Don't Copy That Floppy! Gets a Sequel 523
theodp writes "Back in 1992, the SIIA released Don't Copy That Floppy!, a goofy video in which anti-piracy rapper MC Double Def DP convinces a young lad not to copy a game by appealing to his sense of right and wrong. Now, to address what it calls 'new generations and new temptations,' the SIIA has uploaded a trailer for a new anti-piracy rap video — Don't Copy That 2 — that will be released this summer. To underscore the video's it's-not-just-a-copy-it's-a-crime message, the new film is a tad darker than the original. A smug teen who's downloading files from 'Pirates Palace' and 'Tune Weasel' finds his world turned upside down when automatic weapons-toting government agents break down the door and take his Mom away in handcuffs. The teen finds himself in a prison jumpsuit forced to tattoo shirtless adult inmates who eventually turn on him, physically attack him, and make him run for his life back to his jail cell (image summarizing his plight)."
BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously though, the first DCTF was happy and upbeat (and for good reason, as many people simply didn't know that copying a floppy was piracy). What happened to that feel? Are we really at a point where we're so influenced by the RIAA/MPAA's ways of doing things that SIIA's first sequel in 17 years immediately jumps to scare tactics?
Maybe it's just me, but I see this quickly becoming one of those "You wouldn't steal a car" type of things - jumping to such an extreme that it becomes a satire piece.
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:5, Insightful)
Watch the preview video. It's there now.
I agree that at least DCTF served a purpose. This one is exactly where the RIAA/MPAA is. Kid copies some software, ends up making prison tattoos and being chased (so he can be beaten/killed) because he wasn't good at making the tattoo.
It's clear cause and effect here: own a computer, be annoyed by an 80s reject rapper, get shanked in prison.
What they need is another DCTF, just not corny. If they ran PSAs saying it's important to buy software, otherwise people won't be able to make The Sims 4, Crysis 5, or Barbie Horse Adventures 7: The Mysterious Case of the Calico Clydesdale, they could probably get a whole new generation of kids to think twice about copying.
Instead they made themselves a joke again.
Even if they had to do this campaign, did they really have to tie it into DCTF? That can't possibly lend them credibility. I bet if I showed this new video to the average 12 year old, they'd think it was some kind of internet sketch comedy thing.
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:5, Insightful)
Since he's "running for his life," does that mean they're essentially saying "You wouldn't steal a car, but if you copy Microsoft Office, we'll kill you?"
Sounds like a threat to me....
Re:Since When Does Infringement Equal Jail Time? (Score:4, Insightful)
Just look at the "You wouldn't steal a car..." videos.
The MPAA didn't seem to care that they were comparing unrelated crimes.
Well, at least it's truth in advertising (Score:4, Insightful)
Because we've seen that the RIAA will go after your family if they don't think they can get any money out of you; regardless of whether or not any of you even own a computer!
is the entertainment industry (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:5, Insightful)
People seem to have a big problem with understanding what "illegal" means. You cannot go to jail for every illegal action. Some illegal actions create a civil liability, and some create criminal liabilities... and then criminal liabilities are separated into misdemeanors and felonies.
I've had issues with people commenting that "prostitution is like murder, it's illegal", and I point out, "No, prostitution is like jay-walking... it's illegal." Prostitution is a misdemeanor and will not get one a lot of time in jail. It's why prosecutors (hell, law enforcement themselves) are so eager to offer a prostitute immunity in order to testify against their pimp (which is a felony).
People just have a very hard time understanding that you cannot be sent to jail for every illegal action. ESPECIALLY, a hard jail. Typically the worst that you can be hit for with copyright violation is fines... it can make your life difficult, or even hell, but it can't take away your freedom.
And now... our corporate anthem... (Score:3, Insightful)
Do what's best for the corporation... or we'll throw your ass in jail.
What a joke...
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:5, Insightful)
That was literally my first thought when I saw this, but I checked out other videos by that YouTube user and it looks totally legit. If this is a joke, they went a long way.
