Valenti's "Boston Strangler" Testimony

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).

Comments

Re:Looks like he was wrong...

[smack_attack]

They like computers, it's just that they want to control your computer down to the hardware. Fuck them. An industry-wide consortium should not be this one-sided and so blatently against consumer rights.

Eastwood makes sense at least...

[Trinity-Infinity]

Even in 1982!

Quote from the article:
"And I think that if a film is marginal, it needs those extra categories to get in. It needs that home box office. It needs that cassette sale to get out of the red or maybe even right up to network television sale. Maybe that is the thing that pushes it into the black. It is very simple. The more films that are in the black, the more films are made, the more men and women are employed by the film industry. "

Yup. Some things produced are so marginal they need every avenue available to them to make their money, but what does the RIAA/MPAA want to do? strangle it with licensing fees... bah, humbug!

the importance of history...

[pizza_milkshake]

the more and more history i learn, the less i trust everyone. after hearing about The Technology Gap (the bleeding-heart term for computer haves/have nots), I stumbled across something called The Space Gap, which was the argument in the 60's for the Moon landing. If we don't land on the Moon first, the Russians will, and then they'll set up bases and a space army and take over the universe, etc.

special interest groups have been using 'Gap's and 'Hole's and assorted other capitalized terms as their rallying cry for all eternity and so far I have yet to hear of one that was 1/10th as important as they were made out to be.

i'm not telling anyone what to think, but I am personally very skeptical of this kind of argument

Valenti is an admitted pirate!

[TrumpetPower!]

I found this exchange fascinating:

The average number of cassettes per household -- this is fascinating -- Mrs. Schroeder, was 27.7, 28 cassettes. Now, if you are just time shifting, all you are doing is you are away from home and you are taping something and you come back and you watch the commercial, then you time shift, you don't need 28 cassettes. You need one cassette or at the most two. Why do you have 28? Why? Because of the next line. Seventy-five percent have a permanent collection. My own home, we do it in our on home. I know about that. Anybody that has a VCR, talk to them, and I ask you to use your own commonsense, Mr. Chairman, Mrs. Schroeder, Mr. Railsback, just think of you as human beings. If you had the power to sit on a playback of a recording and you could wipe out the commercials or not wipe out the commercials, what would you do? You would do exactly what you said, sir. That is terrific. Of course. We all do it.

But when you do it, you strip away the reason for free television. Now, let me --

Mr. KASTENMEIER. Jack, let me ask you. Do you consider yourself and your family infringers when you engage in that practice?

Mr. VALENTI. I consider myself and my family believing what the plaintiffs in this lawsuit said and they said publicly, they have said it to the press, they have said it to the lawyers, they have said it to the courts. They do not intend to file any actions against homeowners now or in the future. I mean, that is obvious and they have said that publicly, Mr. Chairman, so I believe them. As far as I am concerned, I am going to continue taping because the plaintiffs have said they aren't going to do anything to me. I am not committing any crime. They know that.

Mr. KASTENMEIER. That wasn't my question.

Mr. VALENTI. Do I consider myself an infringer?

Mr. KASTENMEIER. When you engage in such practice.

Mr. VALENTI. Yes, sir, I do. I am taking somebody else's copyrighted material without their consent and I know damn well I am infringing. But as far as court action or anything else, I am safe. First, it is not a criminal act. Again, the opposition would tell you video, police, and criminals. They show an astonishing lack of the copyright law. They know good and well that that is not a criminal infringement unless you do it for profit. But on the other hand the plaintiffs have said they are moving against anybody in the homes. There is no problem, but 1 know and everybody else knows they are infringing.

I'm not one who participates in copyright infringment, even with the strict standards imposed by recent changes to the law. Mr. Valenti's testimony, however, has completely changed my opinion on whether or not it is right for me (y'all are welcome to do as you wish, I'm talking about me) to engage in such practices. What's good for the goose, and all.

I think I'll go download something right now....

b&

Important to historians and journalists

[JoshuaDFranklin]

I have to admit, I didn't read the whole thing. I'm lazy, it's long. But, I can see right now that access is going to result in this testimony being used in a lot of what historians call 'secondary' sources.

Newspapers love these quotes like "property that we exhibit in theaters... is going to be so eroded in value by the use of these unlicensed machines, that the whole valuable asset is going to be blighted."

And I definitely see something like "Unlicenced Machines: Comparing Anti-VCR and Anti-PC Arguments from the Film Industry" being accepted at an undergrad research conference.

This means more people hear about, (hopefully) more people think about, and more people tell others about these nonsense arguments.

Re:the biggest difference between VHS and DVD is

[smack_attack]

Home DVD Players do not come with recorders... that is still down the road somewhere (maybe). And most people are too stupid to record VCDs or copy a DVD. Trading DVDs over the Internet is so rare that I have yet to see an unbiased news source even report on it.

Sure I'll let people borrow a DVD from my collection, but the fact of the matter is that we don't need new laws just to enforce new technology, the old ones (pre-DMCA) still work and these guys should be happy with the billions they already have.

Re:Looks like he was wrong...

[BlowCat]

They really would be happy if nobody had computers at all, wouldn't they?

Of course not. If programmed "properly", computers could give them total control over the user. If they what to change per-view - they could just add a tag to the film/song/whatever, and the "approved" software would transfer money from the user's account. They could go as far as to charge different price in different locales. Say, people in New York City would pay more than people in rural Idaho. Moreover, they could give you rebate for watching ads.

They can make more money by exploiting our computers. That's why they want "certified" systems - to control what the computer users can do with the equipment they (the users) paid for.

