Feds Hesitant To Be Hollywood's Enforcers
from the so-much-for-that-plan dept
While it's not entirely clear why Hollywood needs the FBI to help it fight its personal battles against business model obsolescence by going after file sharers, last year the Department of Justice decided it was worth declaring war on file sharers. Of course, there's just one problem. It turns out that they're fairly reluctant to actually do anything about it. It seems that US Attorneys are a bit worried about the PR nightmare that would come from trying to put some kid in jail for listening to his or her favorite tunes -- which, of course, explains why the MPAA wanted the FBI to do its dirty work in the first place. They know that it's a publicity nightmare to sue your customers -- so they thought it would look better if the FBI did the job for them. Maybe the MPAA should team up with the RIAA, who, last we checked, was building up their own paramilitary force to go after downloaders by scaring them into thinking that the RIAA's enforcement wing were actual cops.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
