p2pnet - rss feed: Hollywood threatens Russia
p2p news / p2pnet: “With a flourish of his wand, teenage magician Harry Potter could put a curse on Russia’s chances of landing a seat in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) next year.”
This flip observation comes from a Reuters story which goes on, “The United States is one of a handful of countries left whose approval Russia needs if it is to join, and one of three big issues stalling the two countries’ talks is the widespread piracy in Russia of US-made films, music and software.”
It fails to point out that forcing the Cheney/Bush administration on are the Big Seven movie studios, fronted by their MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).
As MPAA boss Dan ‘Jedi’ Glickman promised recently, “The MPAA is working aggressively to root out piracy in all corners of the globe so that unfortunate events driven by this illegal activity are halted and the public is made safer.”
“Delegations from the 148 WTO countries will gather in Hong Kong on Tuesday to thrash out global trade rules, but on the sidelines Russia - the biggest economy still not a member - will be locked in talks on its entry to the trade club,” says Reuters. And, “On a shelf in a Moscow shop is evidence of the problem: a DVD of Warner Bros Pictures’ latest blockbuster featuring the boy wizard, ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’.”
“The studio has not released the film on DVD anywhere in the world, and its Russian cinema premiere is not until December 22. Yet at Moscow’s Savyolovsky train station, a grainy copy of the film was openly on sale for 100 roubles ($3.45).
The story says, “Russia has been negotiating WTO membership for about a decade. If it fails to wrap up a deal with the United States and others in Hong Kong, it will miss its target of joining the WTO next year, pushing back entry to 2007, Russian officials say.
“There are three main sticking points: barriers to foreign aircraft makers; access to Russia’s financial services market; and the theft of intellectual property, including films.”
Piracy may hinder Russia’s WTO bid, says the Reuters headline.
However, it should of course read, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution (The Walt Disney Company), Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc, Paramount Pictures Corporation, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Universal City Studios LLLP and Warner Bros Entertainment Inc, and through them, the MPAA may hinder Russia’s WTO bid.
Meanwhile, predictably, “The problem we face in Russia is getting worse, not better,” Glickman is quoted as saying.
Also read:-
Reuters - Piracy may hinder Russia’s WTO bid, August 9, 2005
root out piracy - The RIAA praises Russia, November 9, 2005
December 12th, 2005 at 7:20 pm
Nobody is going to rein the russians in.
The MPAA or anybody else.
DAN GLICKMAN IS FULL OF SHIT……….
December 12th, 2005 at 8:11 pm
The Russians have for many decades deal with ruthless people who have tried to control them. This is why Rusiians make the best lawbreakers. When everything is illegal everybody becomes criminals. I would much rather have my website hosted in Russia than the P.S.A.
December 12th, 2005 at 11:09 pm
“The MPAA is working aggressively to root out piracy in all corners of the globe so that unfortunate events driven by this illegal activity are halted and the public is made safer.”
Was there ever a more twisted statement than the one above? The public is made safer? It begs the questioner to follow that with “from who”? Prehaps we ought to ask the dead grandmothers, the 13 adn 14 year old childern, the mothers of those childern, and the grandparents just who is protecting who.
Using financial terrorism against family members, statutory damages whose penalities were designed to be used against those selling goods as the penalty against individuals not making a dime doesn’t really fit does it? This has had to be stretched so far for justification that minor profits such as a site that hosts an ad to help support it and will in no way actually carry the full burden of financial support of the site is considered as the justification of making profit. That’s a bit out of whack in my book and should be in yours too. It’s like saying you picked up a penny on the sidewalk and are arrested for not paying rent on the sidewalk to the city fathers.
The justifications are really having to be stretched to even manufacture a reason that sounds anywhere near plausable and when it is looked at closer, it vanishes as a sound reason.
No wonder I have a problem with buying goods from the cartels, laced with spyware and rootkits, spying on the buyer as part of the package, and doing invisable damage to security in a world where security is of prime importance. What a bargain for the customer…
December 13th, 2005 at 10:00 pm
Ha Ha Ha
I’ve started a new movie production company, on the similar lines of Blender’s ORANGE project, which is an open source movie idea.
The more these losers and jokers mistreat their customers the better it is for me.
That’s because, I respect my customers, and feel PRIDE when people ACTUALLY WANT TO DOWNLOAD your stuff — sure, some won’t go buy it, but others will after they like what they hear/see. Having many people enjoy your quality work is to be proud of. All to often, people fail to see this, and just focus on the “bottom line”.
Sure, you might argue that looking after the bottom line is important. It is, but remember this:
OPTION 1) Spend months and endure lots of stress to “stamp out these awww nasty pirates” OR
OPTION 2) Spend the same amount of time to produce ANOTHER movie.
Here’s the breakdown:
OPTION 1) Revenue from box office = $100 million, Revenue from DVD sales = $300 dollars, Revenue from “pirated” DVD = $0, and Revenue from LITIGATION = $10 million. Cost of production = $2 million, Cost of Marketing = $10, “Special Expense account” = $100 million, lawyers to litigate customers = “priceless” (just kidding, $30 million).
Option 1 — NET PROFIT (as declared to tax authorities) = $268 million.
OPTION 2) Now instead of wasting time litigating and TERRORIZING innocent people, the Revenue and costs association with film production is doubled, and terrorism revenue and costs is N/A.
Option 2 — NET PROFIT (as declared to tax authorities) = $ 576 million
>>>>> Now, who is the idiot MPAA/RIAA???
December 13th, 2005 at 10:03 pm
Good comment, I’m hosting my stuff in FRIENDLY COUNTRIES!!!