If The AP Will Reprint RIAA Propaganda, No Surprise That Reuters Will Reprint MPAA Propaganda

from the no,-seriously dept

Tue, May 29th 2007 3:06am — Mike Masnick

A few weeks ago, we were surprised to see the Associated Press basically reprint RIAA propaganda about their plan to sue college students -- without a single question about how effective (or ineffective) such a policy would be. They didn't even quote anyone who questioned the strategy, but simply acted as if it totally made sense. Apparently Reuters felt left out in sucking up to the entertainment industry. A bunch of folks have pointed us to this Reuters article about the "powerful new weapon" the movie industry is using: night vision goggles. This is nothing new. Theaters have been outfitting people with night vision goggles to capture camcording customers for years. But, suddenly, for Reuters it's a fantastic new tool that's incredibly effective. Nevermind the fact that camcorded films are not a big problem compared to studio leaks of the actual movie. Never mind that customers don't like being treated like criminals. But, don't expect to hear any of that from the reporter who wrote the article. Instead, just expect to read about how "successful" this new strategy is.

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19 Comments

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Crosbie Fitch (profile), 29 May 2007 @ 3:37am

Stopping cinematic copies is good
There's nothing worse than waiting 24hours for a torrent to download and finding that you've got some inferior video-cam bootleg.

This is the age of the Internet folks - let's have perfect digital copies.

Which is the sort of sentiment that leads us to conclude that 'No video cameras in the cinema!' is more subliminal propoganda than an effective piracy reduction strategy.

I suspect it's a case of "If we demonstrate against the blatant use of cameras in cinemas - despite no-one actually doing this (except for their housebound grandpa who might not live to see the DVD release) - then we can more effectively demonstrate against online piracy."
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Dosquatch, 29 May 2007 @ 5:22am

oversight
Night vision? You've missed the best part of this article:

The association, which represents the big Hollywood studios, recently brought to Malaysia two dogs trained to sniff out DVDs -- with stunning results. The two Labradors, Lucky and Flo, have sniffed out more than a million DVDs and broken a fake DVD ring.
They have been so successful that authorities believe Malaysian pirates have put a bounty on the dogs' heads.

OMG, NOOO!! Not a hit on Lucky and Flo! Tell me the Pan/Asian Consortium wouldn't be so cruel...

Still without answer is the question - in what way do "pirated" DVDs smell different than "real" DVDs when often the "pirated" versions are being produced by the same people, on the same equipment, using the same masters, as "real" DVDs?
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John, 29 May 2007 @ 5:29am

idiots
As a former AMC Theater manager, I can guarantee you that this is not going to work. Sure, they'll be able to catch a dozen or so people camcording the film, but they seem to forget about theater employees, who often get to screen films before they're shown to the public. Out of the thousands of theaters across the US, there will surely be some insider abuse leading to camcorded films leaking out. I don't see what all the fuss is about though; let's say that you end up watching one of these "screeners" that you got off the net; if it's a good film, chances are you'll want to see a decent version of it and will possibly even rent or buy it rather than download it. The RIAA/MPAA are behind the times though, encrypted file sharing is catching on (see http://www.gigatribe.com for an example) and people are tired of paying unreasonable prices for entertainment. (and it's funny how no one ever talks about how the video game industry is quietly sucking consumer dollars away from films and music, at a growing rate!) As for the reporters, methinks they're just lazy and enjoying the benefits of copy/paste!
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yogi, 29 May 2007 @ 5:36am

No reasonable man should be reading reuters. It's like drinking gasoline instead of water.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 May 2007 @ 5:43am

Re: idiots
It's been pointed out in the past that the movie theatres are in competition with other forms of entertainment such as video games. Though I don't know if its fair to say that they're sucking away consumer dollars. You're saying it as if its an evil thing to do. Maybe its bad for the theatre business, but maybe its a sign that theatres should step up to the plate and offer a better experience so they can compete.
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Steve R. (profile), 29 May 2007 @ 5:52am

The failure of journalists to fully examine the story they are planning to print has been a major disappointment to me. During the Sony rootkit debacle the New York Times and PC Magazine simply regurgitated the music industry's lament on how piracy was destroying their business. The Washington Post did a much better job of exploring the issues.

Regretfully, the media is also missing the boat on DRM related issues. For example, most computers have been able to play high definition content for many years now - the content was simply not readily available. The news media reported that this delay in providing content was simply the result of resolving "technical issues". The reality is that the content providers where squabbling over the DRM standards to be used. Had an open end standard been adopted we could have had HD content as least eight years earlier.

Its unfortunate that our news media doesn't take the time to do real investigative reporting and analyzing the issues.
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SC, 29 May 2007 @ 5:53am

Re:
Depends, Some people might like drinking gas. Wonder how many MPG's they get.

