MPAA attacks Net Neutrality
p2pnet news | Movies:- In the dark, we are one.
That’s Hollywood’s official view, promulgated by MPAA boss Dan Glickman at ShoWest .
The statement came during his attack on net neutrality which, he made clear, is abhored by Hollywood.
Announcing the major movie studios, which claim they’re being devastated by file sharers and counterfeiters, had another record year in 2007, "Today [the] MPAA and all of our studios are standing up in opposition to broad-based government regulation of the Internet," Glickman declared, going on:
"We are opposing so-called ‘net neutrality’ government action."
"Thanks to the paucity of competition today in broadband, DSL and cable-modem services are content bottlenecks online," says the Los Angeles Times going on >>>
One of the motives for pro-neutrality forces is the fear that those service providers will favor their own or their partners’ offerings over competitors’ fare. That fear lies at the heart of the complaint by Vuze – whose Bit Torrent-powered online video service competes with the cable industry’s VOD – against Comcast’s surreptitious interference with Bit Torrent traffic.
Yet Hollywood’s vision is focused on the near-term risk of piracy, rather than the long-term risk of its distribution pipelines deciding to collect extra tolls. Glickman argued in his speech that neutrality regulations would bar the use of emerging tools that ISPs can use to prevent piracy. That’s what some studio lobbyists have been telling lawmakers, too, in their efforts to derail neutrality legislation. And depending on how the regulations are written, they could be right.
But the bill that’s awaiting action in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, by Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Chip Pickering (R-Miss.), doesn’t fit that description. It would make it U.S. policy to preserve the public’s access to "lawful" content, applications and services online, carving out wide latitude for ISPs to interfere with infringing works. For example, ISPs couldn’t block all Bit Torrent traffic simply because it might be used for piracy, but they could use video fingerprints to try to stop Bit Torrent from being used to deliver bootlegged movies.
According to Glickman, Net Neutrality may be a "clever name," but, "at the end of the day, there’s nothing neutral about this for our customers or for our ability to make great movies in the future".
Government regulation of the Net, "would impede our ability to respond to consumers in innovative ways, and it would impair the ability of broadband providers to address the serious and rampant piracy problems occurring over their networks today," he declared, stating:
"This is a high-stakes debate. Do we take a stand for intellectual property rights or cast them aside in the digital environment? Are we permitted to respond to consumers, innovate on their behalf and compete with the world or are we told by our government to stand down?"
However, Glickman wondered, "Why is it so important that we continue to connect with our customers … that we shore up the foundations of intellectual property rights … that we continue to innovate?
"Because in the dark, in the cinema, around the world, we are one."
Now you know 
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Also See:
devastated by file sharers – Another record year for Hollywood, March 11, 2008
Los Angeles Times – MPAA clarifies stance against Net neutrality, March 11, 2008
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March 12th, 2008 at 7:27 am
mehopes this means the MPAA is backing down
but i hope all sorts of stuff
March 12th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Last I checked, it was a writers guild strike devastating Hollywood. Its been a while since any good movies (in my opinion) have been created.
Oh, and Government controlled internet? Who’s government is getting this job by the way, China?
This glickman creature really should pull its head from its nether region once in a while.
March 12th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
“Because in the dark, in the cinema, around the world, we are one.”
So does it mean that he finaly stipulated to the fact that MAFIAA is “the Borg”?
In that case does the UPW federation (+) has not only the right but the duty to fight them with all they could?
“At what point do we just abandon any pretense of making peace with these gangsters? When will it be time to declare war on them, to engage in file-sharing not because we love music, but because we hate [one part of the MAFIAA]?” — Cory Doctorow
(+) united p2p’ers worldswide