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

Fri, Jul 6th 2012 8:12am — Mike Masnick

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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Hephaestus (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 6:26am

Next on the chopping block at the USTR, the pharmaceutical industry, with their demands that individuals in developing nations, making $500 USD a year, pay $70,000 a year for cancer treatment.
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Anonymous, 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:21am

No.

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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Zakida Paul (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:24am

Re:
Or any other private business, for that matter.
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wallow-T, 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:30am

Possibly, but even the companies with an interest in combatting physical counterfeits want the ability to make websites disappear without going through a drawn-out and costly legal procedure. (For example, if "cheaphandbags.domain" is selling Louis Vuitton fakes.)
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alanbleiweiss (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:32am

The US Chamber of Commerce actually doing something based on intelligent reason? ha! I sincerely do hope the insanity will come back to bite MPAA/RIAA so hard they actually wake up.

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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John, 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:33am

Without massive reform and limitation to all IP laws, there is little hope any of them will stop being dicks, coz they can throw money at lawyers which makes litigation another business model not just production itself. It is self reinforcing.

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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Floyd, 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:35am

We, The...
Sheeple.
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Jeremy, 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:37am

That's a tougher sell.
If product A has price X in Zimbabwe, but price Y in the U.S.,

AND X < ( Y + Shipping )

THEN Hello Google translated version of Zimbabwe drug seller website.
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Lowestofthekeys (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:38am

I was reading an article a few days ago and the author used the analogy of 5 pirates fighting over 100 gold coins in relation to various corporations (hooray for ironic metaphors!) .

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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Wally (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:40am

Simply put....
No, they will never learn...they never have learned...they refuse to learn. I am reminded of COICA, which was not passed due to pocket veto. Then a year and a half later, they write something similar called SOPA and PIPA and push for ACTA. They have been like this since day one when the first VCR's and Betamxs' came out and have been dragged kicking and screaming into EVERY new video viewing standard format. What evidence is there that will convince us that this won't happen again?
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Russ (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:43am

ORLY?
This strikes me as wishful thinking. In a rational world, organizations would learn from failure. In a political world, they just seem to think that more is better and if it didn't work the first time, double down.(see TPP)

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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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:50am

Umm, loaded and misleading question (and title).

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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Chargone (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:56am

Re: That's a tougher sell.
err... i think you meant '(X+shipping) < Y

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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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:56am

i sincerely hope so. in all honesty, what good has come out of this decades long fight? to my mind, absolutely none! just think of the downloads that would/could have been available if the entertainment industries had used the tools they had to better their cause rather than to alienate the very people they rely on to keep in business. not only that but look at how many artists are now aware of the alternate ways of making money and how the word has spread over the ripping off the labels have gotten away with doing for years too. add the idiotic views of politicians that are so stupid as to take the lies of those industries as gospel and we have a serious crap heap that need not have been and customers that are treated as criminals over an accusation, not proof, and now despise those very industries. whoever decided on the way to handle the 'file sharing' and 'piracy' issues, needs to be strung up by the bollocks! if i were an exec and in a position of having to follow this persons lead, i would be friggin' livid!! the instigator has the mentality of whelk!!
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Hephaestus (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:57am

Re: That's a tougher sell.
They will make the import of lower cost versions illegal. With huge fines for personal use, and jail time. With the jail time being a death sentence based on the HMO in the jail not paying for the needed drugs.

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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Chargone (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:58am

Re:
can we "pretend" to execute them, then?
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Titania Bonham-Smythe (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:59am

Phil Collen can play a glorious riff.

Pour Some Sugar On Me (2012) on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/0LN0ASTtcGIbNTnjSHG6eO
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2012 @ 8:59am

Re:
The MPAA and RIAA (and other IP creators) contribute and incredible amount of money to the economies of the Western world.

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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TasMot (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:01am

The short and long answer
Short: No

Long: No, too much money to be had so they'll keep pushing on.
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Titania Bonham-Smythe (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:01am

Oh dear... I thought I was commenting on the Def Leppard article. Now I look silly.
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Mike42 (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:03am

Re:
Ah, THAT's what you guys are thinking! The internet is a fad, and the business model of the 1990's for the music industry is here to stay.

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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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:06am

Re:
The MPAA and RIAA (and other IP creators) contribute and incredible amount of money to the economies of the Western world.

