We like p2p. And file sharing.
p2pnet.net News View:- Ray Beckerman’s Recording Industry vs The People features p2p file sharing cases, so it’s no surprise that it’s picking up another.
However, this time there’s a difference. It’s an MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), not RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) case centering on Digital Point Solutions ceo Shawn Hogan.
“Because (a) the Hogan case involves many of the same issues that arise in the RIAA cases, (b) the MPAA has been engaged in cartel-like behavior with the RIAA, and (c) Mr. Hogan (unliked most defendants in these cases) is a litigant who is in a position to fight back, thereby increasing the likelihood of a full and fair airing of the copyright law issues, we are initiating coverage of that case in our index of litigation documents, although it does not directly involve the RIAA), says Beckerman.
Hogan says one of the allegations the MPAA is making is, “that I’m more or less destroying the movie industry because I allegedly downloaded a movie that I own”.
Destroying? File sharing technology will keep the major studios alive, once their shareholders have revolted, caused the current mismanagers to be fired and hired teams of young techies to innovate Hollywood into the 21st century.
It ain’t like it used to be
The p2p networks are invaluable. My young daughter, Emma, and I use them to sort out the garbage, meaning most Hollywood product.
Does that mean we don’t go to the movies any more? Nope. We (I should say I) downloaded The Incredibles, Over the Hedge, March of the Penguins and Corpse Bride and we not only went to see them at our local cinema (a half-hour’s drove away, BTW), we also bought DVDs of the last two.
That’s not huge. But we saw, and bought, what we, not Hollywood, wanted. On top of that, we home-school Emma and she enjoyed the extras that come with the DVDs. And since we’re not loaded, think of the money we’ve saved! Trying-before-buying? As a dad without a vast income, I like it.
Thank you, p2p networks ………
Moreover, VHS tapes are still OK with us. You can pick them up for a dollar or two and given that we’re unlikely to play them more than two or three times, they’re in no danger of being destroyed by over-use.
Meanwhile, MPAA efforts notwithstanding, it’s still simple to find new releases online so you can do a test-drive before forking out $40 or $50 dollars, minimum, to ‘enjoy’ the experience in a cinema with sticky floors, ridiculously priced popcorn, candy and soft-drinks and yobs with tiny brains, big hats and loud mouths.
And of course, there’s also the growing likelihood that you’ll be bounced by an usher with military grade night-vision goggles or a NATO bounty hunter who thought the box of candies you were holding up was a forbidden device.
Pass, thanks. We’ll wait until the flic shows up at the local rental store because once again, if you ignore the Hollywood hype, few movies come along that aren’t still relevant a month, or even a year, after their first release.
And when we do go to a movie, it’ll probably be a kids’ one. Lots of noise, Yes, but fun noise.
Because watching a show on the Big Screen ain’t like it used to be when ushers weren’t there to spy on the audience; they were there to shut the big mouths up and guide you back to your seat when you’d been to the kiosk to buy some peanuts or something else that didn’t cost an arm and a leg.
High definition? You can get that at home, if you think it makes that much difference.
A consumer mindlessly consumes
‘Consumers’ means cash cows, people who’ll mindlessly consume whatever is shoved front of him them.
But thanks to the Net and citizen journalists and independent web sites and blogs and bloggers and IM and chats, and all that other good online stuff, they’re becoming customers again – people who exercise free choice and make intelligent decisions based on whether or not whatever they’re thinking about spending their hard-earned money on has any real value.
Because thanks to the Net, the decades of careful corporate consumer training are becoming worthless.
Kids are smarter than their parents and worse, they can, and do, access endless streams of pure information and data unpolluted by the cartels, and news unspun by the traditional corporate media.
Consequently, they’re usually able to detect bullshit whenever they come across it, although it’s getting harder because there are some pretty good government-backed BS lines out there.
Back to Shawn Hogan, on his web page, “One thing that I think people are not understanding here is that I’m not trying to change the world with this,” he says. “I’m not trying to ‘take down the MPAA’, change any copyright or file sharing laws or anything else as grandiose as that. Hell, I have expensive billing software that I wrote that is pirated every day (I’m just too lazy to sue them… too much hassle and work IMO).
“I’m still not 100% certain what the details are for the stuff the MPAA has against me (other than it was downloading ‘Meet The Fockers’), but I’m sure it will come out in the discovery process. I do think it will be very interesting to check out their methodology for pinpointing users for their John Doe lawsuits. Even if the jury lost their minds and I was somehow found guilty and had to pay whatever the court sees fit, the whole process would have been a cool story to tell. And maybe I could even learn something in the whole process. I’ve learned a TON about all sorts of interesting stuff already as a result of this case ….”
And, he adds, “Some useful advice from me… Don’t ever take things at face value if your gut tells you that something is fishy.
“Ultimately knowledge is power, and the best way to get knowledge is to figure it out on your own. Sometimes you might even come up with a better way of doing things by ‘thinking outside the box’.”
Cheers!
Jon
(BTW – if Rachel McAdams is reading this, Shawn says can you call him, please? He says he must have lost your phone number 
Also See:
Recording Industry vs The People – Coverage of MPAA case against Shawn Hogan : Universal v. Hogan, August 1, 2006
Shawn Hogan – Shawn Hogan vs the MPAA, July 26, 2006
initiating coverage – RIAA, MPAA: the same con, July 31, 2006
NATO bounty hunter – MPAA vs Kids with Camcorders, March 13, 2006
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August 9th, 2006 at 11:30 am
Amen to that brother. My sentiments exactly. Truly brilliant.
The only point I would add to the equation is the important of thinking outside the box and outside your country. P2P also means being able to see slices of life from around the globe – how else would I see some Israeli, Korean, Thai, Spanish, (etc) movie. It’s a wonderful opportunity for peoples from all over the world to share resources, and culture in real time. Nothing makes me happier than to look at the flags indicating the tens of countries all participating in communal cultural sharing.
In my book it should really be PHP – people helping people.