US Chamber Of Commerce Quickly Showing That It's Out Of Touch, As Google, CEA Consider Dropping Out

Viacom, 'Decimated By Piracy,' But Its CEO Got The Biggest Raise Of Any Exec Anywhere

from the just-saying... dept

Mon, Nov 7th 2011 7:30am — Mike Masnick

We keep hearing about how "piracy" and the internet are somehow "destroying" the old legacy content players, but the evidence for that seems lacking.... especially in Hollywood. We already saw how Warner Bros. was cheering on its record-setting quarter, while complaining about how it just can't compete with piracy. And now we've got reader Don, passing along the news that Viacom chief Philippe P. Dauman topped the charts for the exec with the biggest pay raise in 2010. His total pay was $84.5 million last year -- a 148.6% raise on his previous year's take home. Yes, that's a $50 million raise. Admittedly, much of that comes from stock options, but still. Not bad for a company being "decimated" by kids in their basements on the internet, huh? Maybe Viacom was just so sure that it was going to win its $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube that it decided to pre-reward Dauman.

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Filed Under: entertainment industry, philippe dauman, piracy
Companies: viacom

86 Comments

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Scooters (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 6:47am

Are those stock options investments in lawyer firms across the country?
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Jay (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 7:23am

OWS
So does this mean Philippe P. Dauman is the 1%?
OWS would have a field day...
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Dark Helmet (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 7:34am

Re: OWS
Everything I've read has the top 1% being folks making over 1.5 million a year w/a total net worth north of $7million....so yes, he'd be the top 1%....
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abc gum, 7 Nov 2011 @ 7:44am

Well, thank god the rich people are doing ok. I would hate to see any of those "job creates" hit hard times - because then there might be a lot of unemployed people or something.
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Anonymous Marcus, 7 Nov 2011 @ 7:49am

Re: Re: OWS
How will he remain there if people keep pirating his stuff?
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jupiterkansas (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 7:53am

Hmm... that's at least 845 good paying jobs. I wonder how many people Viacom fired this year to give him that bonus? Where's AC to call us evil freetards?
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John Doe, 7 Nov 2011 @ 7:54am

I wish I was the head of a decimated industry
If I only I could lead a company being decimated by pirates. And here I thought only pirates could monetize IP. Looks like CEO's know pretty well how to monetize IP.
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PrometheeFeu (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 7:54am

Oh look. People with government-granted monopolies are making boat-loads of money... What a novel trend!
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Ninja (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:00am

And he earned millions for doing... What has he done again?

As outrageous as the amount is, it gets even worse when you compare to a 0,99 cent song in itunes.

I wonder if the industry losses don't come from overpaid execs... /sarcasm
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:03am

$50 million would create a thousand $50K jobs. Is piracy really killing jobs or are executive bonuses?
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Jibou, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:04am

He's also and simply the best paid CEO... http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/news/1104/gallery.top_ceo_pay/index.html?iid=F_Jump
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:08am

I was seeing on the news that right now, the wage to profit ratio is at an all time low. Companies are making huge profits and paying the average American very little in wages.
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Modplan (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:13am

Re: Re: Re: OWS
Won't someone think of the executives? Does no one care for the CEO's?

And what will we do with all those surplus lobsters?
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Donnicton, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:14am

Re:
"Industry best practices".
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:15am

Response to: Anonymous Coward on Nov 7th, 2011 @ 8:08am
OWS is the beginning of the revolution. When the time comes, do not expect your government to behave any better than Syria's. They are already tear gassing your people. Did you know that it is illegal under the conventions of war to use tear gas against the enemy? But it's OK for your government to use it against it's people.
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John Doe, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:17am

Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Nov 7th, 2011 @ 8:08am
Don't forget the pepper spray.
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PlagueSD (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:24am

Re:
Welcome to Capitalism
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Jay (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:26am

Re:
Oh, and Viacom owns a Harmonix when they laid off 39 employees.

But there's less than 100 this time around, whereas before, it was just about 850 people.

So you might want to change the good paying jobs bit. The company isn't bleeding money except to the CEO who is gutting it.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:39am

You don't understand, when they said 'decimated' what they meant was they freed up 10% of the wages from entry level workers up through middle management, said it was a result of 'piracy', and then appropriated the 10% to the CEO because the money has to go somewhere right?
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:41am

Re:
According to Ferrari the outlook is outstanding.