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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Milton Freewater, 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:20am

Re:
"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"

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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Adam Wasserman (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:23am

Re:
I think that this is more than a simple case of corruption.

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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Hephaestus (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:27am

Re:
"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."

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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kirby (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:30am

Thanks
In the end, I think we are all going to be better for having this fight though. People are becoming more united over a single goal, getting online, exposing hidden political connections and the money that is driving it. Thanks MPAA/RIAA for uniting us.
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John, 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:41am

Most IP is flawed because it is way too sided (with except of moral rights such as not pretending you are someone else which is obviously dishonest).

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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SujaOfJauhnral (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:44am

Re: Re:
I'll "pretend" to fire the bullet!
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SujaOfJauhnral (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:45am

Re: Simply put....
What evidence is there that will convince us that this won't happen again?

None. Don't let your guard down.
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SujaOfJauhnral (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:47am

Re:
Give it a few years, and things will get back to normal, and the entertainment industries' influence on public policy will sink back to the level that it represents in the voting public, which is VERY low.

Fixed that for you.
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The eejit (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:48am

Re:
No. 2% of the US economy is not a significant amount of money, in real terms. What you need to do is kindly shut the fuck up and actually pay attention to what's going on in the world.

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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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:48am

Re:
Eventually the industries they are fucking with will realize they have a shit ton more money than hollywood and taking the moral high road and not buying the law you want isn't worth it when hollywood has no qualms with it.
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anon, 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:49am

The End is NIgh..or something like that
Hollywood has been dying online for a long time, they know they cannot control the distribution of there content. What they need to do is beat the internet at it's own game and offer something better than the torrent sites can offer, but in there dreams of the future they ignore the competition and demonize themselves by attacking there customer base.

Hollywood is based on piracy and the new online Hollywood will be too.
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SujaOfJauhnral (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:50am

Re:
The MPAA and RIAA (and other IP creators) contribute and incredible amount of money to the economies of the Western world.

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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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:52am

Re: Re:
That is exactly how many european countries see it and it is also exactly what every EU trade document mentions several times. I think a lot of the problem is brainwashing caused by repetition from politically coloured non-elected officials.
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SujaOfJauhnral (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:52am

Re: Re:
The ONLY way that the MAFIAA contribute money is to the coffers of thieves, conmen and shysters that run the companies.

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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The eejit (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:52am

Re: The short and long answer
Short: NO.

Long: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

FTFY
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2012 @ 9:53am

Bags of money can buy you anything written on paper as a 'treaty' or 'international agreement'.

But bags of money can't get it ratified anymore.
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Baldaur Regis (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 10:07am

Re:
The MPAA and RIAA are trade organizations representing the distributors of "IP". They create nothing themselves.

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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SAG, 6 Jul 2012 @ 10:15am

Re: Re:
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.
At least the pet food industry leaves you with a tangible result in your yard...the Entertainment industry? Not so much...
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John, 6 Jul 2012 @ 10:16am

Re:
Bags of money can buy you anything written on paper as a 'treaty' or 'international agreement'.

But bags of money can't get it ratified anymore.

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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VMax, 6 Jul 2012 @ 10:17am

Re: Re:
What are you talking about? They create new accounting methods all the time, as well as jobs for lawyers.
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Hephaestus (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 10:21am

Re: Re: Re:
Yeah and the tangible result in your yard is preferable to the Entertainment Industry in most cases.
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Milton Freewater, 6 Jul 2012 @ 10:28am

Re: The End is NIgh..or something like that
"Hollywood has been dying online for a long time, they know they cannot control the distribution of there content."

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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zos (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 10:36am

Re: Re: That's a tougher sell.
that's certainly why all my marlboro's have cyrillic printing on them.
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btr1701 (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 10:44am

Re:
> What is really going on right now is that
> 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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varagix, 6 Jul 2012 @ 10:47am

Re: Re: That's a tougher sell.
If they did, it would be kinda ironic and counter productive.

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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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2012 @ 11:10am

I have a feeling it will come back to bite MPAA and RIAA simply because it affects other companies who we would have let pass if not for the MPAA and RIAA madness attached.
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Lowestofthekeys (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 11:18am

Re: Re:
I think "death by snu-snu" is a good method of execution for this situation.
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DannyB (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 11:22am

Re: Re:
Why should they have qualms with it. In the US the law of the land now is that money == speech.

