if ever it becomes financially or technologically feasible. Though a few years ago I heard of some movie project in which a famous director was trying to get fans to financially support a script he wanted to produce, making the script and process entirely public and trying to get people on board who would want to see the film made. Made open source is the way of the future on all fronts that way. Dying media behemoths may do everything in their power to prevent a system that actually serves the people from developing, but it seems inevitable in the long term. This proposed new law will be such a waste of time.

    • 1 year ago
  • Corey_Doman
  • Einsam_Data_Old
  • Nephwrack
  • Omnomynous
  • Darevalo
  • CarlosIsDown
    • +2
      CarlosIsDown  

    • "Another noteworthy study from three years back notes that virtually every citizen violates intellectual property laws in some way on a daily basis."

      Anyone know how?

    • 1 year ago
  • Saladin
    • +1
      Saladin  
    • CarlosIsDown:

      You ever lent a friend a movie?

      Violation.

      You ever sold a used game/movie/cd?

      Violation, it's not actually "your" property.

      Ever made a mix tape for a friend?

      Violation.

      Ever played your music too loud so that the whole block could hear it?

      Total violation, you owe royalties for that.

      Copyright laws are fucking out of control, it's why they're not enforced that strongly.

    • 1 year ago
  • coleman89
  • alicynx
  • reactionforce
  • CalgarC
  • tylervictoria1
  • CalgarC
    • 0
      CalgarC  

    • "we are not stealing grandmas purse we are making a copy of it" lol good luck... they will need it if they are gonna attempt to stop us ahahaha

    • 1 year ago
  • lifestudentno83
    • +1
      lifestudentno83  
    • CalgarC:

      "we are not stealing grandmas purse we are making a copy of it"

      Nope, they're just tazing her and taking her to jail. She's in the cell next to her grandson for downloading Toy Story 3 for his little brother.

    • 1 year ago
  • CalgarC
  • lifestudentno83
    • 0
      lifestudentno83  
    • CalgarC:

      Lmao... that's the eldest grandson. The middle grandson got arrested for downloading Toy Story last week. Too bad though... he was only 16 and couldn't afford tickets at 8 bucks a pop on minimum wage trying to help his single mother pay for rent until deadbeat daddy starts ponying up dough for child support...

      Pixar will be happy to know they caught another "thief" that tried to steal from their mountain of Disney money.... lawl.

    • 1 year ago
  • CalgarC
  • lifestudentno83
    • 0
      lifestudentno83  
    • CalgarC:

      Good lord... I suppose the movie/theatre industry blames internet piracy for that instead of their own lack of creative and new ideas leading to constant sequels, rehashing, remakes, and re-imaginings of older and better movies(most of the time).

      It's like they're making shit sandwiches and are getting mad some people no longer want to eat them. Start making better movies, lower ticket prices, and see if people don't start going to watch more movies... because how many average people know someone with a 100-foot screen and stadium seating with a concession stand in their basement.

      And don't get me started on how much the concessions costs...

    • 1 year ago
  • CalgarC
  • liveroadkill
    • 0
      liveroadkill  
    • lifestudentno83:

      The sad thing is that i downloaded toystory 3 last week and watched the first 15 minutes and it was so good i went and spent 10 dollars on tickets to watch with good quality. But theirs also been plenty of times ive downloaded a movie that looked good and it turns out to be shit. This damages the part of the movie industries buisness model to flood the market with horable crap because people can just go download them for freeand decide if they want to spend money to see a better quality version. Only movies that are actully good are going to be sucessfull because the movie industries needs to make their movies so good that people want to spend the money to see it in theatures.

    • 1 year ago
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