Terms, Terms, Terms

[Bouncings]

First of all, I think we need to make something clear. One thing that often decides debates is language. Any side of a debate adopts a language all its own. "Pro-life" vs "pro-choice"; "illegal immigrants" vs "undocumented immigrants," etc. The similarity between the Analog Hole article, this testomony, and the wording in the rest of the Hollywood argument is establishing a general-purpose set of words for the MPAA to use.

The time has come for advocates of general purpose tools to adopt some words. "General purpose" I like, but it could be better. Suggestions? Some more ideas, but please, come up with more, everyone:

• '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.
• Spyware is an excellent word to use for DivX and Kazaa kind of cases. It's not directly related to this debate as much, but it's an excellent example of choosing your own vocabulary.
• I think we should call programs that play DVD's but don't copy them 'crippleware' or 'defective' -- the MPAA calls them 'secure' -- I call them 'defective.' Even better, let's call anything related to copy restriction 'defective.'
• When speaking specifically, don't use the word 'protection', use the word 'restricted.' Everyone wants a 'protected' computer, no one wants a 'restricted' computer.
• 'Circumvention devices' is OK. But how about 'repair' devices that fix things like defective CDs. Or maybe 'full use' -- the DeCSS is a 'full use' device, in that it gives you full use of your computer.

Think of some good terms, everyone.

About Valenti

[WEFUNK]

This is actually kinda sad...

This repeat of history made me wonder about the story behind Jack Valenti. According to the MPAA web site, Jack is (or was) actually a truly remarkable man. He was a war hero and had an impressive career before becoming only the third President of the MPAA. Unfortunately that happened back in 1966. This is often the problem with having one person in power for so long.

The MPAA site seems to be as much about him as it is about the industry, with the press release page actually titled "Jack". The funniest thing is from this intro to his bio [my emphasis]:

"In his current role as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, Valenti has presided over a world wide sea change in the industry. New magical technology, the rise of importance of international markets, the tyranny of piracy have radically changed the landscape of the American film and television industry."

ACC quotes aside, technology does not equal magic. Jack, thanks, I'm sure that at one time you did a real bang up job but please step aside for someone who can understand and appreciate the direction and impact of new technology on our culture, and perhaps someone who's bio starts off with an appreciation of the majesty of the film industry, rather than fear mongering about issues you clearly can't handle.

Re:t-shirt?

[DanThe1Man]

I changed my mind, I'm going to do this myself. Check out http://www.cafepress.com/EvilVCRs some time after an half an hour after I post this. I need to concentate on the delicate process of copying and pasteing text into a graphics program.

Re:Looks like he was wrong...

[rworne]

I suspect when they control the hardware (theoretically) and find that the evil pirate thieves still copy their media, they'll declare computers as a technology insecure and unsuitable for people.

This is probably a goal. Replacing all those general-purpose computers with PS2's and X-boxes would be a corporate wet-dream:

Fire up Office-Xbox on the console. Modem or broadband connection to MSN (only) checks to see if you paid your monthly license subscription and (if you paid) allows access to the documents stored on an encrypted internal hard disk. At least everyone thinks its encrypted. Built-in tamper switches in the console cause it to "phone home" if opened for law-enforcement action. Feds are also called if it does not make a net connection for monthly license payment. To relieve oneself of this burden/liability, the console needs to be returned to MS for disposal.

Need to distribute? Send those documents via your Hotmail or MSN (only) account to another Hotmail or MSN address via the new MS-modified TCP/IP protocol (routeable only on MSN, all non-MSN connections must go through MSN gateways). Sneakernet distribution? Save the documents to an encrypted flash memory device.

Forget to pay via your Passport account, and get locked out of your documents.

No worries about software piracy, since Office Xbox and every other MS or MS partner offering comes included with the console. Software access is dictated via unalterable serial number in the console that is attached to every thing the computer transmits or creates. This serial number is compared with your account info at MS. Forget to pay, and you cannot read, write, or print your documents. Neither can anyone else for that matter.

Before things get any worse, the US DOJ wakes from its stupor after letting MS get off scott-free in 2002, and tries to bring MS to court on antitrust and racketeering charges. MS responds by pointing out that it is within MS' rights to terminate licenses for any reason and deactivates all government-owned X-boxes essentially crippling the government. Access is restored when Gates is declared president-for-life.

Re:Except they inserted copyright protection...

[ColaMan]

Think about it for a minute: how come your television can accurately display the signal, but your VCR can't accurately record it?

Because the signal on the tape does not conform to PAL / NTSC standards, that's why.

Your VCR has a lot of work to do to record and play back video. It needs precise timing and sync signals. Macrovision adds extra pulses in at the start of frames to fool the VCR's head sync circuitry, they fiddle with the colour bursts where the VCR tries to get it's average black signal, and they do a few other things (pulses at the end of each line?) that make life troublesome for your VCR.

Sadly, it also causes problems for things other than VCR's. RF modulators also tend to compound the problem , as the next in line gadget (TV, AMP with video overlay etc) has a slightly more corrupted signal to deal with.

Perhaps we should point out to all that a Macrovision video signal does not conform fully to PAL or NTSC standards (like those 'crippled' CD's) and politely ask for them to stop.

**begin rant:

I bought a cheap-o DVD player. Specifically asked store if the Macrovison could be turned off , as it played hell with the TV that I have.(Macrovision causes varying contrast , and a jolt in the vertical hold every five seconds on my TV) They said yes, but no, it turns out it couldn't be turned off. I brought it back after a week of fiddling and secret-codes etc. I brought my handheld scope and pointed out all the dancing sync pulses , and showed them an off-air broadcast signal for comparison. Case closed, money back.

I wish people would complain more. "Gee, this picture on this tape / DVD is *crap* . Oh well" - Take the damn thing back to the store and tell them that, and ask for a refund. Or an exchange, or something, but let them know that you're not happy.

**end rant