Will The Failures Of SOPA & ACTA Highlight The End Of The MPAA & RIAA's Disproportionate Influence On Policy?
from the this-isn't-industry-vs.-the-public dept
Following the rejection of ACTA and the surprising USTR recognition of copyright exceptions and limitations, Harold Feld has a really worthwhile postgame analysis that highlights why pretty much every other industry (and the US government) should be pissed off at the MPAA and the RIAA. Basically, he points out that there were aspects of reasonableness in those efforts: some of the parts focused on real counterfeiting. But because the MPAA and RIAA decided to use an incredibly heavy-handed approach to get the US government to include totally unrelated copyright issues among them, both proposals completely flopped. If those efforts had just focused on the issue of real harm -- true counterfeit products that are confusing people and even putting lives at risk -- no one would be opposed. But due to this ongoing desire to conflate copyright infringement with counterfeit drugs, they overplayed their hand -- and all of that effort is now wasted.Keep in mind that the majority of people working for USTR don’t like to waste effort any more than the rest of us, and the realization that a significant portion of the rest of the world may reject whatever final deal negotiators agree to if it goes too far on copyright is no doubt causing many to rethink their positions. In addition, USTR has many other industries it services besides Hollywood. They need trade agreements — and USTR is required to negotiate these. The Hollywood crazy train on intellectual property enforcement now very visibly threatens the ability to get future trade agreements ratified by Congress or by foreign governments. The manufacturing sector, the retail sector, and others that have until now tolerated Hollywood’s demands in the interest of maintaining a united industry front will not sacrifice their own international trade interests for the Entertainment industry — and will push USTR to negotiate agreements that actually have a chance at ratification.This, obviously, seems like a good thing. As he notes, the USTR now has a lot of incentives to actually be more open and to listen to those who helped kill off SOPA and ACTA. If they actually want to have their proposals mean something, they might as well start talking to those who have the influence to do something meaningful. And that's less and less the RIAA and the MPAA.
Of course, this goes even further than that. While Feld talks up the increasing importance of activists in the conversation, I'd argue that it should also lead to most other industries pushing back on the RIAA/MPAA's crazy demands as well. Perhaps the US Chamber of Commerce will start to reconsider pushing the RIAA/MPAA point of view when it's clearly harmful to the interests of most other industries.
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Filed Under: acta, hollywood, pipa, sopa, ustr
Companies: chamber of commerce, mpaa, riaa
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That's a tougher sell.
AND X < ( Y + Shipping )
THEN Hello Google translated version of Zimbabwe drug seller website.
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Re: That's a tougher sell.
even so, what it tells you in a pure free-market environment is that price Y is a rip-off.
still, most people are willing to put up with such differences Right up until they higher price is a more significant portion of their cost of living than they can justify/afford for the item in question.
generally, the problem isn't that imports are cheaper. it's that the local price is set too high for the local market, leading to people looking for alternatives, meaning that the extra Hassle of imports is worth it.
or it seems that way to me.
(similar deal with buying from a local shop vs an online store, actually. )
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Re: Re: That's a tougher sell.
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Re: Re: That's a tougher sell.
No... At least according to Betteridge's Law of Headlines which states "Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word 'no'".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_Law_of_Headlines
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Re: That's a tougher sell.
In the end history repeats itself in a round about way. With the (un)intended consequence being a death sentence for those who can not afford monopoly prices, and violate the IP rules. Much Like French cloth paterns a couple centuries back.
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Re: Re: That's a tougher sell.
Decades ago, the goal was the free up trade between nations, for the benefit of all (except for trade authorities that acted as gatekeepers to trade). Then the world... goes back to locking up trade for the benefit of a few gatekeepers in other industries?
Hmmm...
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Re: Re: Re: That's a tougher sell.
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This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.
As long as the entertainment industry has money, and as long as politicians can be bought with that money, the entertainment industry will have undue influence on politics.
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I think that US government believes at the highest levels, and in both parties, that the US has lost strategic advantage in manufacturing and every other area except "ideas".
I think that there is a belief that "ideas" are the US last exportable commodity, and that hegemony must be pursued relentlessly. At all costs.
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I fear that you're right. I fear it because ideas, even good ideas, aren't actually worth that much. They're a dime a dozen and any random joe off the street has had innumerable excellent ideas and will continue to do so.
What is valuable is the ability to translate ideas into something real.
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Hey there Mr. Congresscritter, do you need some more free speech sent your way?
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Yet I can't comprehend they'd do so since they're in a death-roll.
What's worse is the concept that if they do have to admit they screwed up, they're then just as likely to get their political hacks in Washington to bail them out.
