According to researchers, internet piracy, specifically Bitorent, has no effect on US box office sales. I would like to see this study, but if it came from Minnesota and Wellesley then I am inclined to believe it. A month or so ago, Hollywood tried to get a bill passed through the US Congress that would censor internet freedoms and modify the DNS in an attempt to shut down any and all forms of piracy.
Instead of using an effective strategy, like targeting the money trail, the Motion Picture Association of America wanted to have the right to order sites shut down, no matter what they were (violation of 1st amendment), without a court order (violation of the 4th amendment) if they even linked to infringing content.
The scary part about this ridiculous bill was that Congress was buying it. It goes to show how out of touch politicians are with the mindset of their people, often enacting legislation that inhibits the freedoms of Americans and aiding corporations rather than helping the people to prosper. Enough of that.
The main argument used by Hollywood is this:
"There are people that go to see our movies, and then there are those that download them illegally on the internet. We lost money because they did not come to see our product in theaters".
Hollywood automatically assumes the pirate would have gone to the movies and had the intention of paying for the product, and this is absolutely faulty logic in every sense. The pirate wasn't going to pay jack in the first place. I'm not defending the pirate, but I am targeting their statement. Now that this data has sprung up, we have evidence to back up our claims that Hollywood has been flat out lying to the public. Nothing has happened to their box office sales.
I would like to recap what Christopher Dodd has said regarding the situation. He is the president of the MPAA, essentially the people in charge of movie products that have been trying to feed you this draconian garbage. I'll also quote Rupert Murdoch for good measure, the CEO of FOX Corporation/News Corp. Let's review my earlier post, shall we?
Rupert Murdoch: The American people are thieves and pirates. They bought out Congress, and we (corporations) are the victims. Google is the main source of this piracy problem.
Christopher Dodd: You are all a bunch of misguided fools being used as pawns by the large tech special interests. This is nothing more than a stunt (referring to SOPA blackout). SOPA isn't going anywhere, and it is coming back in February.
MPAA Spokespeople: We want the government slapping Americans on the wrist telling people that they can't go there. If SOPA fails, we still want our censorship done our way.
and finally:
Christopher Dodd: Don't come to me for campaign funds when you are having trouble because of the heat you have put us through. I won't be writing any checks".
Sources:
The Guy With Not Enough Time On His Hands! http://tgwnetohh.blogspot.com/search/label/SOPA
Mashable Entertainment http://mashable.com/2012/02/13/online-piracy-box-office/
No comments:
Post a Comment