Hey there Mr. Congresscritter, do you need some more free speech sent your way?
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Violated (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 11:55am

This problem is easy to solve. Just take all copyright and Internet aspects out of these trade agreement and to handle them in a separate document.

Being a lot more open to public views would also much help them.
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art guerrilla (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 12:29pm

Re: Re: Re:
real dog poop = fertilizer, makes shit grow...
virtual mafiaa poop = stinks like shit, but squelches growth...
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Thomas (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 12:57pm

it only means..
the RIAA.MPAA will step up the bribery to get the results they want. After all, the RIAA/MPAA would much prefer spend a billion dollars bribing politicians and government agencies to preserve their existing business model rather than spend 100 million to change their business model and still make money.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2012 @ 2:51pm

Re: Re: Re:
And apparently to the coffers of Kim Dotcom, Richard O'Dwyer and Queen Phara.
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Hephaestus (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 2:53pm

Re: Re: Re: That's a tougher sell.
Isn't it great! The laws set up to prevent unfair trade practices are evolving into protectionism for large corporations. History shows how bad protecting industries from competition is. Didn't that start a world war at one time.
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Wally (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 2:57pm

Re: Re: Simply put....
Amen :-)
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Wally (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 3:01pm

Re: Re: Re:
So pleasuring the MPAA and RIAA to the point of death because of broken pelvises is a good hard slow execution?

=P
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John Fenderson (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 3:15pm

Re: Re:
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

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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John Fenderson (profile), 6 Jul 2012 @ 3:22pm

Re: Re: The End is NIgh..or something like that
Torrent sites are pains in the ass. Beating them would be easy.

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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AC Cobra, 6 Jul 2012 @ 5:52pm

About time!
As a unionized grip and lighting technician working on movies in the US, I can only say "Hallejullah!" It's about time people started questioning the MPAA's batshit crazy copyright ideas and undue influence with all three branches of government. In related news, the latest issue of the IATSE bulletin has come out (it's freely available by Google search), and I am happy to report it contains much less copyright maximalist propaganda than it has in past issues. Hopefully even those slow to catch-on minds in the IATSE leadership are starting to figure things out.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2012 @ 6:43pm

Re: Re:
Nice try, but you are in many way attributing the success to the wrong place. The movements in these areas are as much to do with pent up frustrations and years and years of oppression and hatred, rather than some magical computer network.

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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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jul 2012 @ 7:04pm

Re:
I don't give a shit about Hollywood profits.
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silverscarcat (profile), 7 Jul 2012 @ 5:17am

Re: Re: Re:
"Nice try, but you are in many way attributing the success to the wrong place. The movements in these areas are as much to do with pent up frustrations and years and years of oppression and hatred, rather than some magical computer network.

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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LC (profile), 7 Jul 2012 @ 6:36pm

Down with the MPAA/RIAA
Nope.

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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ss, 7 Jul 2012 @ 8:46pm

Re: Re: Re:
It seems you're the only one trying.

Just communicating that in case you're not joking.

mah-ji-kal cohm-pew-ter.. over
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ss, 7 Jul 2012 @ 8:54pm

Re:
^ seconded. I had to look up whelk first though - just wanted to be sure it was edible.
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Flix (profile), 8 Jul 2012 @ 7:31am

Re: Re: That's a tougher sell.
"Will the failures of SOPA & ACTA [...]"

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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Renee Marie Jones, 10 Jul 2012 @ 9:36am

Copyright maximalists
The RIAA and MPAA have not even lost yet. They are certainly not going to give up, all they will do is redouble their efforts, increase secrecy, and increase the bribes. The USTR has not given ground on anything, the language they now include has no legal meaning whatsoever. The WTO has already ruled that under the "three-part test" that exclusions in US law are illegal and must be removed. Most likely the MPAA and RIAA are behind this. Offer something that sounds like compromise but means nothing. Cry crocodile tears about it to distract the opposition, then get everything you want. Until the corrupt USTR representatives are removed from office and jailed, until the corrupt politicians are removed from office, until the criminal thugs running the RIAA and MPAA are brought to justice, until those things happen there will be no justice in the United States.
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Adam Wasserman (profile), 17 Jul 2012 @ 4:39pm

Re: Re: Re:
I *so* agree
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