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Without massive reform to politics, they can also throw money at politics making double plus bad.
It is still amazing though that ACTA got defeated considering the flood of IP lobbyists in the EU parliament (more than any other industry). They won't stop though, they will just split and rename same shit into different parts.
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We, The...
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As the story goes, the senior pirate makes a proposition and if at least 50% of the other pirates agree to it, then the proposition is used. If they can't agree, then the senior pirate who made the proposition is executed.
Unfortunately, in this case, Hollywood is only pretending to be the senior pirate.
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=P
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Simply put....
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Re: Simply put....
None. Don't let your guard down.
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Re: Re: Simply put....
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ORLY?
I would consider it newsworthy if there is any indication that the USTR was actually reconsidering and changing their approach but nothing in this blog would make me think that this is happening.
Until that time, these entries are just filler.
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The MPAA and RIAA (and other IP creators) contribute and incredible amount of money to the economies of the Western world. It is entirely stupid to think that those who run large economic engines will not have influence on future laws.
What is really going on right now is that politicians don't know how to tune out the internet whiners yet. They learned how to turn a deaf ear to the street protesters and the loud mouths with bully pulpits on radio and TV, but they haven't quite figured out how to separate out the real issues from the made up "flash mob" actions against certain laws.
Give it a few years, and things will get back to normal, and the internet's influence on public policy will sink back to the level that it represents in the voting public, which is VERY low.
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So does the Internet.
It is entirely stupid to think that those who run large economic engines will not have influence on future laws.
Like Internet companies?
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Just one problem with your philosophy: the internet is not a thing. It is people. Communicating. Unfettered by industry.
So, to realize your vision, people have to stop communicating, or at least have a gatekeeper to censor their conversations.
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Your premise is flawed if by "an incredible amount of money" you mean "a significant amount of money relative to other industries".
http://www.bea.gov
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They have? Well, it's about time!
If Marie Antoinette could have simply turned a deaf ear back in the day, she could have kept her ears and her whole head besides, amiright?
Or maybe she should have have "given it a few years" to see if her head grew back before she decided to die. Death is such a permanent decision, after all. Why did she let a "flash" mob make it for her?
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Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria are some examples of what communication technology has sped along. You fail to see the inventors dilemma in this, we are at the beginning of the communications revolution, not the end. By believing that things will go back to how they were before, you are making the same mistake that causes entire industries to fail.
"Oh, it is just a small trend, caused by (insert cause here)" is the rationalization that blindsides people. When they finally admit the trend is there it is already to late.
While I could lecture you on the Arab spring, human flesh search engines, the UK last summer, the EU ACTA protests, DARPA's Network Challenge, the Streisand Effect, social media, and Anonymous, I won't.
I will leave you with this thought. Right now the 2 billion internet users and various interest groups are disorganized. Slowly that organization is beginning to congeal as people follow what interests them, trust the old news organizations less, and begin discussing the news as opposed to just listening to it.
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Yes, the computer network helped, in the same manner that the telephone might have 40 years ago, or the mimeographed tract might have 40 years before that.
It didn't create the underlying feelings, it didn't create the crisis. It only helped. Attributing it all to the internet is foolish.
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Yes, the computer network helped, in the same manner that the telephone might have 40 years ago, or the mimeographed tract might have 40 years before that.
It didn't create the underlying feelings, it didn't create the crisis. It only helped. Attributing it all to the internet is foolish."
*Sigh*
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong! You're wrong! You're wrong! You're wroooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggg !
Are you really that stupid or just plain ignorant?
The internet helped ORGANIZE the protests.
The Arab Spring, the failure of SOPA, ACTA, PIPA, Occupy Wall Street...
ALL of that can ONLY be attributed to the internet.
Why?
Simple.
The FREE EXCHANGE of information between people is what allowed us, the netizens of the world, to fight back against the corporations and tyrannies of the governments.
And that is what the MPAA and RIAA and dictators fear the most...
Free exchange of information.
Remember, it was the printing press, with it's moveable type that allowed for education of the masses and put an end to feudalism when the Serfs got educated and could do more than just one task.
The internet is ending the choke-hold that the Corporations have on the people...
And they HATE it.
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Just communicating that in case you're not joking.
mah-ji-kal cohm-pew-ter.. over
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Fixed that for you.
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The ONLY way that the MAFIAA contribute money is to the coffers of thieves, conmen and shysters that run the companies.
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Yup, and the coffers of lawyers/politicians to help them pass stupid laws everyone else except them has to deal with.
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P.S. last time I read, the pet food/supplies industry contributes just as much money if not more, so that about says it all in terms of what you actually contribute.
