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China Concerned About Internal Copyright Infringers
sfled writes "Audience members at a recent movie preview had ID card numbers stamped on their theater tickets, were videotaped entering the lobby, and had to part with cellphones, watches, lighters, etc. as they passed through a metal detector. Why the big fuss? Because China's movie makers, artists and other creators of intellectual property are finally realizing that China's content-piracy industry doesn't just target imported movies, music, etc. Story at The New York Times, "free" registration, etc..."
Since when does revenue and piracy have anything to do with an "art" scene?
Art, with arguably no firm definition, has always been at least an exchange of ideas, and piracy, in fact, helps to further this exchange.
There is a very very thick line between "artists" and "businessmen". Copyright laws serve businessmen, and frequently enable businessmen to screw over artists.
Why should China care about protecting art in teh first place, anyway? "All your thoughts are belong to us."
Nothing would stop the "average Chinaman" from pirating an American movie. However, many artistic Chinamen would then have free access to examples of creative works from which to draw their own inspiration, thereby spurring their own creative industry. Once the industry developed sufficiently to become popular internationally, China would then have an incentive to honour other countries' intellectual property rights in exchange for having its own honoured overseas.
The canonical example of this is of course the United States itself, as original copyright was given specifically to only domestic works. The law changed only when prominent American authors, such as Mark Twain and Noah Webster, complained that their works were being pirated in Britain. This movement didn't rise until after years of American pirating of British works. The penny versions of Dickens didn't draw Americans away from domestic literature, but rather inspired it.
You tell me how "whilst" differs from "while," and I'll stop calling you a pretentious jackass.
You are not asian-american if you live in china.
Why are the loudest voices against "piracy" so often also the most shameless of pirates themselves? If you think piracy is so bad, here's the place to start: don't do it! A much better solution than supporting more laws that affect us all. It reminds me of drug addicts who support tougher drug laws in order to control their own behavior.
So lets get off the anti-Asian rants and show a bit of consistency. Either both are bad, or both are a chance for artists to reach an audience they otherwise would not.
uh - many different people post on slashdot. Why do you expect a consensus?
This is a movie PREVIEW, and normally security is indeed stricter at such events, just like here in the US.
Yet, once the movie hits the theaters as a actual release to the masses, forget about "security". Heck, we don't even have such "security" here in the US. And most pirate jobs are inside ones (the guy in the projection booth himself is the one doing the camcorder recording). With the corruption in China, one can only expect such things to be even more prevalent. And once a single copy gets out, that's all it takes.
George W. Bush
President, United States of America
Most of the rips for sale in Asia are from America. That is how they have them so early. The only reason that they are mass produced in China is for the cheap, good quality, labour. Most of these rips are cam jobs with the original captions from the private showing in Hollywood. If the Americans learnt something from this article instead of bleating, then maybe the rip market would be knocked a bit. ...instead they will continue to attack the individual at home that wants a copy for his mate because they are an easy target. ...or is it because it is the person selling the original cam jobs that is making the decisions....
I must admit that the only thing I have against the rips is that they are such poor quality. I think that the only real way to combat rips is to make the real thing such good value that no one could sell a rip at a competitive price.
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
This is really about the movie, Hero. Producers are taking special advantage of all these special precautions cause this is supposed to be the biggest export since "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
You will see it here in the US, and it'll make a lot of money here. This isn't for the average HK flick yet, or bad Chinese cinema...this is like a sneak preview of "The Two Towers. the US cinema showing special previews months early would probably take the same precautions...
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ah honey, we're all resplendent - Bill Mallonee
Why don't YOU get a clue ? Yes they're poor -- damn poor, there is no doubt about that.
So how in the hell, exactly, would you please tell me, does that mean they have a
God-granted "right" to high-quality entertainment -- namely American movies ?
I can't afford very MANY American movies myself -- I'd like to watch a few more,
but those pricey theaters *tsk* *tsk*, should the US government be helping me out
of this pitiful situation ? Are my human rights being violated because I give
precedence to other more important purchases ? (Namely net access and music ?)
Is this a matter of life and death ? Should the UN be holding emergency meetings
trying to convince the free countries of the world to unite for the cause of offering
VCD relief funds to the peasants of rural China ? Or maybe the US government should
offer to send in the troups to construct huge free theaters all around China ?
(And to put a bit of perspective on how idiotic your rant is,
I am in fact sitting IN CHINA right now, agonizing about the fact that my girlfriend
works 8 hours a day -- for about $3 US for the ENTIRE day. I just got back from the
local Wal-mart-esque store where I spent the equivalent of two days of her salary to
get conditioner and soap.)
Why don't you try rephrasing it, substitute your identical concept with different
objects... say designer clothing and inner-city black wel-fare children. Just think
if a 15 yr old boy couldn't get his FUBU jeans to be trendy with all his "brothas",
*oh the tragedy* and he was forced to sell his 12 year old sister into prostitution ?
So in conclusion, before you complain about people who thing intellectual property
ought to be respected PERIOD, consider that if the people who created HADN'T it
wouldn't exist -- and as such they have a right to sell it for ANY price they want,
and to whomever they choose.
I'm not going to say you support one side or another. But I can tell you one thing -- China economy, under the Communist regime, has had double digit economic growth rates for a decade. We haven't had that. Not even with our boom in the late 90s.
The Chinese government has been good to the majority of the people. That's why, if you go to China and research this, they are happy with their government. They remember what it was like under the US sponsored Guomingdang. To put it frankly: it sucked.
True Capitalism doesn't work in a country with 1.3 billion people. In fact, I fear for Chinese economy right now. Over the past ten years or so they have been pushing towards privitization. This has caused the great economic boom, but it has also caused the Chinese of the rural areas to be neglected by the ones in the urban areas. (Which happened less when it was the communist government running all the factories and developing all the businesses.)
So, no, opening up the economy won't help all chinese people. It may help the movie-going urban population... but that's leaving out 900 million rural inhabitants. Allow them to move into cities? It's happening right now, and it is disasterous. The Chinese government doesn't admit it, but it has millions of people in Beijing, Shanghai,Guangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi'an, Tianjin, and other large cities who have moved from the country side and are job-less looking for work. (They they'll not find because 1) the government no longer promises jobs for everyone -- part of opening up 2) the Chinese businesses care more for profit than for social welfare -- another cause of opening up and 3) urban economies, when unregulated, can not grow at the pace that they would need to to employ everyone in China. (or even 50 percent))
So... you can argue that the economy needs to be opened up... but if you look at it economically (as opposed to your view of "right."), "opening up" the economy, entirely, will do nothing but hurt the Chinese people.
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?