MPAA student stats scandal: update
p2pnet news | MPAA News:- An intriguing new detail has emerged in the growing scandal involving statistics used by Hollywood’s MPAA to pillory American students who are being accused by the entertainment cartels of being primarily responsible for dwindling sales.
Central is a company called LEK, a "consulting boutique".
It supplied a report to the MPAA which then used it to claim, "44 percent of MPA company losses in the U.S. are attributable to college students."
However, this number has proved to be totally wrong, which presumably didn’t surprise Britain’s Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness (ITPA) which almost two years ago described the same report as "inaccurate and out of date".
Today, LEK says it should have been 15%, not 44%.
Now it turns out a senior Walt Disney executive ran LEK’s global media and entertainment practice, reveals Portfolio, going on before Kevin Mayer left LEK to join Disney in June 2005, his responsibilities included "the creation of comprehensive anti-piracy strategies for motion picture studios and trade associations," according to his bio.
Mayer is currently executive VP, corporate strategy, business development and technology group at Disney, writes Sam Gustin on Portfolio, continuing:.
It is unclear what role Mayer may have played in the 2005 L.E.K. survey that the M.P.A.A. now says was erroneous. (A spokesperson for L.E.K. referred all inquiries to the M.P.A.A., which has not returned calls for comment.)
For now, the M.P.A.A.’s position appears to be, "Oh well, we screwed up. But hey, 15 percent is bad too, ya know?"
Gustin also points out PC World’s Scott Nichols, "all but accused the M.P.A.A. of intentionally deceiving Congress, not to mention the American public".
Says Nichols:
The MPAA may be admitting to the blunder, but still points out that 15 percent is still a significant number. And I would agree. However, the damage has already been done. Legislation was created specifically because of the MPAA’s faulty data, such as the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007.
The bill, if passed into law, would require college campuses to "develop a plan for offering alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property as well as a plan to explore technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity." Would this bill have been created if the original research data showed 15 percent rather than 44 percent? I’m doubtful that it would.
What this says to me is that the MPAA is willing to exaggerate and massage its data in an attempt to specifically and unfairly target college students. As a college student (with a full and legal DVD library of my own, thank you very much), it saddens me that the MPAA would stoop to this. Not only does it hurt the MPAA’s reputation when its mistakes are revealed, but while it is targeting college students for industry losses, the other 85 percent of losses are left unaddressed and ignored. The MPAA is just letting a scapegoat take the blame instead of actually addressing the problem, and that’s bad business..
Meanwhile, says Magellan International:
L.E.K.’s relationship with Mayer began in 1993 when he was employed as a Manager with the firm. Since that time, Mayer has been a major player in the high technology, media and entertainment industries. His other senior management roles include President and CEO of Playboy.com, Executive Vice President of the Buena Vista Internet Group and Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy at The Walt Disney Company.
Definitely stay tuned
Jon Newton – p2pnet
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January 24th, 2008 at 11:31 am
They can pass all the bill they want, try to use any technology they want it will not make me come back and buy ther shit again since I don’t feed the parasites nor do I support terrorism.
BOYCOTT THE RIAA/MPAA!
January 24th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I will never join a boycott of the RIAA/MPAA ever. Only thieves do.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Nobody seems to be questioning why legislation is being written by private companies…
Clearly, politicians have nothing better to do than passing bills which are deleterious to the public interest.
Perhaps we should sack the reprobate governments and politicians, and instead implement a true administrative democracy; Where ordinary citizens are elected every 6 months to form a ruling council. The Athenians pioneered this corruption-free democratic idea.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
“I will never join a boycott of the RIAA/MPAA ever. Only thieves do.”
Dear sir, we all tolerate diversity of opinions here, but I must humbly ask you to take your trolling elsewhere. First off, you, like all the other lying morons in the industry, have used words out of context, resulting in a false statement that compares P2P users to thieves. Filesharing is not stealing, and it never was.
Furthermore, all concerns about filesharing or piracy aside, you have incorrectly generalized everyone involved in the boycott as a thief. You’re probably not aware of this, but not everyone who disapproves of the industry’s tactics (and therefore, doesn’t support them) is a P2P user. The industry knows this as well as the rest of us, but they choose to ignore it, so they can continue to blame their losses on filesharing, and use the entire P2P movement as a scapegoat. You’re forgetting one very important thing: We do not need their corporate product to survive. It is something we can do completely without, if we choose not to accept it. We will never forgive the industry’s attack against their consumers, and so we will continue our crusade against them until the day they die. Only then, when culture is free from the shackles of consumerism and unfair intellectual property laws that have progressively infringed upon the rights of consumers since their conception, will we, the consumers be free to enjoy it, and creators free to cultivate, inspire and innovate, without fear of persecution from multi-billion dollar media conglomerates who manipulate the law to their liking, specifically for the purpose of gaining maximum control.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Like others I too am on boycott. I’ve not purchased a thing since it started either from the RIAA’s nor from the MPAA’s headmasters. When the major cartels of music started sue’em all I dropped them like a hot potato and went to movies. When the Hollydud cartels did the same, I repeated. I don’t need them, I resent being called a theif, I resent them spreading malware to further their aims, I resent their methods of business, and I don’t like their products.
Each and every person they sue, increase that boycott. Not by one, oh no. But by circle of friends each has. Add to this they have reached down to college level to try and siphon off money from those that have the least to spare. Each of those will remember that. They are creating an entire generation that will at some point the income earning masses. So they are limiting their future and that future won’t be long in coming.
Lieing about stats and reasons has always been something that those of us here have known or suspected but those that listen to the 5 o’clock news may not have heard about yet. Now that they have legislation based on these lies it takes on a whole different aspect.
You need not worry, I won’t grace the halls of the theater tomorrow. I won’t be buying some new cd. Won’t be in iTunes store either. Nor will I be in rental store looking of the latest rehash of the 30th sequel of a poorly done movie.