Motion Picture Association: The Cloud Is A Threat To Us And The Best Response Is Censorship
from the hammers-and-nails dept
The Motion Picture Association is somewhat notorious for flipping out over every new technology and how it will, without doubt, mean death for them. Most famously, of course, the prediction that the VCR would be the "Boston Strangler" to the movie industry a mere six years before home video revenues outstripped box office revenues. However, this seems to be somewhat instinctual behavior. Everything new must automatically be classified as a threat, and the best response is to kill it outright. The latest version of this appears to be the threat of (gasp!) "cloud computing." At a get together in Hong Kong, in which the movie industry was supposed to be talking about "protecting the screen community in the cloud era" apparently there was the typical predictions of doom with little in the way of suggestions. But there were some. Frank Rittman, the SVP of the Motion Picture Association, explained that the cloud was evil and censorship was the answer:The news was even worse from Frank Rittman, SVP of the Motion Picture Association, Asia Pacific, who stated that potential pirates have all the digital tools they need to make illegal media sharing more viral than ever. “Digital online technology has enabled new channels of delivery for entertainment media,” he said. “The cloud also represents a threat in that it facilitates piracy, and the pirates seem to have gotten into this space first.”He also complains that Hong Kong won't pass a law like this because the process has been "hijacked by extremists." Well, that's one way of looking at it. The alternative way is that arguing that flat out censorship of entire sites because you have been too slow to adapt, is crazy talk and is significantly more extremist than anything anyone else has been arguing. If you want to go after direct infringement, go after that. But censorship of entire sites is going way too far. And, contrary to his claims, it has not "worked" nor has it "met with some success." It hasn't driven people back to paying for movies.
The answer to both problems, Rittman believes, is pushing for Internet Service Providers to block sites known to be troublemakers when it comes to Internet piracy. He pointed to examples of the practice in Europe, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea as models of how this has worked as a low-cost way of cutting down on piracy that has met with some success.
Really, Rittman's statements are an example of the problem. Here are people so focused on "stopping piracy" that they don't care about the consequences of their own actions on innovation, nor do they care about whether or not it helps their own bottom line.
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Filed Under: blocking, censorship, cloud, frank rittman, threats
Companies: mpa
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Who would have guessed that? Probably because Hollywood doesn't actually come up with new tech other than tech to try and screw their customers.
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My imagination spins this out in a world where common sense prevails: "We, Hollywood, have to catch up and leverage this technology for our customers. What we learn from this catchup process should well-position us to take advantage of the NEXT technological evolution and actually beat the pirates to it."
Remember the guy who said recently that distribution of Academy award material should not be done digitally because they are all about "theatrical releases"? This is the kind of closed-end position that dooms Hollywood (or dooms the rest of us if the politicians continue to be nourished via Hollywood's teat).
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Better play some catch-up, quick!
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I will find and I will purchase cool stuff from Non-MAFIAA Sources.I just want you MAFIAA to go extinct.
My wallet is permanently Censored to you !
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy
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Though admittedly it's "old man yells at cloud that has been around for 20yrs or more"
and for all those whipper-snappers out there *shakes my cane at ya all* The cloud is NOT new its the amount of data it can actually hold that is newer but the basic structure, concept, and implementation was around in the early 90's and before.
Now back to rockin and laughing at the idiots (MPAA et.al ) who think clouds don't have silver linings
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He gives his own solution.
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You CAN'T disagree that "it facilitates piracy".
Study: Megaupload closure boosted Hollywood sales 10%
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/08/megaupload_piracy_study/
I recognize that citations prove nothing and facts are no obstacle -- to Techdirt fanboys. But when fits with common sense, it's compelling anyone actually open to argument.
Take a loopy tour of Techdirt.com! You always end up same place!
http://techdirt.com/
Where Mike "supports copyright" but always overlooks or excuses piracy.
03:55:46[d0261]
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Re: You CAN'T disagree that "it facilitates piracy".
I recognize that citations prove nothing and facts are no obstacle -- to Out of the Blue. But when fits with common sense, it's compelling anyone actually open to argument.
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Interesting, but hardly conclusive.
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Also, I don't have time to read the entire study but the figures on the first page suggest a variation of 2-3%, which is surely enough to be affected by notable releases by those studios or Netflix/etc. being finally allowed to service those countries.
Call me sceptical. There seems to be a correlation from the outline, but there needs to be much more. Hey, at least he's started citing something other than his own ass, right?
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Re: You CAN'T disagree that "it facilitates piracy".
Moron.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21856720
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Re: You CAN'T disagree that "it facilitates piracy".
I've said it before, I'll say it again.
The reason that movie sales went up 10% is NOT because of Megaupload's shutdown, ootb, it's because the economy was no longer tanking as hard as it had been JUST BEFORE THAT POINT!
MASSIVE FUCKING RECESSION in the west kind of hurts EVERYBODY for paying for stuff!
