When Will The Motion Picture Academy Take Responsibility For All That Piracy The Oscars Create?
from the questions dept
For the past few years, Hollywood and its friends have been very, very focused on trying to blame Google for their own failure to adapt to a changing business environment. This usually takes the form of ridiculous assertions about how Google can magically stop unauthorized access to copyrighted materials, combined with totally specious studies that try (and totally fail) to link Google to an increase in infringement. The RIAA and MPAA then insist that "something must be done" with that "something" usually being Google magically changing its search results and/or special laws that would make Google and other intermediaries somehow legally liable for such infringement. The key question that we see over and over again from the RIAA and MPAA is something along the lines of "when will Google 'take responsibility'?" for all that infringement.However, with the not so surprising news that movies winning Oscar awards this past weekend saw a massive uptick in unauthorized access, a simple question needs to be asked: Why won't the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Oscars, step up and take responsibility for its award show is clearly contributing to a massive uptick in infringement?
Perhaps it's not much of a surprise, but the day after the Oscar award ceremony the winning films are in high demand among pirates. The number of people sharing "12 Years A Slave" via BitTorrent tripled, and the number of "Gravity" downloads more than doubled.Obviously, I'm joking about my question above, but if the MPAAs of the world are going to run around blaming Google when the link to infringement there is tenuous at best, then shouldn't they be much more concerned with something like the Oscars, where the link between the event and infringement is so much more pronounced?
With 7 Oscars Gravity was the big winner at the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday evening. However, the Oscar for the best motion picture went to 12 years a Slave.
Of course, the proper response to both issues is that none of this matters if the movie studios put in place better business models that allowed them to capture revenue from the interest in those films, in a manner that viewers would most like, rather than leaving it open to alternative paths. But, apparently that's too difficult.
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Filed Under: film, hollywood, motion picture academy, oscars, piracy
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It has been shown over and over that most people would prefer to obtain their programs legally and will do so willingly if they have the opportunity.
But making the movies available would do two things that MPAA executives can't abide. First, they would give up some control. They love making those complicated licensing agreements and regional marketing schemes. The last thing they want to do is go with a simple system that gives people what they want. Second, they would have to admit that they have been wrong for so many years.
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But that's just a guess.
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The future
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Blaming the Oscars would be admitting that something they've done, something they control, is increasing piracy, and since that could never be true, it's obviously all just a complete coincidence. /s
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In other blame-the-victim news:
* When will car owners start taking responsibility for all of the theft they cause by washing and waxing their cars?
* When will hot girls start taking responsibility for all of the rapes they cause by just being themselves?
Go on. Blame the victim. If you don't like the product, ignore the product. It's that simple. Yet you seem to feel that its very existence gives you the right to just take a copy. What a horrible, unethical view.
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See, you're not the only one that can hilariously exaggerate extremes, either.
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Your move, bob.
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So Google is somehow 'responsible' for all the piracy they facilitate and cause because... well... because the studios say so, and yet the Oscars, which have a demonstrable effect on piracy, are somehow not responsible at all. Nice logic there.
If you don't like the product, ignore the product.
I do, and you know what happens? I get screwed over anyway by companies and organization like the *AA's buying more and harsher laws.
I get to watch as those bought and paid for laws ensure that nothing created in my lifetime will enter the public domain until decades after I die(if ever), an action showing complete and utter contempt for the deal that copyright was supposed to be between the public and creators.
I get to watch as those you defend so faithfully try and screw over the public in countless ways, completely indifferent to any collateral damage, all in a desperate attempt to 'protect their profits' and avoid having to transition from the position of controlling gatekeepers they've been for so long, to enablers that actually care about real creators, their customers, and their rights.
I get to watch as the old gatekeepers attack and attempt to destroy any new service that could weaken their control, any new service that could allow fans and creators to connect and share things without the gatekeepers being involved.
I, and others like me, people who couldn't care less what garbage the studios threw out recently, get called criminals and pirates anyway because people like you just cannot fathom the fact that there are alternative sources of entertainment out there, other than the crap your precious studio push out.
So it's kinda hard to just 'ignore the product', when the ones pushing it out seem so determined to screw me over in so many ways, despite the fact that I want nothing to do with them.
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Ahh, bob, just making stuff up again!
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if you dont close the door it will be the home owner fault if they got a thief
if the car owner left the keys on it will be the car owner fault the car was stolen
if the hot girl go to a bad neighborhood in a miniskirt alone then sad as i must say she would be the one at fault
so in that vein if your product is good but you make it harder to get it legally dont be surprised if piracy increases
what maximalists dont understand is that people would buy the product if it is accesible and a reasonable price netflix is a great service for this reason we dont need stronger copyrights we need better understanding of your consumer base
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Nice work, bob.
Hint: try looking up satire. Might help. Though, thank you for making the point that the blame game is stupid. I'm curious, though, why you keep blaming Google for everything then?
If you don't like the product, ignore the product. It's that simple. Yet you seem to feel that its very existence gives you the right to just take a copy. What a horrible, unethical view.
I've never said that it gives you such a right. I've said, repeatedly, that the reality is some people will make a copy and the SMART thing to do is to learn to adapt. You should try it. It's fun.
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I often wonder just how effective all this bs would be if Google actually did scumbum to their demands. I don't use Google. I dislike their methods of tracking you and their methods of mixing ads with results. So getting Google to change isn't that effective for me without actually getting Google results.
Am I the only one that turns a cold shoulder to Google and it's product offerings?
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hxxp://torrentfreak.com/pirates-movie-industrys-valuable-customers-140304/
then tell me why it is that countries like the UK are now going mad on stopping file sharing, Italy is blocking at ISP level, Germany has GEMA blocking out YouTube, etc and all the associated satellite collection agencies and law firms who just keep on coming!!
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Given how much Hollywood hates RedBox, I wonder if they think paying just $2 for a screening is essentially piracy, and that by selling the beer the theater is making money from piracy.
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and there I was thinking
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ultra violet is the studio's solution
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