Must have been a slow news day.
Got to get some work out of the overpaid desk crew.
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Stephen, 29 May 2007 @ 6:06am

press release reporting
These articles feel like press release reporting, that is, reporters simply rewriting press releases into stories with no follow up. A vast majority of news articles are a result of this, actually.
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James, 29 May 2007 @ 6:30am

stupid reporting
Idiots they really should read through and analyze articles for actual news content before just sending them out the door.

That said, I'm more than ok w/the MPAA trying to catch these losers video taping a movie, and busting the losers who sell illegal copies of DVDs.

I do NOT however support DRM or restrictions on how those, who legally purchase an authenic copy of the movie/cd/whatever, do with it for themselves.
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Bob, 29 May 2007 @ 7:01am

Night Vision
If I was in a theater and saw men with night-vision goggles watching me, I would walk out, ask for a refund and never go back to that theater.

They have no idea how devastating that strategy will be to their business in the long run. There is already a lot competing for our entertainment time and $$, this just makes their offering much less appealing.

They are selling an experience, not a movie and this does not enhance the experience. Idiots !!
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 29 May 2007 @ 7:05am

Re:
Then peeing into a fire.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 29 May 2007 @ 7:12am

Cost
Does the cost of the night vision goggles justify the savings of preventing one of thousands of video pirates from getting a copy of a movie? One less pirated copy really doesn't make a difference to all the downloaders who already have plenty to choose from. Just add another $1.50 to the ticket price! The industry should really be worried about the insiders. They are the ones who leak the high quality copies that everyone downloads.
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Overcast, 29 May 2007 @ 7:23am

They are trying to 'protect' against those horrible pirated copies of movies people take with camcorders? Those 'pirated' copies suck big time, ROFL.

LOL

This is so retarded, OMG it's stupid.

I think if I see some dude in the movie theater with night vision goggles, I'll call the police and tell them he keeps staring at my wife and I think he's over there masturbating. I'll turn that whole movie into a circus. Once the cops get there, I'll throw my coke at him and call him a pervert real loud, I'll make some kinda scene.

Then maybe some real quality entertainment will take place at the cinema. LOL

That's so very retarded I may just avoid movie theaters anymore. The last time I went the place was a damn mess anyway - seriously can't they keep those places clean anymore?
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Sanguine Dream, 29 May 2007 @ 7:35am

Splinter Cell
I don't know about the rest of you but I think it would be pretty damn creepy to see a person walking around that theater with night vision goggles on. I know they won't stealth kill the people with camcorders but having someone watch me while I'm trying to view a movie just feels dirty.
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SP, 29 May 2007 @ 8:58am

No Kidding
That's so very retarded I may just avoid movie theaters anymore. The last time I went the place was a damn mess anyway - seriously can't they keep those places clean anymore?

Yeah, no kidding! One night at the movies costs us over $30 for one damn movie. You'd think for that price they could afford to sweep and mop the floors and for God sakes clean the bathrooms! I haven't been to a theatre in over a year now and don't plan on going back anytime soon. And NO, MPAA, it's NOT BECAUSE I'M PIRATING MOVIES. It's because a)movie theatres SUCK -- they charge WAY too much for a movie that is NOT worth paying that much for and the whole "experience" SUCKS ASS. It used to be that going to the movies was fun and that's why people went... These days I wait till I can rent the DVD for $1.50 at my local video store and watch the movie in the privacy and comfort of my CLEAN and cozy home.
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Old Guy, 29 May 2007 @ 10:01am

Consider the source
Consider this:
Media = plural of medium
Medium = an individual held to be a channel of communication between the earthly world and a world of spirits
Spirits = alcoholic beverages
so therefore:
Media = multiple individuals who get their information from alcohol beverages
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Meatshield, 29 May 2007 @ 10:33am

USB anyone?
My sister has worked at a movie theatre for a year now, and she said that with the new digital projectors the movies come on specially formatted USB keys that are somehow "linked" to only one projector. She seemed to think no one could get teh movie from that when I asked her.

I told her to get me Spider-Man 3's key and clock me to see how fast I could get that off of there ;)

seriously, when it comes on something you can STICK IN YOUR COMPUTER it's real simple to get the data off of it. It is, after all, nothing but 1's and 0's in the end.
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Dosquatch, 29 May 2007 @ 10:33am

Re: Consider the source
So all of this BS is just a bunch of drunk guys sitting around telling stories?

<blink> <blink> <rubs eyes>

I think you might be on to something there...
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Anonymous Coward, 29 May 2007 @ 10:38am

actually if the entertainment industry manages to stop camcordedfilms (if they could that is) it would do us a favor they'd weed out the low quality releases for us.

maybe we should start emailing pointers
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