"I'm not talking about the CEO's high salaries, which I hate, just the fact that cracking down on piracy means films become more profitable. More profits attract more capital and that means more films will be made. If you're a film lover, you want the development costs spread amongst all of the consumers. So everyone who goes to the movies or watches TV has a stake in a fair marketplace."
Maybe I'm just new to the marketplace, but I had no idea that film lovers like myself wanted the development costs to be spread amongst all of the consumers. It's more likely that film lovers want to see a good film. The internet (piracy til someone offers a legal free or reasonably priced solution) now allows us to preview a film before spending money on the social experience of the theatre. It would seem that this would make good films much more profitable at the expense of poor films. Im ok with less poor films and more high quality films, as opposed to just more films being made.
As for cracking down on piracy making movies more profitable, is that a gut instinct or has the movie industry been losing money every year since the rise of piracy? And I just have to ask why can't we just change the name from piracy to something else and make it legal? Lobbying and Bribery are the same act, but one is legal.
Sure the Obama administration is a let down, because of the high expectations. But c'mon, with all of the things that any US President has to look at on any given day, it is UNREASONABLE to expect that any administration would tackle the red tape of EVERY dept in the US Government.
The President is the head of the Executive Branch. There is a limit to what he can do. For any Presidential candidate to say that he will tackle the corruption in DC is just a pipe dream, and if you really expected a significant "change", you were delusional. Undoing the damage of the previous 8 years of Bush is an hercluean task.
Just be happy that King Bush is gone and hope that we never have another Pres. that regularly abuses executive privilege.
Ok Mike, you simply have to stop using titles like this for your articles. I had to stare at the title for a few minutes and then pause and wonder what the hell happened to my browser.
Just how the hell am I supposed to tell the difference between The Onion and TechDirt if you title and write articles like this????
Now Im not even sure how to comment on this crap. My common sense is completely thrown out of whack now. Ummmm yeah the internet is global. Soooo that means that TV People all over the globe now have a HUGE and NEW market for all their OLD content. Who gives a crap if the ad revenue is a fraction of what it used to be when you can rake it in for content that you haven't been using for DECADES.
Instead of whining about piracy; but... but... but...PIRACY. I'm surprised that at least one of those greedy f*cks hasn't said; but... but... but... new revenue on shit we aren't even using.
I bet there is one thing that the trolls have completely missed in this discussion.
The theater experience has been compared to the home experience and the prices of DVD rentals and Netflix and this DIrectTV offering have been discussed, and in all of that discussion almost EVERYONE has been talking about how the movie industry should be paid.
Trolls, please note that its NOT about piracy. People will pay for a valuable service, but if you take away their options then file sharing rules.
Sorry Rich, but I'm pretty sure this passes the Moron in a Hurry test. At no point in reading this article did I think for one moment of associating the word Freetard with mental retardation. In fact, the only way I made that association was after reading your comment. I think Mike coined the phrase "Streisand Effect", which could actually occur if you were to raise a big enough stink about being PC in this matter.
Are the normal trolls recruiting from other places outside of the content industry now?
I wonder if the RIAA/MPAA/BSA will figure the loss of business due to this type of law into their calculations for damage to the economy due to piracy. As in, the pirates forced us to lobby for these types of laws that further harm the economy, so now the total cost of piracy is more than a Bajillion dollars to the global economy.
I probably should wake up before I post a comment, and I should clarify that other comment.
It doesn't appear that Zuckerberg infringed on a copyright, though it does appear that he copied an idea, that of a college social network that would spread from his campus to those all over the US.
Having an idea and doing something with it are two entirely different things.
Zuckerberg failed to complete a contract for the Winklevi. He did not steal or copy anything as far as I can tell.
Now while Im sure that breaking a contract has some financial consequence... $160 million????
Zuckerberg may have copied their idea, but the only real harm it would appear that he did was to hamper his competitor's entrance into the market by a few months. ConnectU went online and just failed. Cool name though.