I wonder if philly is gonna buy some?

On another /note, I think his bonus is well deserved if he limited piracy to 10% (not much higher than shrinkage in a brick and mortar store) especially since I do hear an awful lot about piracy (from the seas to the keys) these days.
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The Incoherent One (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:42am

Re: Re: Re: OWS
If you actually blow threw that kind of money in a short amount of time then you had it coming
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MrWilson, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:43am

Re:
And there's another good reason for piracy caused by the companies who complain about it. It's not just entertainment companies of course, but the fact that so many companies are hoarding profits and not creating more jobs means fewer Americans have jobs and thus incomes in order to have the money to patronize their businesses. Fewer people would balk at the high prices of media these days if more people were doing well financially. The companies will say it's not their fault, but look who is profiting and who is holding the money...

Jobs are created due to demand, not because companies are benevolent "job creators" and there will be less demand if consumers don't have the money to make purchases (or pay for "licenses"). It's a vicious cycle that ends with the corporations just finding another market to leech profits from after its drained the American economy dry and created Fritz Lang's Metropolis here.
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MrWilson, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:45am

Re:
That's a good theory and probably on the mark, but you should recall that according to at least the public relations departments of the entertainment companies, lost money just disappears from the economy instead of being spent elsewhere.
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The Devil's Coachman (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:48am

VIacom? Piracy? WTF?
Why the hell would anyone pirate the shit that Viacom produces? If those punk-ass bitches gave it away for free I wouldn't accept it. Pure, unadulterated shit! And people actually pirate it? There's just no explaining this, is there?
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gorehound (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:51am

Another scumbag who deserves to go to his grave.Millions of us are unemployed and these schmucks walk away with tens or hundreds of millions per year.
Soon they may get their day....................
I hate these greedy people.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:51am

Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Nov 7th, 2011 @ 8:08am
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." -JFK
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:52am

Re: Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Nov 7th, 2011 @ 8:08am
(also a response to John Doe's pepper spray comment).
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 8:55am

Re: Re:
HAH! We live in a society where the government establishes monopoly privileges on almost everything. Hardly a capitalistic society.
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Jay (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:00am

Re: VIacom? Piracy? WTF?
Have you ever tried to play Rockband?
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:03am

Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Nov 7th, 2011 @ 8:08am
OWS is the start of nothing, except proof that there will always be whiners,and the internet social media allows them to clump together and think they are powerful.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:06am

Re: Re: Re: Re: OWS
This is Masnick's new plan for encouraging piracy:

Go ahead and rip off music and movies because some of the companies that release them have executives that are well paid.

Great plan, Mike.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:14am

Re:
Masnick is such a slimeball.

Dauman's salary was actually DOWN almost 10%.

But because the overall stock market had an absolute rocket ride higher in 2010, this guy made more money (just like anyone else that owned stocks).

But just remember Mike Masnick's new inference from all this:

There are rich people at entertainment companies, so it's ok for you to rip them off.

I'm sure it's only *their* content you'll rip off, and not indies, right? LOL
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Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:19am

Re: Re:
I like how you bitch and complain about Mike twisting facts to fit his "pro-piracy" outlook while at the same time you twist facts so you can claim he has a "pro-piracy" outlook.
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MonkeyFracasJr (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:21am

Re: Re:
Are you drunk?
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Scooters (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:25am

Re: Re:
Troll trap caught another one. I feel I have to do my part to keep you all safe from natural selection.
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Lesath (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:30am

Wow if it wasn't for 'piracy' I bet even more executives would have been able to get a bonus.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:35am

Re: Re: Re:
No twisting necessary. It's obvious to anyone that can read.

But you knew that already.
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RD, 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:42am

Re: Re:
I love AC comments like this, since I can just rip down the page clicking "report" and skip all the bile, lies, misdirection and outright hypocrisy.
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Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:46am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
TechDirt's opinion is obvious to anyone that can read, and I did know that.

So the question becomes; How can you type if you can't read?
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John Doe, 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:47am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: OWS
Very good misdirection there, but we are on to your tricks. He is not inferring that piracy is ok as he is on the record many times stating that he doesn't pirate and doesn't think other should either.

