p2pnet - rss feed: MPAA nails YouTVPC, Peekvid.com
p2pnet.net news:- Planning to build a businesses based on ‘illicit’ content? Then don’t, “grant extensive interviews (complete with pictures) to the Wall Street Journal.
That’s Ars Technica’s recommendation.
The people behind YouTVPC did exactly that, explaining they allowed users to watch streaming TV shows and movies without charge, says the story.
This was back in April, and yesterday Hollywood enforcer the MPAA filed lawsuits against YouTVpc.com and Peekvid.com, claiming massive online copyright infringement.
“Sites like YouTVpc and Peekvid contribute to and profit from massive copyright infringement by identifying, posting, organizing, and indexing links to infringing content found on the Internet that consumers can then view on-demand by visiting these sites,” says the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), going on:
YouTVpc and Peekvid rely on advertisers to maintain their illegal websites and they profit handsomely from a seemingly endless stream of third-party advertising pitches.
Peekvid - whose servers are located in San Antonio, Texas - averages over 53,000 unique users per day who view over 184,000 pages of content. YouTVpc – whose servers are located in Scottsdale, Arizona - averages more than 6,000 unique daily visitors who view over 21,000 pages of content per day.
In addition to advertising revenues, operators of YouTVpc solicit monetary donations through a “Donations†tab on the website that allows users to make financial contributions through PayPal.com.
The MPAA claims, never proven, say the major studios sustained losses of more than $7 billion in 2005 and, according to MPAA boss Dan Glickman, Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney are harassed endlessly by counterfeiters, p2p file sharers and Montreal-based crooks with camcorders.
The hard-pressed, but honest, studios aren’t singing the blues entirely on their own behalf, however. They also fear for the well-being of all those support workers who have been thrown on to the streets, they say.
“So just how terrible is it?” - p2pnet wondered in March, going on:
Well actually, things aren’t too bad at all. In fact, they’re pretty darned good and ironically, it’s the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) which says so.
In its annual theatrical market statistics report, global film audiences, “boosted the worldwide box office to an all-time high of $25.8 billion, compared to 23.3 billion in 2005,” an 11% increase, crows Hollywood’s MPAA delightedly.
The US box office, “rebounded in 2006 to finish the year at $9.49 billion in revenues compared to $8.99 billion in 2005 - a 5.5% increase from the previous year, with 1.45 billion movie tickets sold in the U.S., ending a three-year downward trend in ticket sales,” it says.
In 2006, 63 films grossed more than $50 million at the box office, a 12.5% increase from the previous year, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest exceeded the $400 million mark.
Also See:
Ars Technica - MPAA sues Peekvid, YouTVPC, June 27, 2007
p2pnet - Hollywood reports record revenues, March 6, 2007
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php | | And use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site
Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:20 am
Judging on what has happened in the past it does not look good for PeekVid unless the Australian owners pack their bags and move to Panama:
* Daily Episodes vs. Fox – Daily episodes was shut down after it was suggested it received take down notices from Fox.
* AllSimps.com vs. Fox – AllSimps.com removed its entire directory of infringing links in fear of retribution from Fox.
* TVLinks vs. MPAA – TVLinks relocated after it was threatened by the MPAA
* QuickSilverScreen vs. Fox – QuickSilverScreen was given away by an American Citizen to a Malaysian citizen to escape U.S. copyright law
* MahTV vs. MPAA – MahTV, a UK based website, was shutdown after cease and desist letters from the MPAA.
Source: http://www.webtvwire.com/peekvid-to-get-sued-to-oblivion-mpaa-files-lawsuit-future-is-grim/