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The figures don't actually support their 'theory'. If you look the data suggests that digital sales equalled the same rate in May 2012 as Sep 2011.
They failed to even look at data from the same point in the previous year. Which in my book is an obvious point of failure.
The other thing is that this was sponsored by the MPAA so......
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Re: You CAN disagree that "it facilitates piracy".
From your link:
Now there's a completely independent and unbiased source.... Here's a less partisan quote for you:
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Re: You CAN'T disagree that "it facilitates piracy".
Δ Purchasesj represents the change in purchases in country j after the shutdown, n is the number of illegal movie downloads per visit to Megaupload or Megavideo, MegauploadVisitsj is the number of visits to Megaupload or Megavideo in country j before the shutdown, p is the probability that an illegal download will be converted to a sale if the download is thwarted due to the shutdown, and Trendj is the change in sales that would have occurred after the shutdown in country j if not for the shutdown.
It�s like where�s Waldo find p and n!
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Re: You CAN'T disagree that "it facilitates piracy".
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Thats like quoting the Enquirer.
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Re: You CAN'T disagree that "it facilitates piracy".
Except when they're quantified and show you're wrong, boy.
What NEW films were released to DVD/BluRay during the period specified?
If they were blockbusters, their presence would raise the total sales level, invalidating the premise.
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"New research published by the European Commission�s Joint Research Centre shows that online piracy doesn�t hurt digital music revenues. The researchers examined browsing habits from 16,000 Europeans and found that there�s a positive link between online piracy and visits to legal music stores, irrespective of people�s interest in music. The study concludes that the music industry should not see piracy as a growing concern."
http://torrentfreak.com/online-piracy-is-not-hurting-music-revenues-european-commission -finds-130318/
Do us a favor and grow some brain cells, thanks.
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The government agrees
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Yes, because you morons have spent the last 20 years trying to first stop legitimate services from appearing, then restricting both the customer base and usefulness of the services you eventually were convinced to offer. Surprise! Ignoring an emerging market lets someone get there first.
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They'll doomed
Doom to the lot of them, their model of business is now failing and it's time for some evolution.
I'm just out to lend my books and DVD's to family and friend so they don't have to pay to get the content ... back when I've bankrupted these old fashioned industries ...
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They are amazingly blind
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Re: They are amazingly blind
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blaming piracy and stopping new innovations, while doomed to fail, is a *safe* strategy. presumably safe. safe for their jobs. safe for their profits. safe for their companies. it is a strategy that can be presented to "the board", and when it fails, it is not their fault, but the fault of "all these damn pirates". by controlling the conversation, by framing it as "us against the pirates" and "the pirates just want to steal our money", they keep the board thinking that the problem is not that the current business model is outdated, but that the foes they face are harder to defeat than previously thought, and therefore more is needed; more laws, more object lessons, more extra-judicial means of redress. not because, as they would say, the battle is unwinnable; but because they have already invested so much into they existing system, that to discard it now would be tantamount to financial suicide. catch-up is a very hard game to win with regards to recent technology.
while i understand this, i do not pity them. they had their chance. 20 years ago they could have crushed online piracy today. and that innovation might not have been successful the first time around. it might have taken several attempts. it might have destroyed the business that tried it first. but it would have been a chance. by following this route for decades, for playing it "safe" for decades, for trying to maintain the status quo in a universe driven by entropy, change, and evolution, they have sealed their own fate of eventual obsolescence. it is too late for them. to those businesses I say, "please, just go away and die. we don't need you anymore."
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Of course they got there first. They always get there first. You folks always have to be dragged kicking and screaming to any new technology. Here's a tip: try being proactive in the development and use of new technologies, and you might reach that place first.
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a) those idiots that spout it
b)those (idiots?) that HAVE to agree with those spouting this shit or they get fired!
c) those idiots in political positions of power, paid by the original idiots spouting this shit to believe it
d) those idiots in Law Enforcement that have to believe what those idiots in a) and c) say or they lose their jobs!
the ones that dont believe it are everyone else on the Planet! perhaps if the entertainment industries start to go after cloud services we will see an amalgamation of companies fighting them, which is what the gutless fuckers should have done from day one over all the censorship demands, back peddling and complying they have done to try to please an industry that cant be pleased, that wont be happy until every internet service, indeed the internet itself, has been destroyed so as to keep them going in the C20 manner they seem unable to progress past!!
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In effect, the entertainment industry created online filesharing and movie piracy.
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Mike Masnick: Piracy Is Great, So Nothing Should Be Done About It
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Of course, that's a false dichotomy. There is a 3rd choice: embracing the methods that pirates use to make more money by giving your customers what they want in a convenient manner for a reasonable price.
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What, pray tell, do you propose be done about piracy?
