MPAA Calls Censorship Of Websites 'Forward Looking'
from the i-think-it's-the-opposite dept
Ah, the word choices of the MPAA. The organization that once claimed the VCR was the "Boston Strangler" of the movie industry is now out there trying to get three strikes and censorship laws passed to protect their business model, and referring to these backwards looking protectionist policies as "forward looking." That's what MPAA boss Bob Pisano called the idea, found in the COICA proposal to censor web sites the MPAA doesn't like. Of course, if this had been in effect when the VCR first came out, there would be no VCR.Of course, Hollywood is having record year each year at the box office, so it certainly is hard to see how file sharing is "killing" the movie industry at the box office. The MPAA and its supporters, no doubt, will say but that's not the market to look at. It's the DVD market that is being stifled by file sharing. Yet, last we checked, with smart business models, the DVD market is doing quite well with services from Netflix and Redbox that focus on providing convenience (a nice scarcity). Besides, considering how hard the MPAA worked to try to kill off the VCR in the first place, isn't it a bit ridiculous to now claim that the government needs to somehow artificially "protect" recorded video sales?
If there's one thing that the MPAA has consistently proven, it's that it has absolutely no clue what "forward looking" policies actually are, and most of its ideas appear to be quite the opposite.
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
Filed Under: bob pisano, censorship, forward looking
Companies: mpaa
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Profits!
*Opens Letter*
What they're looking forward to while harassing their customers!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Already wrote my Senators about the COICA sham. I think I'll call next...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Shutting down the Blockbusters
How many movies are actually out now? How many movies can a personally literally watch in a few years? Months? Days?
I just had the idea that a movie store that fulfilled that need of the market would truly work wonders for their profits.
The problem for the longest time IMO is the fact that Blockbuster pays outrageous licensing fees on the current movie crop that really isn't sufficient for its market. Look at the numbers yourself
I have to think that BB and Hollywood would have survived if they didn't owe the Big Four so much in licensing. The same goes for TV content. It seems the more time passes, the more these people are out of touch with how to make their businesses expand and grow rather than stagnate and criminalization.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MPAA & Forward looking
What a joke.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
USSR
America should go to war against them both. An independent studio can shoot the skirmishes in real time...and upload the footage to the pirate bay.Win-Win all around.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
At this rate, we'll be file-sharing telepathically with our brains encased in robot bodies before the content companies come around to the idea that maybe file-sharing isn't so bad.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
MPAA is looking forward but they're facing the past when they had a monopoly on long-form video entertainment.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
funny
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: funny
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: funny
Some People just need to start a fire first thing Monday morning....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sickening
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What you don't understand
I'm so old that I remember a time when HBO was the Sh## because a normal movie took years to get to TV and only very successful movies ever made it to TV. When rental places were invented they were the coolest things ever because you could actually see what ever movie when you wanted to. Before that the movie industry never made a dime off of old movies unless they ended up on HBO or TV and that means most movies just simple never made a dime after release. Now the movie guys whine about not getting their rentals and sales, it wasn't long ago that there was no sales of movies. There were no rentals.
Good movies make tons of money but that isn't enough, these Hollywood gays need to make billions not millons and you need to pay up.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]