Posted on 06/16/2004 9:57:04 AM PDT by rwfromkansas
Hollywood's major studios are taking the battle to stop Internet movie piracy to a whole new level beginning this week with a high-priced series of public service announcements in some of the nation's most influential newspapers and magazines.
"Parental Guidance Suggested: Illegal downloading inappropriate for all ages," the ads blare in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and other papers and magazines, including 100 college newspapers.
The question is, will the ad campaign make a difference and save filmmakers millions in lost revenue from illegal downloads by mostly young, Internet-savvy users?
"We wouldn't be spending several million dollars on this campaign if we didn't think it would make a difference," said Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Picture Assn. of America (MPAA), the Hollywood lobby group behind the ads. "How successful it will be, I can't tell you, but it's a pretty damn good ad. We're optimistic. One million jobs in the movie industry are in peril if we don't check this piracy."
One of the main thrusts of the campaign is to reach parents, students and local groups and explain why movie piracy is illegal, how it affects jobs and the economy and the consequences of engaging in illegal trafficking.
"We hope this ramped-up information/educational campaign will cause those who are taking films without permission to stop their illegal activity," Valenti said.
He said the other thrust of the campaign is to educate parents to the dangers of letting their children use file-sharing programs that could open the door on home computers to viruses and spyware programs, where third parties might be able to access all kinds of personal records, including bank account information and even medical records.
"If we don't react promptly to an ascending curve of illegal uploading and downloading soon to be reinforced with dazzling speeds rising from file-trafficking networks, we will live with an intense regret," Valenti said. "We have to do more to convince that minority of people who are engaged in this unlawful and infringing activity of the wrongness of their conduct. We have to stem the tide of film theft online before it is too late, before it puts to peril the creative energy of the industry and the jobs of the nearly one million Americans who work within the movie industry."
The campaign also includes the development of self-enforced codes of conduct for student computer use on campuses, where students complain of clogged networks because of the use of peer-to-peer networks. Working with Junior Achievement, more than 1 million students in grades 5-9 are learning about copyrights and the protection of creative property, the MPAA statement said.
The motion picture industry also is working with a broad range of information technology and consumer electronics companies to develop new technological solutions to illegal movie downloading and to expand legitimate alternatives to piracy that would permit consumers to rent and buy movies via the Internet with such services as Movielink and CinemaNow.
The MPAA is in the process of significantly increasing its monitoring of illegal film-swapping levels online and is following closely and assessing the effectiveness of initiatives taken by the Recording Industry Assn. of America ) against music piracy.
"We will keep all of our options open, including legal action," Valenti said.
The campaign builds on the MPAA's extensive efforts to raise public awareness about illegal file swapping, using technology as well as legal and legislative channels to build public awareness and create legal alternatives to protect copyrighted works.
To connect with consumers, the MPAA has been running two sets of trailers on every movie screen in the country as part of the "Movies, They're Worth It" campaign. It also has broadcast PSAs on broadcast and cable TV networks.
The MPAA estimates losses because of analog and hard-goods piracy at $3.5 billion annually, not including illegal downloading. According to outside research, 400,000-600,000 films are being illegally downloaded each day.
If piracy is left unchecked, illegal file trafficking could grow in the near term and include "spellbindingly fast download speeds. According to studies, 39% of adult Internet users -- 24% of all adult Americans -- have high-speed access at home, an increase of 60% since March 2003. This trend is expected to continue.
Also, for the first time, more than half (52%) of the college-educated under-35 audience has access to a high-speed broadband connection at home, making it easier to trade copyrighted movie and music files.
"Stealing movies over the Internet can lead to serious consequences," the Department of Justice Task Force on Intellectual Property said in a statement. "Online piracy involves the theft of billions of dollars, impacts the livelihood of tens of thousands of Americans and is a criminal offense. (We) applaud the MPAA's campaign and others like it that educate parents and children about the consequences of illegally downloading copyrighted movies and remind them that their behavior is more than illegal -- it's wrong."
Why don't theaters try to crack down more on people recording movies in theaters?
bump
Oh no, and I was so looking forward to downloading Michael Moores movie Fat and weight 911
We've gotten from Hollywood a 30 year long stream of messages about how it's ok to break the rules and how authority should be challenged....
... and now their tune has changed!
There are very few movies out there today that I'm even willing to spend the rental fee to see, let alone theater prices.
Would I spend $4 at Blockbuster to rent "The day after tomorrow", also known as "The week before last year"? No. Would I watch a hacked copy of it? You bet, I like cheesy disaster movies, particulary if Kalifornia is getting wiped out!
Semper Fi
I admit to downloading movies (how else would I be able to say there are good copies out there).
I have not found The Day After Tomorrow yet. I was going to see it in the theater, but then heard it was really bad, so I haven't gone. Ditto with Garfield.
But, I have found many other films when the movie was going on still in the theater. Simply amazing.
I know they had people specifically trained to look for people recording Harry Potter in the theaters, but I do not believe they have for other films.
I am not a big movie downloader though.
They do need to get it together and start looking for people with video cameras in the theaters though.
I've got a nice little digital video cam that burns straight to DVD. Maybe I need to set up a side business?
Not that I would do anything like that mind you.
Semper Fi
This was one of my 2004 predictions...
That downloads of music and movies would do away with Hollywood profits (good!). My goal is that actors and actresses stop getting paid their high salaries for mediocre performances.
I'm for sharing as many DVDs/CDs/video tapes as possible to keep their profits down.
The funny thing IS, most of the ones conducting the illegal activities are fellow liberals, willing to break the law in order to make a buck or see a free movie! Har-har-har!!
I don't know that Hollywood is losing much on those rotten-quality avi's that people spend 12 hours downloading.
What they should pay attention to are the blackmarket copies running around "New Europe". For $2-3 you can buy a DVD, often with two movies on one disk. For a buck you can go Mpeg-4 (avi), but the quality stinks.
But then, so did the movie.
stuff takes only 2-3 hours to download usually for me, and that is for pretty good quality (DVD rips).
I don't think many people are upset about having to let it download all night.
It is an increasing threat to the MPAA.
One of my co-workers had a copy of Garfield. I have to admit I was rather impressed at the speed it came out. The movie was just released last weekend.
lol
Yeah, but then you wouldn't have FR around to bitch on.
I saw "Soul Plane" on a bootleg the other day. It was funny, but not funny enough to have spent $9.50 on.
Did he think it was funny?
I heard that it is not as good as the cartoons.
That is why I am waiting to maybe get the Vol. 1 of the Garfield and Friends DVD set later in the year (may just stick it on my Christmas list since I am a poor college student...lol). I have some childhood nostalgia with that cartoon program; I grew up with it.
She said it was ok, nothing worth $9.50 or even $3 later at Blockbuster.
probably won't see it then.
I do want to catch Anchorman, King Arthur (am a huge Arthurian legend fan...), and The Village in the theaters.
That bad???
Me too. Anything that destroys or even just breaks the back of Hollywood is a good thing.
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