AfterDawn: Tech news

MPAA anti-piracy campaign in movie theaters

Written by Lasse Penttinen @ 22 Jul 2003 1:39 User comments (6)

New warning messages are about to hit the big screen, trying to convince the consumers not to obtain illegal copies of movies from the Internet.
The MPAA is increasingly worried that its movies will be swapped via the Internet among millions of people who haven't paid for copies, as software tools and faster broadband connections make it easier to do so. As a result, the industry is stepping up its efforts to warn and crack down on people who might be interested in swapping movies online.
MPAA will also be campaigning on cable TV channels and via Junior Achievement Organization. They are also launcing a RespectCopyrights.org website to support the campaign.

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6 user comments

122.7.2003 21:26

Hahaha.....ridiculous.

222.7.2003 22:08

Can you see what I see? I can't believe these people. None of this stuff is going to work. I just shake my head in disbelief. You'd think that with all this money, they would be able to think of a strategy that acutally worked. I'm very disapointed

323.7.2003 04:52
bobw2000
Inactive

These people are absolutely clueless ... If the movie is good then it will sell and if it stinks it's down the toilet. I feel that most people that download movies end up with these things taking up space on cd's and very seldom ever watched again or left on a hard drive where eventually it will be deleted because of disinterest. MPAA ... Most People Analy Attentive.

423.7.2003 10:01
telemike
Inactive

All the movie industry needs to do to lower piracy is as follows: Offer MPEG-4 (divx) copies of movies at around $5-$10 a download (less than a DVD release). I bet it would cut piracy in half and make the studios lots of money.

524.7.2003 03:37

If they offered you the ability to download a lower res version of the film from the net for a few quid or something it would be better. I like to see if the film if worth buying befor i fork out a tone of cash for it.

626.7.2003 21:44

The campaing is not a bad idea as it may encourage the honest people who vote to pay more attention to this issue. Of course it will not work on the vast majority of people who already pirate. The only way to deal with these sort of people is through enforcement of the law. I think it is wrong to assume that there is any integreity in the type of person who would damn as "evil greedy punks" a band like Metallica for putting money and voice into encouraging the protection of intellectual property. Nor should we expect they be influenced by any ethically based arguments. These are unreasonable people with short term goals. If there wasn't law enforcement, they'd probably be raping your mother or something now. Hell, one of them probably broke your car window last week on whim. Just to start shit b/c they've been trained to think it is "cool" to do so. It's unreasonable to hope you can change these people by talking to them. The club of a savage must be met by the bullets of a SWAT team - there is no other way. As a practical matter, the first targets must be the distributors of such media. The internet is not secure, and government agencies are perfectly capable of tracking internet traffic to its sources. And as a practical matter for the companies... they aren't mafias with their own henchmen to send out to protect them. So intead they advertise and hope to reach voters and law enforcement. I don't think it's an unreasonable strategy at all.

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