Hollywood steps up antipiracy campaign

Hollywood studios on Tuesday said they plan to "significantly" increase monitoring of online film trading, as part of a broader antipiracy campaign aimed at quashing Net movie piracy.

Following the lead of the big record labels' trade association, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said it will also step up antipiracy education efforts, including working closely with colleges to create student "codes of conduct" and taking out newspaper and magazine advertisements.

The group said it isn't ready to file lawsuits against individual movie-swappers, as has the Recording Industry Association of America, but that step may not be far off.

"We hope this ramped-up information (and) educational campaign will cause those who are taking films without permission to stop their illegal activity," MPAA Chief Executive Officer Jack Valenti said in a statement. "But we will keep all of our options open, including legal action."

Online movie-trading through peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa or eDonkey, while never as prevalent as song-swapping, has become more of a concern to studios as broadband Internet connections and DVD burners have moved into the mainstream.

Between 400,000 and 600,000 films are illegally downloaded each day, the MPAA said, quoting industry estimates.

College campuses are ground zero for illegal downloading, because students often have access to high-speed Internet or LAN (local area network) connections through their school's network. Studios say such activities have cost them billions of dollars and thus have targeted universities to help curb file swapping.

Ads that warn why piracy is illegal and of its impact on the economy will be placed in daily newspapers, consumer magazines and more than 100 college newspapers, the MPAA said.

Solution

I personally believe that this problem can be solved by only taking harsh measures like legal actions against students who engage in acts like downloading movies, mp3s, etc. Most of the universities provide free high speed internet access to students living in dorms. Residents of the dorms download movies, mp3s, s/w, etc pretty much most of the time they are online. Universities providing access to the students do not block ports used by the P2P s/w like Kazaa, etc nor do they monitor the network traffic. Universities might not be monitoring the traffic or taking others measures as there are costs associated with those measures. A possible solution to pay for the cost is to charge the residents fees that could cover up those costs, and provide additional services like Free Antivirus, Firewall s/w to the residents.

[unknown unknown]

Reply

Tuition is already high enough a most universities. It's Hollywood's job to take care of it problems not everyone elses. If the MPAA wants this filtering software installed at universities then it should pay for it. As for legal action against students, we all have saw how ineffective the RIAA laws suits are. The studies that claim that file sharing is on the decline are flawed at best, as it's exceedingly difficult to get an accurate count of just how many people are using them.

[unknown unknown]

Re:Solution

"I personally believe that this problem can be solved by only taking harsh measures like legal actions against students who engage in acts like downloading movies, mp3s, etc."

That's completely ineffective. The RIAA has sued thousands of people yet one has little trouble finding new releases for download (even though most of the music being produced is crap). Kazaa maybe fading but other services are picking up the slack and making it much hard to find out what user is sharing what content. The only thing the RIAA's lawsuits have earned it is contempt.



"Most of the universities provide free high speed internet access to students living in dorms. Residents of the dorms download movies, mp3s, s/w, etc pretty much most of the time they are online. Universities providing access to the students do not block ports used by the P2P s/w like Kazaa, etc nor do they monitor the network traffic. Universities might not be monitoring the traffic or taking others measures as there are costs associated with those measures. A possible solution to pay for the cost is to charge the residents fees that could cover up those costs, and provide additional services like Free Antivirus, Firewall s/w to the residents."


I already pay enough for tutition and housing, and I am not going to pay even more for restricted access just because the RIAA and MPAA claim to be losing money. Univeristies already get a premium for dorms. They (content industry) can go out of business for all I care.

Solution

I personally believe that this problem can be solved by only taking harsh measures like legal actions against students who engage in acts like downloading movies, mp3s, etc. Most of the universities provide free high speed internet access to students living in dorms. Residents of the dorms download movies, mp3s, s/w, etc pretty much most of the time they are online. Universities providing access to the students do not block ports used by the P2P s/w like Kazaa, etc nor do they monitor the network traffic. Universities might not be monitoring the traffic or taking others measures as there are costs associated with those measures. A possible solution to pay for the cost is to charge the residents fees that could cover up those costs, and provide additional services like Free Antivirus, Firewall s/w to the residents.

