Hollywood’s newest hero
p2pnet.net News:- Efforts by the US entertainment and software industries to thwart criminals who create fake and duplicate DCs and DVDs have been bolstered by the appointment of an ex-Time Warner executive as an Anti-Counterfeiting Czar.
“President Bush has created a new senior-level position to fight global intellectual-property piracy and counterfeiting that cost American companies billions of dollars each year,” says Time Warner’s CNN, quoting US commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez.
America is hemorrhaging money in Iraq and elsewhere and the, “skyrocketing U.S. trade deficit – which reached a record $618 billion last year – has compounded U.S. concerns about piracy and counterfeiting,” says the story.
“Companies that produce movies, music and software and other intellectual property account for a growing share of what the United States has to sell to the rest of the world.”
Israel, currently deputy chief of staff for Gutierrez, will “head up the administration’s anti-piracy efforts,” paying special attention to communist China, whose anti-counterfeiting measures have been a sore disappointment to Hollywood.
“China – where 90 percent of music and movies are pirate copies – will be a chief priority,” Gutierrez said, according to CNN.
“The United States will closely monitor a long list of anti-piracy pledges China made at this month’s high-level Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meeting, including a promise to increase criminal prosecutions, Gutierrez said.”
Israel was a public policy executive at Time Warner (Research), adds CNN.
In the past, the major entertainment companies in particular have never lost a chance to mention p2p file sharing in the same breath as counterfeiting, although the two have nothing to do with each other.
Movie and music and indeed software cartel claims to the contrary notwithstanding, it has never been demonstrated that a single sale has been lost to p2p, which doesn’t involve theft and for which no money changes hands.
The counterfeiting of physical product, on the other hand, makes huge inroads into industry profits.
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See:-
CNN – Bush creates high-level anti-piracy post, July 22, 2005
sore disappointment – US, China Trade talks, p2pnet, July 13, 2005
July 23rd, 2005 at 5:41 am
Riiiiiight. So exactly WHAT is this guy going to do if China doesn’t make good on it’s promises about piracy? Write a stern letter? Then another one?!
Oh yeah, i forgot. Bush is in charge isn’t he? Wonder if he’s really dumb enough to threaten to nuke them about this?
July 23rd, 2005 at 6:29 am
I would imagine they will try the WIPO club. With China’s position in the world markets as the cheaper manufacturer of goods, that could well backfire on those wishing to punish China if they don’t fall in line. If China pushed out their horns and said screw you, the population of the world would suddenly find that goods were far more expensive unless other maker sources were found. Even if replacement manufacturers were found, it would take a while to tool up to demands. In the meantime the goods would remain higher than normal in cost.
Such a politician could well see a backlash from voters under those conditions.
The problem with the US debt is that our politicians are thinking they have barrels of money to throw at problems but it is the taxes that are the source of those funds. With the price of the war in Iraq to be coming due to pay for it will be very tight for finding more funds to just throw at problems. You can expect in the coming years that another round of inflation is looming because of that debt. Already interest rates are slowly rising as the demand for money comes into competion with the payment of this looming debt. That is one of the reasons the politicians are so eager to help the cartels with copyright and patent issues. It is the one place where there is still a gleaming light in export. The rest are dying a slow death because of outsourcing and the resulting layoffs.
The newest hero could well have a little drop door under his feet if it is played wrong.
July 23rd, 2005 at 11:21 am
You mob are totally pulling ya selves. To think that the average punter (Joe to tou yanks)isn’t gonna take somethin for free while he/she thinks no ones watchin. You lot have totally got ya heads stuck in the sand. Lets be fair dinkum and call it the theft that it is.