What this article is pointing out that you fail to understand or you do understand but wish to obfuscate is that the claim that piracy is killing the industry looks pretty ridiculous in the face of record pay for the CEO.
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The Logician (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:50am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Obvious only to those who seek to create such a fantasy, AC 37. Or live in it, as you do. Those of us who dwell in reality know otherwise. The fact that you provide no evidence for your position of any kind makes it invalid. That and your tendency to result to insults over actually addressing what is said. Your very presence proves that Mike is correct, because if he was not, you and your kind would not swarm his blog every day as you do. If indeed you and the other AC's like you are not, in fact, the same person using multiple addresses. Which is, in fact, a distinct possibility.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 9:56am

Re: Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Nov 7th, 2011 @ 8:08am
IP maximists are the worst whiners. They already have outrageously overreaching laws and they still want more.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:08am

Re: Re: Re:
Chronno, let's be fair here. Exclude the single even stock options, and his salary is down. Why be so misleading? Truth is the stock options may be a "last hurrah" as the ship slowly sinks.

As for Mike and "pro-piracy", all I can say is that his vehement opposition to SOPA and Protect IP seem pretty much in line with supporting piracy, or at least supporting the "soft" piracy of the remix culture.
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Bengie, 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:09am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
BWAAA-HAHAAHAAHA!!!

I'm re-using this one.
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el_segfaulto (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:12am

Re: Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Nov 7th, 2011 @ 8:08am
The original U.S. rebellion was also lead by a bunch of "whiners" so please, go ahead and egg them on further. The social inequality that has been wider and wider will eventually come to bite the 1%ers on their collective solid gold ass.
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John Doe, 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:12am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
But don't stock prices reflect the performance of the company and industry? So the result is that the company and the market must look pretty promising to garner such large pay and stock performance. That doesn't jibe for a market that is supposedly being decimated by piracy
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Planespotter (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:15am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Or they could be in line with his vehement opposition to laws being passed on behalf of legacy industries who have failed to embrace change and the arrival of the digital era, laws which are written so broadly that they could impact on the very fabric of how the internet was created and stifle freedom of speech and the ideals put forth in the Constitution, ideals supposedly protected by the Supreme Court.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:18am

Viacom is just like Wall Street, paying their 'banker' (err, CEO) huge bonuses, before his big risky bets blow up in their face.
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Planespotter (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:19am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: OWS
Especially when another legacy company Time Warner posts yet another record breaking quaterly profit.

But feel free to ignore all the data out there telling you that "piracy" isn't hurting the industry as a whole.
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MrWilson, 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:22am

Re: Re: Re:
But the government is doing so at the behest of the corporations that have purchased it on the free market because they have the capital and own the means of (money) production.
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antimatter3009 (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:24am

Re: Re:
I'll give you that it's a bit ridiculous to treat higher stock prices as a raise, but on the other hand would you expect the stock of a "decimated" company to be rising so fast? Shouldn't they be crashing?

But like most of these companies, they're making plenty of money. They're just greedy, though only insofar as any business is greedy. They see unauthorized uses, add up the licensing fees they think they deserve for that, and say "well we could be making more money". Any company would do the same, but it's still missing the main points that are made repeatedly here: 1) those unauthorized uses are part of the reason they're making so much money to begin with and 2) squeezing every penny out of our culture (music, movies, books, and so on are, to an extent, what define our culture after all) at the cost of limiting our access to that culture is not a fair trade.

These companies could make plenty of money while also improving everyone's access to our cultural output, but they choose to only see the direct money side of the equation and fail at the rest. That's where the point of contention lies IMO.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:27am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: OWS
"Go ahead and rip off music and movies" -by Anonymous Coward, Nov 7th, 2011 @ 9:06am

Direct quote, by you. Now the question is, why are you such a sliemball, freetard, piracy apologist Anonymous Coward?
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Lord Scuttlebutt (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:29am

Bonus
It seems to me that the issue at hand isn't Daumer's bonus at all. He's doing his job admirably! Making sure that all the right pockets are being greased in Washington is tough work. The real issue lies in Viacom's overall financial situation when compared to the fuss they've been making over piracy. I'm willing to bet that Viacom's financials don't tell a story of victimization.
Don't get me wrong...Piracy is wrong. But piracy isn't ever going to go away completely. However, as Apple showed, if you give people the right product for the right price in the right way, piracy becomes marginal.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:39am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Well if his stock options were up so much, piracy can't be taking that much of a toll eh? See how circular logic works?
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:51am

duh
CEO's always get huge pay raises, no matter what.
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ScytheNoire, 7 Nov 2011 @ 11:21am

And this is what is wrong with America. No wonder 99% of the population is pissed off.
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abc gum, 7 Nov 2011 @ 11:23am

Re: Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Nov 7th, 2011 @ 8:08am
"the internet social media allows them to clump together and think they are powerful"

... and this is the reason for the cloaked censorship attempt.