[unknown unknown]

Reply

Tuition is already high enough a most universities. It's Hollywood's job to take care of it problems not everyone elses. If the MPAA wants this filtering software installed at universities then it should pay for it. As for legal action against students, we all have saw how ineffective the RIAA laws suits are. The studies that claim that file sharing is on the decline are flawed at best, as it's exceedingly difficult to get an accurate count of just how many people are using them.

[unknown unknown]

Re:Solution

"I personally believe that this problem can be solved by only taking harsh measures like legal actions against students who engage in acts like downloading movies, mp3s, etc."

That's completely ineffective. The RIAA has sued thousands of people yet one has little trouble finding new releases for download (even though most of the music being produced is crap). Kazaa maybe fading but other services are picking up the slack and making it much hard to find out what user is sharing what content. The only thing the RIAA's lawsuits have earned it is contempt.



"Most of the universities provide free high speed internet access to students living in dorms. Residents of the dorms download movies, mp3s, s/w, etc pretty much most of the time they are online. Universities providing access to the students do not block ports used by the P2P s/w like Kazaa, etc nor do they monitor the network traffic. Universities might not be monitoring the traffic or taking others measures as there are costs associated with those measures. A possible solution to pay for the cost is to charge the residents fees that could cover up those costs, and provide additional services like Free Antivirus, Firewall s/w to the residents."


I already pay enough for tutition and housing, and I am not going to pay even more for restricted access just because the RIAA and MPAA claim to be losing money. Univeristies already get a premium for dorms. They (content industry) can go out of business for all I care.

[robanga]

Could movies get any worse?

Pirating negatively effects quality? If that is Hollywood's excuse for its pathetic product, maybe it should hit the reset button.

[robanga]

Could movies get any worse?

Pirating negatively effects quality? If that is Hollywood's excuse for its pathetic product, maybe it should hit the reset button.

Is it really that bad?

First off, I have nothing against the action the MPAA are suggesting in this story. Naturally they want to protect their investments. And education is a good way about it. I hope they never follow the path of RIAA and punish their customers.

But is it really as bad as they are suggesting? Just because 400,000 - 600,000 films are downloaded every day does not mean the MPAA is losing 400,000 - 600,000 sales everyday.

In a way, I'm not even sure what they are worried about. The popularity of DVD has put home movie sales through the roof. Shrek made more from DVD sales than at the box office. This would never have happened with VHS.

And even though DVD's are more popular than VHS ever could have dreamed, and they are cheaper to manufacture, they carry a price tag higher than the same movie on VHS. So with an increase profit per sale and an increase in the number of sales, the film industry should be as happy as a pig in…

My point is, let them make their ads, inform the public about their downloading habits, but don't go too far. Nobody likes a spoilt brat.

Is it really that bad?

First off, I have nothing against the action the MPAA are suggesting in this story. Naturally they want to protect their investments. And education is a good way about it. I hope they never follow the path of RIAA and punish their customers.

But is it really as bad as they are suggesting? Just because 400,000 - 600,000 films are downloaded every day does not mean the MPAA is losing 400,000 - 600,000 sales everyday.

In a way, I'm not even sure what they are worried about. The popularity of DVD has put home movie sales through the roof. Shrek made more from DVD sales than at the box office. This would never have happened with VHS.

And even though DVD's are more popular than VHS ever could have dreamed, and they are cheaper to manufacture, they carry a price tag higher than the same movie on VHS. So with an increase profit per sale and an increase in the number of sales, the film industry should be as happy as a pig in…

My point is, let them make their ads, inform the public about their downloading habits, but don't go too far. Nobody likes a spoilt brat.

[Cnet_Lemieux]

"Costing billions of dollars"

Yet all the while they have the money to post "daily advertisments" to magezines and newspapers, go figure.

News flash, the true "movie fans" will buy that 20 bucks DVD no matter what, and those already downloading would not have been a buyer nor even a theater spender at all.

Grow up, the RIAA is stupid, plain and simple, don't follow their ******* lead.

[Cnet_Lemieux]

"Costing billions of dollars"

Yet all the while they have the money to post "daily advertisments" to magezines and newspapers, go figure.

News flash, the true "movie fans" will buy that 20 bucks DVD no matter what, and those already downloading would not have been a buyer nor even a theater spender at all.

Grow up, the RIAA is stupid, plain and simple, don't follow their ******* lead.