Not including making stupid laws, of course.
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virtual mafiaa poop = stinks like shit, but squelches growth...
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Regardless of the wishes of these organizations, the people who actually create content live in a world where the internet is becoming an increasingly viable funding, implementation and distribution channel.
Give it a few years, and these organizations will wither away. The studio/label-centric model is being replaced by the project-centric model, with direct distribution the rule.
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> politicians don't know how to tune out
> the internet whiners yet.
Translation: They aren't as able to ignore their constituents (the people of the country) in favor of monied interests who line their pockets as easily as they did before.
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Pour Some Sugar On Me (2012) on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/0LN0ASTtcGIbNTnjSHG6eO
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The short and long answer
Long: No, too much money to be had so they'll keep pushing on.
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Re: The short and long answer
Long: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
FTFY
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Thanks
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It has no balance in that it doesn't force the 'owner' to adapt or innovate as those things are hard to measure in advance, they have to be done by experiment. Most litigation is not aimed at 'making a reasonable deal in changing circumstance' but grabbing cash from any potentially competing distribution or shutting people down. Its a game only monopolies and lawyers can play and think is a good idea (unfortunately many politicians are lawyers!).
Legal review of copyright litigation as self fulfilling business model preventing innovation (Rutgers University School of Law).
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2099876
A personal example is many years ago with early napster, I used it to find out what CDs might be worth buying (it was more convenient for consumer than asking the guy in the shop to put stuff on all the time and user survey showed most people would have paid too given the choice of a legal service). When it was shut down I stopped buying CDs as made it harder. Its over 10 years on and they still haven't learned. I didn't get why the industry were being dicks until I realised that suing was their actual business model, not doing deals! They could have beat apple to it and had their slice.
This is something the public is understanding now too. 90% of the UK public across all parties think the Richard ODwyer case is nonsense, not just 'the internets' and usual suspects. ACTA also did a good job in Europe of making many politicians (not just pirate party types either - all) realise copyright is a massive problem to economic growth. Over time more and more consumers get shafted one by one and knowledge spreads, its not just early adopters like 'the internets' now. Consumers eventually get bitten by stupid restrictions at some point.
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The End is NIgh..or something like that
Hollywood is based on piracy and the new online Hollywood will be too.
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Re: The End is NIgh..or something like that
They could at least get in the game. The airlines knocked out independent distributors of their content by starting Travelocity and Orbitz.
"What they need to do is beat the internet at it's own game and offer something better than the torrent sites can offer"
Torrent sites are pains in the ass. Beating them would be easy.
How hard would it be for a second-tier or indie film to just sell me an AVI from a dedicated website at the RedBox price?
Sell me the back catalog as torrents for 10 cents a pop - that's pure profit on stuff just gathering dust. The beauty of torrenting for IP owners is the customer's computer does all the work. It's pure profit. I know the "official" 10 cent torrent will be quality-controlled, and the official site will be comprehensive. Why would I want to waste half an hour going to five Dutch providers plus Filestube to dig up "Dr Zhivago" or "The Girl Can't Help It" or old Jim Jarmusch movies?
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Re: Re: The End is NIgh..or something like that
A thousand times this. And yet, each time they've tried, they've come out with something they've managed to make it suck even worse than I would have thought possible. Witness the latest effort, ultraviolet.
Netflix managed to be better than torrents and, let's face it, Netflix's service is good but nowhere near great.
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But bags of money can't get it ratified anymore.
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That seems to be true in EU as its proportional representation means politicians have a good incentive to try to deal with public realistically.
Unfortunately, in US and UK, the first past the post system makes that much harder for them even if the good ones want to. Its a maths and bad design problem, as well as the more obvious money/corruption problem.
The Problems with First Past the Post Voting Explained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo
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Being a lot more open to public views would also much help them.
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it only means..
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About time!
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Down with the MPAA/RIAA
MPAA/RIAA still have huge levels of power and influence. While everyone may look at the defeats of SOPA/PIPA/ACTA and think "The People: 3 RIAA/MPAA: 0" the reality is "The People: 3 RIAA/MPAA: 100".
While they still have power and, we will have to continuously defend such attacks on internet freedom. Though their redundant business models will lead to their undoing sooner-or-later, SOPA/PIPA/ACTA/TPP show how much damage they can do in the meantime.
What is needed is a summer-long boycott of MPAA/RIAA/ESA media. Hit their hip pocket, show them we are numerous, we mean business, and we won't let these chumps get away with their attempts on our freedoms made over the last half-a-century anymore.
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Copyright maximalists
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