Yes the casinos are trying to overturn the anti-online gambling laws now. For the casinos poker was never a huge profit center, however, once they saw how EXTREMELY profitable it is online, that changed the game.
Now they want in on the action. Getting the major competition arrested is a good ante.
Mike you would do yourself and this blog a service if you change the title of this article to the one suggested by the lion tamer.
"World's Richest Band Seeks Handout" is actually a much better title and the only way to really make any sense of the comments coming from U2's manager.
This guy flat out says that piracy isn't the problem, as it would seem that he has finally realized that looking for money from pirates is not a good business model. Instead he turns his attention to siphoning someone else's revenue stream, and Why ??? GENEROSITY!!!!!
Ok time for a huge WTF?????
Now I have to go read the original article, because this guy can't really be THAT dense.
Yes there are accusations of fraud and money laundering. And yes those are illegal activities.
You have to ask yourself why they resorted to fraud and money laundering. They were working around the system. The issue of whether or not poker is gambling forced them to work around a law that banned online gambling.
The real question to be asked is why we put up with a Congress that hides an online gambling ban in a bill that is designed to protect our harbors and ports. Yell "the TERRORISTS are coming!!" and you have a bill to protect ports that is not going to have much opposition, then add in whatever legislation may have had some opposition and job done.
So yes, they did commit crimes, because the TERRORISTS could use online gambling to get us.
@Glen L. Your comment confused the hell out of me. I immediately looked for which button to push and could only find insightful funny and report.
It is now OBVIOUS that Mike needs to add a moronic or dumb fuck button so that we can accurately tabulate comments like yours.
Let's compare and contrast your comments.
"If you don't think that terrorists would use a young girl, even unknowingly on her part, or a woman or a mentally diminished person for their purposes - you're dead wrong. They have !"
"If you're going to attack something, you ought to get it right & not make false accusations & use hyperbole."
You clearly group women children and mentally diminished people as possible terrorist tools to defend your stance on pat downs for children and then you state that one should get things right and not use hyperbole.
Hmmmmm
Could you please link me to all the attempted or successful terrorist attacks on airplanes that used children as tools? I'll wait.
Whilst I'm waiting.... Mike, could we get that "dumb fuck" or "moron" button added?
There are usually a lot of bright comments in this blog, but the comparison of Communism to Capitalism is a bit disturbing.
Why are you comparing a political system to an economic system. Ran out of apples to compare to apples, so you figured why not compare apples to alligators?
Admittedly Obama is not the best President, but then comparing him to Bush, he looks like JFK.
Attacking Obama for being a Chicago politician is just insane. The US Senate and House of Reps are far more corrupt than any single municipal government, as they are just used to constant bribes ( errr.... lobbying).
Im guessing Chicagoans get a bad rap because we just call them bribes openly. Oh wait, that's classified information. oops.
It took quite some time to get to read through all the comments on this one.
Are phone calls so last century? Nope.
For all the changes in behavior surrounding the use of the phone, voice isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Facetime and Skype are clear examples of the fact that people are looking for ways to improve voice by integrating it with video.
Texting and IMs are here to stay as well. Text based alternatives have their place just like voice does. What is socially acceptable when it comes to voice is a whole different matter, as it varies greatly depending on age, economics, technical ability and probably a bunch of other factors.
For a lot a people with unlimited text mobile plans, its just more cost effective to text. For people who value their personal time, it may be rude to call them unannounced. The long and the short of it is that our communications tools are developing at such a rate that is hard to make accurate generalizations about them, but it's fair to say that we no longer use the phone the way we used to.
If you really think that phone calls are so last century, then I challenge someone to put out a mobile device like an iPhone that doesn't have voice capabilities and see if it can displace mobile phones in the market.
When I was growing up, I was ALWAYS taught that Necessity is the Mother of Invention.
At no point do I remember EVER hearing that Patents were the Mother of Invention. Maybe the IP gurus feel that patents are the father of innovation? No no that doesn't sound right. How about Patents are the Father of Monopoly?