Sweet! (Score:2, Insightful)
The new U.S.: Violence is entirely acceptable. (Score:2, Insightful)
Pay taxes to kill Iraqis? Sure.
Many hours spent playing violent video games? Sure.
Government run by thieving banks? Sure.
Scare tatics (Score:5, Insightful)
Or like the anti-drug commercials that aired immediately after 9-11 that attempted to link smoking a joint with supporting Osama Bin Laden.
Re:IN SOVIET RUSSIA (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Since When Does Infringement Equal Jail Time? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Since When Does Infringement Equal Jail Time? (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, I think the fastest way to see a change would be if a senator's/governor's/etc. son/daughter was caught pirating their favorite song/movie/whatever.
Unfortunately not. The copyright holders would treat them with kid gloves, drop the case, and give them a gentle, 'hey don't do it again speech'.
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:3, Insightful)
From www.copyright.gov:
(a) Criminal Infringement. â" (1) In general. â" Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed â" (A) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain; (B) by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000; or (C) by the distribution of a work being prepared for commercial distribution, by making it available on a computer network accessible to members of the public, if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution.
This doesn't apply to every file sharer, but it does apply to many more than prosecutors would ever want to go after. But to say they can't take away your freedom for it, when they clearly can if they desire to, is false.
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:5, Insightful)
Got into this argument with someone today. They said they wouldn't be STEALING a movie they want to see. I pointed out that downloading it is hardly stealing when, by my downloading it, I am not depriving a single person from seeing it.
The car analogy doesn't work unless when I download Big Robots Part 8, someone going to see the movie gets turned away. "Sorry, Goldberg's Pants pirated this film so you can't see it."
And yet these idiots just don't get how their analogy is utterly flawed. The thing is the media have spent so much time yelling IT'S STEALING! IT'S STEALING! IT'S STEALING! that the majority have bought into the lie put forward by the RIAA, MPAA etc... Despite the fact that they can say it a million times, and it still won't make it true.
People who get hauled up for downloading are NOT charged with stealing or theft. It'd be better for them if they were because theft, rape etc... Carry far lesser sentences than what they are ACTUALLY charged with. Criminal copyright infringement.
On a related note, I saw a nice piece of juxtaposition the other day that highlights the insanity. The RIAA verdict saying $84,000 or whatever it was per song, right next to a story saying the victims families of the Air France crash would get $24,000.
Three human lives are worth one song apparently.
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:2, Insightful)
The goal is not to prevent piracy but rather appear to be trying. This way they can still count all the "lost sales" on their taxes. They want it to be ignored, the apparent effort makes all the difference.
http://taxation.lawyers.com/income-tax/Business-Casualty-and-Theft-Loss-Tax-Deductions.html [lawyers.com]
Re:Since When Does Infringement Equal Jail Time? (Score:2, Insightful)
Or maybe SIIA has been given a preview of what's being negotiated for the secret ACTA treaty.
National security my ass...
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:5, Insightful)
Great idea! They can eliminate all illegal copying using the same techniques they used to win the war against citize^H^H^H^H^H^Hdrugs!
... a 7 letter word for synonym ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Good point! So many people here are using the terms interchangeably. It is as if these people think that the two words are synonymous [reference.com]!
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:3, Insightful)
Why would they? Answer is pretty simple, and pathetic. They would lose control. Not just money, but control.
If we did have replicators it would solve a huge amount of problems on this planet. Direct conversion of energy into materials we need to sustain life. No more pollution and environmental damage due to manufacturing processes. Starvation would be eliminated, and so would wasteful destruction of food for the purposes of economic voodoo.
The whole idea of copyrights, and intellectual property is to allow artists and inventors to profit from their work. After a reasonable time period it should be in the public domain. If replicators really could exist, then it could be a direct path for inventors to sell something without needing huge companies and marketing departments.
Costs would plummet. Well at least, they would be the cost of the replicator and the energy. It would be a great thing for humanity and creators, just a disaster to businesses.