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Mike Masnick: Piracy Is Great, So Nothing Should Be Done About It"
Mike Masnick: Piracy Is A Fact And Is Going To Happen No Matter What As Long As There Are People On Earth Who Share Things, so stop trying to CONTROL it and start finding ways to COMPETE with it.
FTFY
(Note for the Shill Mouth Breathers out there who cant be bothered to RTFA: I am not Mike, Mike did not, in fact, say the above statement. It is a (hopefully accurate) extrapolation of the viewpoints and conclusions of this site and the many people who frequent it.)
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simple solution
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News flash! Creating any sort of content facilitates piracy. Stop creating content and problem solved!
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https://plus.google.com/107429617152575897589/posts/iPmatxBYuj2
DRM isn't about antipiracy anymore, that's the smokescreen but even the higher ups know it's impossible. DRM is about controlling the companies that facilitate your access to content. So they surely can't allow "companies" to exist that don't follow their rules and accept their bullshit.
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Obvious Solution
No movies, no pirates. Hollywood can then rake in their record profits.
What? It's an industry where blockbuster movies never turn a profit and where piracy costs them 20% more jobs per year than they employ in total. Surely they can find a way to squeeze money out of a lack of movies.
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This is the model of the future. This is how things will soon be done. And those who can't see it will be left behind like records when CD's came out.
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"The legislative process in Hong Kong was hijacked by extremists"
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In reality, it facilitates distribution.
Mike sees cloud as an opportunity.
Piracy is pessimism, opportunity is optimism. Distribution is the reality. As soon as they start to embrace reality and optimism at least sometimes in addition to their pessimism (They are lobbyists after all) then I will be ok with them.
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"The cloud facilitates privacy"
Not that I would expect a MAFIAA shill to understand that.
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Because, as it is so often said, more access restrictions means more piracy - and in China's case, 80% of the whole world's.
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You wish to compete with piracy? And by "compete" I imply push it back into the fringe, sideline it, make it a substantially less draining exercise in futility.
It's so simple it fucking hurts a little.
First, at a minimum, you must match their offerings.
Second, once you have a match you must endeavor to catch.
Make it easy to find, easy to browse, easy to sample, format agnostic, geographically unlimited and, above all, affordable.
Technology is not moving in reverse folks. As one of the top of my head approach you'd do well to foster authorized sharing (figure it out oh great creative geniuses that you are)
I'll tell you right now, I've looked under the covers and this crap you think you're getting on top of.. uh-uh. I can find anything I want at any time. Links? You'd also do well to stop being silly.
I also might advise that you take up a new look at your planet. You keep fucking with communications the way your are and I can all but guarantee you that you and many others will regret that approach.
I'd say pretty soon the meshes will get larger and then you're completely fucked - no ISP majik filter will help you then.
So, in a nutshell, stop being chicken shits. The collateral damage from your intransigence helps no one.
DBAP - help yourselves - it's your business
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The road to riches
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Sooner or later someone has to say "are the other companies our friends or our competition? We have a chance here to sign all their artists with better deals and steal all their customers."
Then again... it's been a great many years, and so far no one seems interested in competing. Funny thing, that.
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On a rather more ironic note with all the crappy reboots that hollywood keeps disgorging, you'd think ootb would do a gritty reboot of his cut n paste signature line....
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He's talking about people who haven't even pirated yet as if it's the only thing they are going to do...
Give me a freaking break!
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Indonesia? Some success? ROTFL. Whatever he's smoking it sure is very good/strong stuff that cause brain damage. 95% of movies/music/software sold there is pirated, less than $1 for physical medium.
What is this "practice" that he mentioned? Censorship? Very little to none. Fines? Last I heard of someone getting I fine is, I don't know, never. Physical raids? Good luck with that, with the brick & mortar store being raided got back up 1hr (sometime less) after the raid.
#1 reason for piracy is price. At $4 GDP per capita, who's in the right mind will buy $40 movie or $60 games. Furthermore, at that price point, there's no added value. Even basic things like customer support is non existent. Returning defective product will require at least a month, and that's assuming you have good connection in export/import market and/or powerful friends. Whatever "support" the customer get is from the pirate store themselves (usually, change of the physical media, or if all fails, select another title; the process begin again if the replacement fails).
So, if someone is buying legitimately, at legitimate price, the usual response from his/her peers is: "are you nuts?", or "you must have a lot of spare dough to burn, mind giving me some?".
Is this a mentality problem? Nope. There's 2 occurrences where Sierra sold their game at $6 on 1, and $17 on the other. Both games sold out, and the supplier had to restock many times because of the demand. The pirated version? Not selling, AT ALL.
OK, those cases are in the '90s. Nowadays, GOG have much more penetration than Steam. Why? Cos DRM, however benevolent and came with many added values, is still DRM, and the market has no compromise with it. People even forgo things like Windows and/or AntiVirus updates. Nothing is deemed worth the internet connection hassle.
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