MPAA goes after p2p file sharers
p2pnet.net News View:- We said the Not-so-Magnificent Seven’s new sue ‘em all war aimed at people who share and/or download movies online was a carbon copy of the Big Four record label cartel’s failed sue ‘em into buying our product campaign.
We were wrong.
Record cartel members EMI (UK), Warner (USA), Sony-BMG (Japan, Germany) and UMG (France) claim to be targetting ’significant’ file sharers – that’s to say people who share large quantities of music files over the p2p nets.
Equine excreta, but never mind. That’s what they claim.
But the studios aren’t about to worry about numbers, apparently.
One movie downloaded, or 100. It’ll be all the same to Disney, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros, said their John Malcolm after the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) announced it’s going to start trying to sue people.
“We do not believe that any amount of illegal use is sanctioned,” he’s quoted as saying in a San Francisco Chronicle story. “We need to nip this thing in the bud.”
Nip it in the bud? File sharing didn’t start just the day before yesterday, John. Nor will it stop because your masters decide to single out an infinitismally tiny handful of people.
Last month alone, some 44,052,830 feature movies were on p2p networks around the world, peer-to-peer research company Big Champagne tells p2pnet.
As EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) lawyer Wendy Seltzer says in the Chronicle report, Hollywood’s strategy of deterrence will only alienate movie fans.
“People are going to theaters, renting movies and buying movies on DVD in record numbers,” she points out. “They [the studios] haven’t learned from the record labels’ suits that they don’t work anyhow.”
===================
See:-
sue people - Hollywood sues file sharers, p2pnet, November 16, 2004
nip this thing – Movie industry sues file sharers, San Francisco Chronicle, November 17, 2004
44,052,830 – P2p movie file sharing stats, p2pnet, November 4, 2004
November 17th, 2004 at 5:09 pm
It’s so obnoxious that after having a record breaking year of revenue they still feel that they have to go after “pirates”. Clearly it has not significantly affected their income as they have more than in past years when there was less file-sharing.
I think everyone should begin to write emails to them and explain what a bunch of money grubbing schmucks they are and that the consumer will not stand for it.
November 17th, 2004 at 8:55 pm
i have come across this site while browsing for music. i wish to PAY to download some music and have been trying for about a half hour to find a site. i could probably have downloaded them from kazaa or suchlike in the time it took me to write this note.
shamefull
November 18th, 2004 at 3:45 am
I’m glad I went to see Team America:World Police before they announced this. I will be voicing my protest by not seeing any more movies in the theatres, and no longer renting titles. I may only be one person, and the boycotts against the RIAA haven’t seemed to have much of an effect, but I will be using the good ol’ word of mouth technique to spread the word against the MPAA and thier affliates. At least I know I won’t fuel these lawsuits. I stopped buying any RIAA product the day I heard of the lawsuits they filed. I just point to the quotes made by Valenti about the betamax. That sums it up. I believe they know how they repeat history with rediculous claims that (insert technology here) are killing the industry. Considering thier record profits, I think they would be happy if I just mailed them monthly payments and recieved nothing in return. They act as if it’s a pain in their collective asses to produce the product, and the consumers should praise them for just cranking out tired old formula creations. Well, they will do it without my dollar.
November 18th, 2004 at 12:26 pm
sure, the lawsuits don’t work but they’ve become a good source of revenue for the RIAA. they make about 5 grand (i think?) per lawsuit so they’ll never stop.
November 18th, 2004 at 4:25 pm
I too stopped buying new CD’s. Well, unless it’s something hard to get of course. These days I buy my music used or borrow it. Plus I just found an awesome P2P community, so that should help me maintain my personal boycott for some time to come. Besides doing it because of the RIAA’s actions, I also do it it because I’ve become very sick of their pricing policies. Why the heck should an audio CD cost as much as a DVD when it’s value is less that half that of a DVD (less than an hour of music usually, no extras, crappy case, very poor quality mastering these days, and the list goes on)? It makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever. Now if CD’s were priced fairly, I’d definitley start buying again, and I would be inclined to buy much more than I ever used to. All it would take is not feeling like I’m being ripped off.
Now I’m going to have to stop going to theatre and buying DVD’s as well. This sucks because I really LOVE going to the theatre and buying DVD’s! Even though I have a great home theatre system, many movies just aren’t the same when viewed at home. The stuff that doesn’t look so good I usually wait to rent when it comes out. Don’t think I’ll ever be able to give up renting, but on the bright side the option to copy rental DVD’s is starting to look more and more appealing theses days. Maybe I should start doing this and sharing the files on Bittorrent perhaps, hmmm? That would be a great way to help the movement that is starting as a result from the MPAA’s incredibly short sighted desicion.
Hopefully the MPAA will quickly see the error of their ways, as their income quickly drops as a result of this campaign and the boycott that is sure to follow. One can hope so anyways. Let’s hope it does, and they stop. Let’s also hope their income improves as soon as they stop, sending a VERY clear message to everyone in the world that file sharering the horribly evil thing these big wigs keep trying to make it out to be.
December 2nd, 2004 at 10:38 pm
http://www.metnews.com/articles/2004/ross120204.htm