Re:is the entertainment industry (Score:3, Insightful)
SPAMming on /.? I've been away too long.
Re:Since When Does Infringement Equal Jail Time? (Score:1, Insightful)
"Not being able to go to college" ... WTF? So you would not send him to jail but would ruin his whole life forever. Get real, the courts should concentrate on real crimes, like rape, murder and physical theft.
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Scare tatics (Score:5, Insightful)
awesome! (Score:2, Insightful)
An anti-piracy video that portrays the RIAA/MPAA/Law Enforcement as being a bunch of over-reacting psychotics? Sounds like a pirate-party recruitment video.
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:1, Insightful)
Anyways, stealing is not necessarily defined by depriving one person of an experience or possession, it's defined by obtaining said item without giving the original author or owner the compensation requested for your copy.
Dictionary.com: "to commit or practice theft." (Theft: "the act of stealing; the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another")
obtaining said item without giving the original author or owner the compensation requested for your copy.
I copy movie: I get movie, copyright holder gets nothing
I don't copy movie, and do not buy it: I get nothing, copyright holder still gets nothing.
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:3, Insightful)
Only if I can use the car while you're using it and still neither of us has trouble finding a parking space despite the other one already using it.
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ethics in software? (Score:3, Insightful)
For me the only ethics in software is being able to share it with your friends. Did your mother teach you nothing?
You know what is truely ethical?; Marking something and then sharing it with the rest of the world!
And the only thing that is truely attacking the digital age are the proprietary software vendors and the pro-copyright bodies.
Now get the fsck off my lawn!
Re:British TV (Score:2, Insightful)
Forgive the youtube link, but a British TV show called "The IT Crowd" did a pretty good anti-piracy warning. [youtube.com]
Its not an anti-piracy warning... its satire of the anti-piracy warning that is shown at the start of DVDs sold in the UK. As satires go, its very funny is you know the original warning. (And, to be blunt, one reason to rip your DVDs is to remove the very f*****g annoying anti-piracy warning that is shown at the start of DVDs sold in the UK, especially as you can't skip through it, grrrrr. When I buy a DVD, I just want to watch its content, not get bombasted with crappy anti-piracy warnings and all the stupid trailers they are starting to add now).
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:5, Insightful)
What we really need... (Score:3, Insightful)
... is a PSA that warns viewers that the content of most PSAs are rarely objective and are often funded by organizations trying to push their own agenda. (Some of which may actually be worse than the crap they're PSAing to us about.)
Re:Scare tatics (Score:3, Insightful)
Heroin is dangerous because it's addictive as all hell.
Re:BILLY MAYS HERE... (Score:1, Insightful)
Correct. You have deprived me of nothing. Given that my wife is a sentient human being and not a duplicate of inert data she can make up her own mind who she sleeps with. After all its not like she's my property.
Because you wouldn't be suggesting that would you?
Re:Scare tatics (Score:2, Insightful)
This just confirms it. (Score:3, Insightful)
The *IAA's want to become the next SS/KGB/Stasi, using paramilitary actions as a way to keep the dollars trickling into their dying business models.
The truly scary part?
That suits in both Hollywood and on the Beltway believe that this is a viable way to treat the American people.
Re:A better video (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ethics in software? (Score:3, Insightful)
Share car --> I don't have the car to use, it gets worn and torn over time, you might have an accident and destroy it.
Share software --> You gain software, I still have software, no damage done.
POOR ANALOGY: YOU FAIL.
Re:Scare tatics (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh thank you my government from saving me from myself!
I'll just go start bashing my head into a wall - the government hasn't banned it, so it must be ok!
Re:is the entertainment industry (Score:1, Insightful)
I stopped reading then the article rampled about copying is stealing.
I love how... (Score:5, Insightful)
I love how they use the coercive threat of prison violence. These days it's just accepted as fact that the prison system is completely and utterly broken beyond repair.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)