Piracy is simply the excuse for censoring all communications. There are those who fear the masses becoming more irate as the abuses increase in severity. The logical choice would be to stop abusing the general public and begin treating them like human beings - but that will probably not happen anytime soon because the peons are expendable.
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abc gum, 7 Nov 2011 @ 11:26am

Re: Re: VIacom? Piracy? WTF?
"Have you ever tried to play Rockband?"

No, but that is a good example of copytard mentality.
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abc gum, 7 Nov 2011 @ 11:30am

Re: duh
"CEO's always get huge pay raises, no matter what."

AFAIK - The point of contention is the rate of change in CEO to worker compensation.

http://www.epi.org/publication/webfeatures_snapshots_20060621/
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paflechien, 7 Nov 2011 @ 11:37am

And once again...
nothing can be done against that. That's the worst part ofall that stuff. We know it happens, there's news about that happening, and... nothing.
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WDS (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 11:39am

Re: AC
The cash handed to him was down. However the increase was not from stock that he already owned, it was from new stock and options give to him in 2010. That is still an increase in salary.

To make it simple: Increase in value of stock already owned is Capital gains not salary.

Value of new stock and options given this year is salary.
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Jay (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 1:23pm

Re: Re: Re: VIacom? Piracy? WTF?
??? Bwuh?
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dwg, 7 Nov 2011 @ 1:54pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Stock prices don't reflect the performance of the company and industry.

There, FTFY. If ever there were a sentence in need of F-ing, it was that one.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 2:07pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
It would depend where he was vested... what the strike prices was set at. It would also depend how they were granted.

The stock options may have been worth 40 million now, but maybe if he had taken them X years ago, they woudl have been worth more. I don't follow the stock, I don't know.
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abc gum, 7 Nov 2011 @ 2:48pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: VIacom? Piracy? WTF?
They demand the rockband licensed music to be different than that of the released content .... bleh - yeah comment should've been more explicit
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Franklin G Ryzzo (profile), 7 Nov 2011 @ 4:09pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
"As for Mike and "pro-piracy", all I can say is that his vehement opposition to SOPA and Protect IP seem pretty much in line with supporting piracy, or at least supporting the "soft" piracy of the remix culture."

I don't follow your logic... What does one have to do with the other? Being a supporter of file-sharing is certainly not a prerequisite for opposing censorship. While there may be many people who do support file-sharing and oppose PIPA/SOPA, that is by no means the only group who has something to lose. In fact, I would say that file-sharers probably have the least to lose by this legislation since they really won't make a dent in the availability of infringing content.

Unless Ad-Homs are the extent of your debating skills, I would request that you expand on your position to explain the perceived link between the two.
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Carl, 7 Nov 2011 @ 5:06pm

SOPA
This has nothing to do with piracy. A goverment can only control the people by controlling the media. The Government has MPAA under its control. It wants to control the internet and its content. It is the one true thing that they can't control, no matter how they try. This is just what Hitler, Stalin, and Lenin did. "BIG BROTHER" is here!
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 6:52pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
So Mike just gives opinions and not facts?

And his opinions are lies?

Thanks for admitting what so many of us already know.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 6:56pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
We can say whatever we want at this point.

