Creative America Restocks... Hires Former DHS/ICE Spokesperson
from the joe-grassroots? dept
We've talked plenty of times about CreativeAmerica, the astroturf group that keeps pretending that it's a "grassroots" group. It was setup mainly to push for SOPA/PIPA in an attempt to pretend that "normal people" rather than just Hollywood fatcats supports SOPA/PIPA. Just one problem: it was so obviously run by Hollywood fatcats that no one ever took it seriously. It was slickly produced, was backed by the big studios, and all the big movie studios promoted it directly as well. Its executive director, Mike Nugent, came directly from Disney, where he was the company's Senior VP of anti-piracy. Meanwhile, its "communications director," Craig Hoffman came straight from... you guessed it... the MPAA. And before that he worked at Warner Bros. Grassroots!Well, it seems they knew they were missing out on one key ingredient to prove just how "grassroots" they were... so they went over the law enforcement side of things, snapping up one Chris Ortman from Homeland Security. Yes, the same Homeland Security responsible for abusing copyright laws to illegally seize and censor websites for over a year under no legal basis.
Yes, that's right folks, the group that is pretending to be grassroots, but is really an astroturf organization -- which has bent over backwards to insist that SOPA/PIPA were not about censorship at all -- has hired someone from the very US government agency that has been using similar copyright laws to seize and censor websites. Perhaps his nickname is "grassroots"?
And the group wonders why actual artists aren't buying what they're selling. Perhaps rather than staffing it with former studio execs, MPAA lackeys and law enforcement censors... why not try actual content creators next time? Oh, perhaps it's because lots of actual content creators know that SOPA/PIPA are bad ideas.
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Filed Under: astroturf, chris ortman, craig hoffman, creative america, grassroots, hollywood, mike nugent, protect ip, studios
Companies: creativeamerica
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This makes as much sense and the RIAA members complaining about the costs of international distribution and licensing...to their own sub-companies.
They could do it, it won't be pretty or kind but they really need to wake up and realize that they can't buy laws to save them anymore.
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DHS is using the private company General Dynamics to monitor political dissent in the U. S.
DHS documents:
http://epic.org/foia/epic-v-dhs-media-monitoring/EPIC-FOIA-DHS-Media-Monitoring-12-2012. pdf
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Obama has to leave, now
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Re: Obama has to leave, now
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Do you know how to tell if a ship is sinking?
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Looks like we need to get in the game and create our own astroturf organisations so we can get some of the free money that is floating around!
I thought times where hard and that piracy was affecting their balance sheets?
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Millions of dollars to spend on fancy CEOs.
Millions of dollars to spend on "donations" to Congress.
Millions of dollars to spend on redundant, overlapping lobby organization.
Damn, I wish piracy was killing my balance sheets.
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That oughta just about do it, I guess. Especially the "etc"
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Not only that, they expect it be financed with other people's money.
Seriously, how far does that notion carry into the real world? My personal business model depends on me having reliable transportation to get me to work and back. So when my car breaks down, should I start expecting someone else to pay the repair bill since my entire business model depends on it? Is that how it works?
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How do they get people to fight AGAINST their own best interest
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Its like when Sally Struthers was doing those commercials to save the starving children. She say just infront of them, healthy and well fed, telling everyone else THEY needed to send money to feed the children. Lady your sitting right there and spent thousands to get there, and film your little commercial... how many could we have fed without paying to send you to Africa?
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I was watching PBS and caught part of a show where they were discussing what worked in Africa and what didn't. The biggest problem is the huge ME-centric ideas, Our model is the only model that can solve hunger, you poor people have no idea how to help yourselves or the best way to distribute things. When an aid agency actually listens to people and looks at the reality of the situation the solutions are less costly and help more.
The problem with charities is we expect them to actually want to solve the problem and go out of business. People like their jobs and like getting paid, no one wants to put themselves out of a job.
And to go back to being relevant...
Creative America exists to deal with the "horrible" problems that have a simple solution, but they will do EVERYTHING they can to avoid just adapting their business model. If they just told their employers the math, studies, and common sense points to adapting is better than throwing more money at other draconian solutions they would be unemployed at the end of that. The content producers would move forward and embrace all the net can offer them and make more money, but the money is not guaranteed, and they can't handle change. They will only take tiny babysteps forward... like Ultraviolet movies - something so horrible and crappy because they demanded 1000% control of it...
They could find better ways to do things, if they would just stop trying to control every single step and second of the files lifetime.
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Re: How do they get people to fight AGAINST their own best interest
If anything, you'd think that above-the-line Hollywood talent would be empowered to produce greater high-end content with LESS below-the-line hands (aka costs) involved, considering today's improved production methods and streamlined, digital filmmaking technology and workflows. Maybe it's the competition for quality animators or something that drives costs up? (considering their addiction to churning out weekly "blockbusters" and the demand for top drawer FX to go with them) I'm really no expert, though.
Either way, what this is really about is a slew of executives working with legal teams to maximize revenue, and if they can protect public perception for a few astroturfing dollars more, so be it ("You wouldn't download a car?"). But you'd think it would help them to also reduce production costs, right? However, I think they realize that may mean a more leveled playing field with more competition. "Prosumers", web distribution, DSLRs, faster home computers, etc, a general return to folk culture, the public's changing perception of what constitutes entertainment value, etc, that's all dangerous stuff. What happens if the next "Paranormal Activity" phenomenon happens entirely online? There'll be no studio exec to brag about finding it in Variety.
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Ooooh lobbyist puree... the newest reality show from the Discovery channel.
Lets see if this exiting member of the government can survive the revolving door of death!
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ACTA
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