I guess if you look closely at Fact #2, then the pay wall actually makes some sense. The NYT only expects that 15% of their visitors will encounter the paywall. That's fairly important.
If they can actually convert 6% of those visitors to paying customers then they project they can make a profit ( or call it a success). Regardless of whether they hit their goal or not, the site is still bringing in ad revenue and they are only taking the risk of offending a small percentage of their traffic with the pay wall.
Allowing free views from sites that link to their articles may dilute the traffic to the site to some degree, but it will remain to be seen if that loss of views is enough to seriously harm the business model. Based solely on FACT 2, it appears that they are just phishing for money from a small percentage of their visitors and have a decent chance of making their numbers.
Saying that the business model is doomed may be correct in the long term, but in the short term it looks like it could work until enough of their legacy customers realize that they are being taken for a ride.
When you look at the research that we've done, TONS of people actually say, "Jeez, we've felt sort of guilty getting this for free all these years. We actually want to step up and pay, because we know we're supporting a valuable institution."
After re-reading that portion of the article, it suddenly made sense when I did the math. If we assume the average weight of a human is 150 pounds then it only takes 27 people to make TONS of people, maybe even 50 people felt that way. If the NYT wants to base a business model on 50 or so positive responses and one woman in Canada who actually sends them a check because she reads the news for free online, then more power to them.
Tons of people... The really shouldn't do survey results by weight.
The music industry really needs to be leading the charge in the War on Terrorism. Things have been killing the music industry for a looooooong time and it just won't die!!!
On the post: Interesting World: Man Unwittingly Live Tweets Raid That Killed Osama Bin Laden
Re: Bracing for retaliation
Is the War on Terror (omg it hurts just to type that) over now? Did we beat an abstract concept to death? Can I Tweet it or post it in my FB status?
Yayyy! The USA beat Terror.
So why does this TSA guy still have his hands on my package?
On the post: Former DHS Official: ACTA 'Sweetheart Deal For IP Owners; Free Gov't Enforcement Of Private Rights'
Re: Laws are always sweetheart deals
"I'm not talking about the CEO's high salaries, which I hate, just the fact that cracking down on piracy means films become more profitable. More profits attract more capital and that means more films will be made. If you're a film lover, you want the development costs spread amongst all of the consumers. So everyone who goes to the movies or watches TV has a stake in a fair marketplace."
Maybe I'm just new to the marketplace, but I had no idea that film lovers like myself wanted the development costs to be spread amongst all of the consumers. It's more likely that film lovers want to see a good film. The internet (piracy til someone offers a legal free or reasonably priced solution) now allows us to preview a film before spending money on the social experience of the theatre. It would seem that this would make good films much more profitable at the expense of poor films. Im ok with less poor films and more high quality films, as opposed to just more films being made.
As for cracking down on piracy making movies more profitable, is that a gut instinct or has the movie industry been losing money every year since the rise of piracy? And I just have to ask why can't we just change the name from piracy to something else and make it legal? Lobbying and Bribery are the same act, but one is legal.
On the post: Confirmed: US Was The 'Lone Holdout' In Refusing To Release ACTA Text
Can we just get over it??????
Sure the Obama administration is a let down, because of the high expectations. But c'mon, with all of the things that any US President has to look at on any given day, it is UNREASONABLE to expect that any administration would tackle the red tape of EVERY dept in the US Government.
The President is the head of the Executive Branch. There is a limit to what he can do. For any Presidential candidate to say that he will tackle the corruption in DC is just a pipe dream, and if you really expected a significant "change", you were delusional. Undoing the damage of the previous 8 years of Bush is an hercluean task.
Just be happy that King Bush is gone and hope that we never have another Pres. that regularly abuses executive privilege.
Back to your regularly scheduled comments....
On the post: TV People Realizing That The Internet Is Global
Thoroughly Confuzzled....
Just how the hell am I supposed to tell the difference between The Onion and TechDirt if you title and write articles like this????