Mike Masnick is a piracy apologist and everyone knows it. He's obsessed with saving piracy. His denials are pathetic and point to a very real mental illness; a person does not behave the way he does and say the things he says unless there are very serious issues with their pathology.
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Jesse, 7 Nov 2011 @ 7:14pm

Re: Re: OWS
Everything I saw said anything above $500,000. /shrug
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Nov 2011 @ 7:18pm

Re:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/sep/01/robert-reich/robert-reich-says-ratio- corporate-profits-wages-hi/
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Etan, 7 Nov 2011 @ 10:40pm

Re: VIacom? Piracy? WTF?
I agree with you, but Viacom owns a lot of media outlets, and there are a few good shows on Comedy Central. I haven't had cable TV in 3 years, and now I live in a place with roommates who cannot live without it. The scene helped me live commercial free for a while. 95% of cable TV is pure drivel. You're not missing anything.
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Provert, 8 Nov 2011 @ 12:08am

Viacom's CEO steals money from employees and blames it on pirates
http://i.imgur.com/QcHGt.jpg
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2011 @ 4:28am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
DUE PROCESS! FREE SPEECH! THE CONSTITUTION! MY ADDICTION TO FREE CONTENT!

er, well, forget about that last one, yo.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2011 @ 4:32am

Re: Re: AC
You have no citation for this.

If the guy cashed in his options last year, he was going to see a lot of coin.

Exactly like any other person would have seen last year.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2011 @ 4:36am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: OWS
Of course he's inferring piracy is ok. Duh.

What the hell do you think the point of this blog is? LOL

Ask Masnick how many gigs of music he has on his drives.

Now ask him for the receipts. LOL
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xenomancer (profile), 8 Nov 2011 @ 5:16am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
"But the government is doing so at the behest of the corporations that have purchased it on the free market because they have the capital and own the means of (money) production."

Which is textbook corporatism, not capitalism.
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PaulT (profile), 8 Nov 2011 @ 5:22am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
You seem to have a pathological need to lie about anyone who disagrees with you, don't you? I suppose it makes it easier to type when you can attack a falsehood rather than a person's actual position.
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Ninja (profile), 8 Nov 2011 @ 7:59am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yep, Chronno is right, how the fuck can you type if you can't read?

But wait, I know, you got some android device with speech recognition and a screen reader. I knew it wasn't magic!

On a more serious comment, it's amazing on how ppl say "I like rainy days!" and you manage to twist it to "Then you admit you are going to blow up dams to cause floods? You terrorist." - At least it's funny.
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Ninja (profile), 8 Nov 2011 @ 8:08am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Wait. When a company is doing good the stocks go up, right? So Viacom is doing GREAT because despite the reduction in his fixed income he actually earned shitloads with his stocks in the company. Right?

On another news: Viacom says piracy decimated its activities.... Oh wait.
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Ninja (profile), 8 Nov 2011 @ 8:14am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: OWS
Man, do you keep your receipts? That's sort of pathological. And I'm sure that if Mike had those and showed you you'd tell him it was everything forged. Give up dude, don't make yourself a fool more than you already are ;)
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Nov 2011 @ 8:58am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: OWS
Mike's already offered to show him receipts. He even said so in another article recently, at which point the AC stopped commenting. The AC is all bark, no bite. Or better said, when called out, he'll slink off to go back under his bridge.
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Brendan (profile), 8 Nov 2011 @ 12:22pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I don't think you know what circular logic is.
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albert, 8 Nov 2011 @ 12:34pm

Piracy
Viacom and the other media outfits copied the policies of the old Hollywood movie moguls. Most movies never turn a profit, thanks to creative (not illegal) accounting practices. They need 'piracy issues' to justify sales downturns, lest they find themselves out of a job. Media middlemen make more, and do less, than any other product-producing business. Banks are worse, but they are non-productive businesses. The cure is to stop buying their products. A total boycott would ruin them, and even the government is crazy enough to subsidize them, though they might try.
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albert, 8 Nov 2011 @ 12:37pm

Re: Piracy
Sorry, that should be: "..isn't crazy.."

'Preview' is my friend
'Preview' is my friend
'Preview' is my friend
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WDS (profile), 8 Nov 2011 @ 12:51pm

Re: Re: Re: AC
Please accept my apology for the lack of citation. I just assumed that someone making comments about this would have possible gone to the original article and read it.

So citation. CNNMoney article used Equilar Data. That data shows Dauman made rounded:
Base Salary 2.6 M
Cash Bonus 11.2 M
Stock Granted 41.8 M
Options Granted 28.6 M

GAAP says stock and options are valued at the time of granting, not at the time in the case of an option that they are exercised, and not at the time in the case of stock that it is sold.

Hence he received 84.4 M in value at the time that he received it. It is not other years options being cashed now with the stock price high. It isn't something that was worth on 50 M when he received it, but then grew. The man received 84.4 M in salary.
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