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Valenti's "Boston Strangler" Testimony

Posted by michael on from the hoist-by-own-petard dept.

Seth Schoen writes "'I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.' Jack Valenti said this in 1982 in testimony to the House of Representatives on why the VCR should be illegal. He also called the VCR an "avalanche" and a "tidal wave", and said it would make the film industry "bleed and bleed and hemorrhage". This speech is an important part of history, yet until today it had never been published on-line in its entirety. Valenti's testimony was published today by Cryptome. It's essential background reading if you want to see just how little the MPAA's arguments have changed in two decades." Compare to the Analog Hole document and they're virtually identical (except Valenti was playing on anti-Japanese sentiment then, and today it's anti-pirate sentiment). Of course, the MPAA was unsuccessful in plugging the "VCR Hole" - insufficient lobbying and clueful judges stopped them. The MPAA successfully adapted to the changing times and today sells about 70 million cassettes for rentals and 600 million cassettes for home viewing every year (both numbers are on the decline due to the rise of DVD).

4 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. you know what to do with it... by 0WaitState · · Score: 5, Funny

    Quick! Pirate that testimony! Put it on a tshirt! Set it to music, dictate it and sample it!

    --

    Remain calm! All is well!
  2. bwaaa haaa haaa! by L.+VeGas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Valenti -- "Now, they are up to 6 hours. They are going to be up to 24 hours. Pretty soon, they will have a cassette that will record all year long"

    And it only takes 2 days to rewind.

    --
    Best Windows Freeware
  3. Kastenmeier's sarcasm by Asikaa · · Score: 5, Funny
    I'd love to know if Kastenmeier's response was as sarcastic as it sounded here:

    [VALENTI:] I am going to stand, if you don't mind, Mr. Chairman, cause I have what is known as "visual aids." I know they are visual; whether they are aids or not is something you will have to determine later on.

    Mr. KASTENMEIER. And whether they are copyrighted or not.

    That is priceless, and Valenti just ignores him and presses on as if nothing happened!

    --

    Asikaa
    Come in, twenty-seventy-seventy, your time is up.

  4. Poor pirates... by ryanvm · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'll bet real pirates are pissed that their image has been hijacked for the sake of copyright protection.

    Pirates used to be swarthy, maruading, swashbucklers, living adventurously on the high seas. Now the term has been relegated to the description of pimply-faced, 16 year-old, recluses, downloading techno MP3s in the middle of the night.

    The whole ordeal must be quite disheartening for them.