Now Im not even sure how to comment on this crap. My common sense is completely thrown out of whack now. Ummmm yeah the internet is global. Soooo that means that TV People all over the globe now have a HUGE and NEW market for all their OLD content. Who gives a crap if the ad revenue is a fraction of what it used to be when you can rake it in for content that you haven't been using for DECADES.
Instead of whining about piracy; but... but... but...PIRACY. I'm surprised that at least one of those greedy f*cks hasn't said; but... but... but... new revenue on shit we aren't even using.
On the post: Studios Offering $30 Movie Rentals; Theater Owner Complains That He Can't Compete With That
Note to trolls...
The theater experience has been compared to the home experience and the prices of DVD rentals and Netflix and this DIrectTV offering have been discussed, and in all of that discussion almost EVERYONE has been talking about how the movie industry should be paid.
Trolls, please note that its NOT about piracy. People will pay for a valuable service, but if you take away their options then file sharing rules.
On the post: Announcing: Freetard 2: Free Harder
PC gone WILD
Are the normal trolls recruiting from other places outside of the content industry now?
On the post: Businesses In New Zealand Worry That New Copyright Law Will Kill Off Their Open WiFi
DUH !!! And then the spin...
I wonder if the RIAA/MPAA/BSA will figure the loss of business due to this type of law into their calculations for damage to the economy due to piracy. As in, the pirates forced us to lobby for these types of laws that further harm the economy, so now the total cost of piracy is more than a Bajillion dollars to the global economy.
On the post: Winkelvi Officially Ask 9th Circuit To Rehear Their Case About How $160 Million For Not Doing Much Is Not Enough
Re: Insanity
It doesn't appear that Zuckerberg infringed on a copyright, though it does appear that he copied an idea, that of a college social network that would spread from his campus to those all over the US.
Having an idea and doing something with it are two entirely different things.
On the post: Winkelvi Officially Ask 9th Circuit To Rehear Their Case About How $160 Million For Not Doing Much Is Not Enough
Insanity
Now while Im sure that breaking a contract has some financial consequence... $160 million????
Zuckerberg may have copied their idea, but the only real harm it would appear that he did was to hamper his competitor's entrance into the market by a few months. ConnectU went online and just failed. Cool name though.
On the post: Poker Player Obama Seizes Online Poker Sites?
AC Get it RIght
Yes the casinos are trying to overturn the anti-online gambling laws now. For the casinos poker was never a huge profit center, however, once they saw how EXTREMELY profitable it is online, that changed the game.
Now they want in on the action. Getting the major competition arrested is a good ante.
On the post: U2 Manager Still Blaming Everyone Else For Not Giving Him More Money... As U2 Sets Record For Highest Grossing Tour Ever
the lion tamer has you beat, Mike...
"World's Richest Band Seeks Handout" is actually a much better title and the only way to really make any sense of the comments coming from U2's manager.
This guy flat out says that piracy isn't the problem, as it would seem that he has finally realized that looking for money from pirates is not a good business model. Instead he turns his attention to siphoning someone else's revenue stream, and Why ??? GENEROSITY!!!!!
Ok time for a huge WTF?????
Now I have to go read the original article, because this guy can't really be THAT dense.
On the post: Feds Seize Poker Websites; Founders Indicted
Re: Spin spin spin
You have to ask yourself why they resorted to fraud and money laundering. They were working around the system. The issue of whether or not poker is gambling forced them to work around a law that banned online gambling.
The real question to be asked is why we put up with a Congress that hides an online gambling ban in a bill that is designed to protect our harbors and ports. Yell "the TERRORISTS are coming!!" and you have a bill to protect ports that is not going to have much opposition, then add in whatever legislation may have had some opposition and job done.
So yes, they did commit crimes, because the TERRORISTS could use online gambling to get us.
On the post: TSA Gropes 6-Year Old Girl: Says It's Okay Since It Followed Standard Operating Procedure
Re: young girl pat down
It is now OBVIOUS that Mike needs to add a moronic or dumb fuck button so that we can accurately tabulate comments like yours.
