MPAA to Launch Anti-Piracy Commercials 662
cfish writes "The MPAA is launching expensive 30 second TV commercials to preach about movie piracy. Featuring starving artists in the movie industry."
"Life begins when you can spend your spare time programming instead of watching television." -- Cal Keegan
Three Things (Score:5, Informative)
Beginning Friday, July 25, every major exhibitor in the country will donate time to play daily trailers on all screens in more than 5,000 theaters across the United States.
Sounds like a pretty huge campaign, gonna dwarf the EFF's efforts [slashdot.org] by a big margin.
2 Here is the website of the campaign [respectcopyrights.org]. There's even some FUD [respectcopyrights.org]: Network users have a back door to your hard drive while you're online, thereby seeing your personal, private information, such as bank records, social security number, etc.
3 The article first said (in the badly edited future) it was the RIAA doing it, when it's the MPAA...I think it was a case of RIAA on the brain.
Good timing... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Can someone rip an AVI of that? (Score:5, Informative)
Another article link (Score:3, Informative)
Also, if you want the MPAA's message stright from the source, it's at http://www.respectcopyrights.org [respectcopyrights.org].
View the Ads Online (Score:2, Informative)
Arr Matey! Amazon Women on the Moon had it first! (Score:5, Informative)
you need to see Amazon Women on the Moon [imdb.com] if you want to see really conflicting. Some "pirates" seize the MCA/Universal ship and steal the movies and video discs. It's an absolutely hilarious segment...
Re:up next (Score:2, Informative)
Re:please don't confuse me! (Score:5, Informative)
Wait a second...
Re:But... (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, yes, it does. One of the things that the publishing and recording industry has been discussing for years now is the growing possibility of limiting the number of readers/viewers to only the original purchaser. It's difficult to do with printed books. But anything in electronic form has a very real possibility of DRM that can implement such a limit.
At least 10 years ago, when the first prospects of electronic publishing were reaching the media, one of the interesting quotes that I read from several sources in the publishing industry was that on the average, each book sold is read by four people. This was followed by the suggestion that they should be seriously looking at ways to solve this problem.
Now, of the books in your home, how many have been read by four or more people? Hardly any of them, right? So where does this average of four readers come from? One place: libraries. The publishing industry does consider libraries to be a serious sales problem, and they are discussing solutions.
This isn't only about electronic books, CDs or DVDs. Part of the discussion has been ways of using political connections to cut back on funding of public libraries.
And a lot of publications already have a much higher subscription price for libraries than for individuals, though they don't really give the libraries anything more for their money.
Here in the US, a lot of the small-town public libraries have closed down in the past decade.
We already have these in Canada (Score:3, Informative)
A young boy goes into a grocery/convenience store, and pockets some candy. He leaves, the shopkeeper catches him, and the next shot is the cops bringing the kid home. So Dad and Junior are having a heart-to-heart, Dad is asking "where did you learn to steal?" Junior replies: "But Dad! You steal satellite signals!".
The commercial then cuts to a message to the effect of "theft is theft. stealing satellite signals is a crime. Sponsored by your local cable companies".
The first time I saw this, I would have sworn it was going to be a commercial paid for by the satellite providers in Canada. Nope, looks like the cable co's are feeling the pinch of DTV piracy in Canada (arrr matey).
Blatantly wrong propaganda such as this turns my stomach, but they sure have my parents convinced - they now are very nervous about the cryptography course I'm taking next year, because I told them I could use that knowledge to help decrpyt satellite signals.
Nice world we live in, eh?
My Response to FUD (Score:3, Informative)
Italicized are quoted from: http://www.respectcopyrights.org/popup/why-3.html
Have you ever had your computer crash and had to replace it or reinstall all the files due to a virus or other such problem? The nature of "peer-to-peer" file sharing sites like eDonkey, Gnutella, KaZaA, etc., open your computer to destructive viruses and worms and annoying pop-ups. Common Viruses: Apher, Benjamin, Backdoor, Duload, Fizzer, Hantner, Klez, Neuer, Nimda, Livra and Magic Eightball
The nature of peer-to-peer is NOT to "open the computer to destructive viruses and worms and annoying pop-ups." This is a common misconception. Peer-to-peer is a tool and technlogy. Peer-to-peer is a techology that is designed to evolve the distribution channel from the traditional server-client to client(also a server)-otherclients(also servers). There are advantages since it relieves bandwidth from the server. Peer-to-peer is a useful tool of distribution especially when the distributor does not have the manpower to distribute their work. It can especially be useful for independent musicians and amateur directors who do not have the resources. Since peer-to-peer is a technology, it can also be abused. I agree with that but peer-to-peer technology offers tremendous outcome. Though in many people's minds, peer-to-peer is linked to pirating, peer-to-peer is NOT pirating. It is simply a technology. The nature of peer-to-peer is not to open the computer for viruses/popups. Though Kazaa and several other programs do include malware/spyware into their programs, they are not the total of one technology. They are only one implementaiton of a technology. Kazaa also has many legal materials and offers an efficient method of distribution. Second, Gnutella is NOT a peer-to-peer site. Gnutella is a peer-to-peer network. Programs that implement Gnutella such as Gnucleus and others are programs. There are also many Gnutella clients out there that are open source such as Gnucleus. You can inspect the code to see if there is any relation of viruses or spyware.
You also become a distribution source for illegal downloading of movies, music and more, which makes you just as responsible if you had downloaded the movie yourself. Network users have a back door to your hard drive while you're online, thereby seeing your personal, private information, such as bank records, social security number, etc. Is the theft of your personal information worth the free movie?
Please show evidence of this. I do not have any knowledge of this. Most file sharing programs that implement peer-to-peer technology has limited access to the hard drive (usually a specified directory). Unless the user specified to share the files related to their personal information or there are no bugs in the file sharing program, I do not understand how they have a backdoor.