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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).

8 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. still no mention of ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    ... this CNN article about a CD topping the charts despite "rampant piracy"

  2. Mirror here by medscaper · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://12.225.182.52/valenti_mirror.htm

    --
    Any sufficiently well-organized Government is indistinguishable from bullshit.
    1. Re:Mirror here by BlowCat · · Score: 2, Informative

      Same with a clickable link

  3. Thank goodness he set me straight! by JoeWalsh · · Score: 4, Informative

    Thank goodness this testimony became available. Through it, Jack Valenti was finally able to set me straight. Here's one of the truly remarkable things he said:

    "I have spent most of my adult life in politics and you learn one thing. Nothing of value is free. "

    Now I know I should erase Linux and FreeBSD from my company's servers and install Windows. Because, obviously, if I got something for free, it's worthless. And how can you base a business on something that's worthless?

    Thank goodness he set me free. Amazing how prescient he proved to be way back in the early eighties.

    Thanks, Jack!

    -Joe

  4. Not Just the MPAA Either... by irix · · Score: 4, Informative

    I found it fascinating that not only the MPAA (Valenti) was testifying. The national association of theatre owners, the actors guild, people from television, actors, etc. etc. All against the VCR, and all so set in their ways that they couldn't see the forest for the trees.

    --

    Do you even know anything about perl? -- AC Replying to Tom Christiansen post.
  5. Re:Looks like he was wrong... by BrookHarty · · Score: 3, Informative

    "America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." - Claire Wolfe, 101 Things To Do Until the Revolution

  6. Arguing by SeanAhern · · Score: 3, Informative
    'Piracy' -- Copyright infringement is called just that, 'copyright infringement.' I suggest you stop someone when they use the word 'piracy' and ask them what boats on what ocean they are talking about. "Piracy" has no legal meaning and it only exists because 'copyright infringement' doesn't sound as bad. It's hard to argue with this fact.

    Okay, I'll play the devil's advocate and argue with the "fact."

    According to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "piracy" has the following definition (emphasis mine):

    Main Entry: piracy
    Function: noun
    Etymology: Medieval Latin piratia, from Late Greek peirateia, from Greek peiratEs pirate
    Date: 1537
    1 : an act of robbery on the high seas; also : an act resembling such robbery
    2 : robbery on the high seas
    3 : the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright
  7. Re:Except they inserted copyright protection... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Macrovision only works because the VCR industry crippled the VCRs so they couldn't record a signal with weakened sync pulses. Think about it for a minute: how come your television can accurately display the signal, but your VCR can't accurately record it? And of course, Macrovision can be defeated by simply using an RF modulator, the same one you use to connect your DVD player or game console to a television without S-video input.