Let's compare and contrast your comments.
"If you don't think that terrorists would use a young girl, even unknowingly on her part, or a woman or a mentally diminished person for their purposes - you're dead wrong. They have !"
"If you're going to attack something, you ought to get it right & not make false accusations & use hyperbole."
You clearly group women children and mentally diminished people as possible terrorist tools to defend your stance on pat downs for children and then you state that one should get things right and not use hyperbole.
Hmmmmm
Could you please link me to all the attempted or successful terrorist attacks on airplanes that used children as tools? I'll wait.
Whilst I'm waiting.... Mike, could we get that "dumb fuck" or "moron" button added?
On the post: Latest Issue Of Newsweek Down To Just Six Ads
Re: Re: Why Bother????????
Why are you comparing a political system to an economic system. Ran out of apples to compare to apples, so you figured why not compare apples to alligators?
Can we get back to the topic?
On the post: Court Seals Unclassified Document In Whistleblower Case... After Gov't Falsely Says It's Classified
Re:
Attacking Obama for being a Chicago politician is just insane. The US Senate and House of Reps are far more corrupt than any single municipal government, as they are just used to constant bribes ( errr.... lobbying).
Im guessing Chicagoans get a bad rap because we just call them bribes openly. Oh wait, that's classified information. oops.
On the post: Phone Calls Are So Last Century
Touched a nerve?
Are phone calls so last century? Nope.
For all the changes in behavior surrounding the use of the phone, voice isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Facetime and Skype are clear examples of the fact that people are looking for ways to improve voice by integrating it with video.
Texting and IMs are here to stay as well. Text based alternatives have their place just like voice does. What is socially acceptable when it comes to voice is a whole different matter, as it varies greatly depending on age, economics, technical ability and probably a bunch of other factors.
For a lot a people with unlimited text mobile plans, its just more cost effective to text. For people who value their personal time, it may be rude to call them unannounced. The long and the short of it is that our communications tools are developing at such a rate that is hard to make accurate generalizations about them, but it's fair to say that we no longer use the phone the way we used to.
If you really think that phone calls are so last century, then I challenge someone to put out a mobile device like an iPhone that doesn't have voice capabilities and see if it can displace mobile phones in the market.
On the post: US Gov't Supports Keeping Patents Difficult To Invalidate
Things we learn as children...
At no point do I remember EVER hearing that Patents were the Mother of Invention. Maybe the IP gurus feel that patents are the father of innovation? No no that doesn't sound right. How about Patents are the Father of Monopoly?
On the post: Why The NY Times Paywall Business Model Is Doomed to Fail (Numbers)
Different perspective...
If they can actually convert 6% of those visitors to paying customers then they project they can make a profit ( or call it a success). Regardless of whether they hit their goal or not, the site is still bringing in ad revenue and they are only taking the risk of offending a small percentage of their traffic with the pay wall.
Allowing free views from sites that link to their articles may dilute the traffic to the site to some degree, but it will remain to be seen if that loss of views is enough to seriously harm the business model. Based solely on FACT 2, it appears that they are just phishing for money from a small percentage of their visitors and have a decent chance of making their numbers.
Saying that the business model is doomed may be correct in the long term, but in the short term it looks like it could work until enough of their legacy customers realize that they are being taken for a ride.
On the post: Who Actually Felt 'Guilty' That They Read The NYTimes Online For Free?
Weight or Volume
After re-reading that portion of the article, it suddenly made sense when I did the math. If we assume the average weight of a human is 150 pounds then it only takes 27 people to make TONS of people, maybe even 50 people felt that way. If the NYT wants to base a business model on 50 or so positive responses and one woman in Canada who actually sends them a check because she reads the news for free online, then more power to them.
Tons of people... The really shouldn't do survey results by weight.
On the post: 8-Track Piracy Is Killing The Music Business.... In 1976
The Music Industry should join the US ARMY
Next >>