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BitTorrent Blamed for Matrix2 Downloads
MartyJG writes "The BBC are running a story on how Matrix Reloaded is available via P2P. This time BitTorrent is taking the heat for the distribution - even though there's no company behind it to drag over the coals. The story speculates about the source of the copy, suggesting it's from a film or digital source rather than a cinema-screen-leech." Despite this piracy, the flick has made over $365M already. Including my tickets. Twice.
Maybe the copies are another form of control... Give us a grainy low res version to excite us and then grab the $8 admission to the movie.... The matrix has us!
"If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people in the world?"
Movies like the Matrix, Lords of the Rings etc are social events. People will watch it in the cinema among their friends family no matter how easy it is to get at divx copy.
The story speculates about the source of the copy, suggesting it's from a film or digital source rather than a cinema-screen-leech.
Wow, sounds like the culprit is an insider! Perhaps someone should contact these guys and point out the "inadvertant error" in their analysis before the real criminals get away?
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
Considering that some people are seeing the movie more than once and how much it has grossed so far, complaining about illegal downloads seems so redundant, it's almost laughable !
I'll take a bet 95% of people who have an illegal copy of the movie have paid to see it.
There's no substitue for seeing a movie like the matrix on a big screen.
A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
I don't know, but I'm posting this from work right now, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want someone else who has nothing to do with my work determining when I've made enough money from it and telling me I'm "whining" if somebody steals it.
No, but many non-matrix fans will download it just for the sake of seeing it, instead of waiting to rent it at blockbuster.
The rental industry is getting killed by movie piracy online. If you're a fan of a film, you'll go to the theatre to see it.
But all those so-so films that you tell yourself "I'll wait and rent it", can now be downloaded free-as-in-hobo at your leisure.
Of course we only need justify this the same way as we do with MP3 'sharing'; Why should I pay to see a movie that only has one good character and the rest is filler?
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Let's face facts - you probably don't have the same profile as the majority of people downloading the movie.
On the surface, I agree with you - I've seen it, and even if I downloaded a copy I'm going to buy it when it comes out on DVD anyway. Yet, if I downloaded it, they'd claim I "cost them" $30 or so (1 ticket price and one DVD price).
But the fact is that it is their content and as long as it's available to you (currently in the theater). There's never been a good argument for piracy, but then there's no evidence that piracy is really costing them money anyway. I wish they'd wake up and smell the coffee - every time a newer, better, more flexible medium comes along they throw a shit fit, and yet end up making more money than they ever did before.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
Release the DVDs earlier, and people will buy them instead of downloading. And those who still download probably wouldn't have bought a DVD anyway - for them the choice was a) don't have it or b) pirate it. They were not open to choice c) 'buy it' in the first place. That is the fallacy that the MPAA/RIAA rely on when citing "piracy concerns" - they assume that everyone who has Item X would have paid for it if it were not available in pirated form; that is a faulty assumption.
The fact that large-scale movie piracy (and indeed, any piracy) is happening is an indicator that people are largely unsatisfied with the current prices and/or distribution methods.
Natural != (nontoxic || beneficial)
To a point, yes. However, if a tracker gets overloaded, everyone suffers.
-- the source of the copy, suggesting it's from a film or digital source rather than a cinema-screen-leech--
Howabout going after themselves? I remeber a few days before Episode II came out I had a copy...and it was terrible. Sure I watched it and was wowed but when the movie came out I still went and saw it. Now if YOUR OWN COMPANY leaks a pristine digital copy it seems to me that the problem is your own company and not a file format (.torrent). And as many people pointed out, Ive seen matrix twice now and I garuntee you anyone searching out reloaded on bit torrent is A. a huge fan and B. will or has already shelled out to see it.
If they start to sue individual users since there is no company ill boycot the 3rd movie. Just like ill never buy a CD again (i support my artists by buying a tshirt at concerts, that is where they make money) the only thing you can do these days is vot with your dollar.
You guys (and gals) talk so much shit about the MPAA but who pays their salaries? You do. Everytime you see the matrix / LOTR your paying their lawyers to hunt people down. Never forget that.
---- The real Slashdot is still here. You just have to browse at -1 to read the comments.
Thats the first thing I did was see it in the theatre. You know, every movie that looks to be worth it, I have went and seen. I think the movie industry wants to blame P2P'ers for their lack of 'estimated growth', but I think they are just making shitty movies. Good ones I have no problem paying for, or seeing 2 times (lord of the rings), but I will still download it later. :P And no worries, its allready 1/2 way complete.
No I didnt spell check this post...
I've also heard that movie theaters are in far more trouble from video rentals than they could possibly be from file sharing. Who wants to go to some sticky-floor theater and eat overpriced greasy popcorn and pay $10 per person for tickets when you can rent a DVD and watch it on your home theater with your friends for less than the price of one ticket? Viewers are starting to figure that out.
These days I hardly ever go see big-release movies in the theater. I saw Spiderman and LOTR 1 and that's about it. Oh yeah, Attack of the Clones because a friend dragged me to the theater. I haven't seen LOTR 2 yet and I'm looking forward to seeing it, but I'm going to wait for a DVD rental. If that puts another nail into the MPAA's coffin, I'm all for it.
I beg to differ. I downloaded Fight Club off of some file sharing network a couple years ago. I heard it was good from a friend, but never got around to watching it. I was extremely impressed, so I bought it later that week. The same thing happened with Donnie Darko. There's something just *good* about owning a movie you know is good.
After seeing the moving on opening day, I went straight home to see if I could find it on BT. Started downloading it and completed it after a day or two. Started to watch the first 3 minutes and promptly deleted both VCDs. The movie was grainy like it was filmed on a 8mm video camera. It also had an annoying 4 degrees of tilt and the bightness was constantly fading up an down. The sound was good though, as long as you don't mind it fading from left to right to both to neither.
The majority of their target are probably 20's-30's, working males. Many of them downloading it are probably only filling the gap between when they no longer want to see it in the theater and when they can get the DVD. I did the same thing for LotR:FotR and LotR:TTT. I downloaded the movie, but the second that dvd comes out I"m getting the extended edition. Why? I want to watch the movie now, but I want the actual DVD when I can get it. Will I download Matrix Reloaded? Maybe. Will I buy Animatrix, matrix:reloaded and matrix when they come out on dvd? Of course. (And yes I realize matrix is out, I want to get it w/ reloaded though.)
350 million in a couple of weeks is not "'debilitating' for the industry no matter how they slice the pie.
But hey, at least bittorrent is getting some advertising in.
I do security
The one advantage the movie industry has with piracy is the fact that to really enjoy a movie like The Matrix - you gotta go see it on the BIG screen with Dolby/THX at bone crushing volume
...
Try doing that at home without the wife ripping your head off
---- "Logoff! That cookie shit makes me nervous!" - A. Soprano
I know this isn't a very popular point of view 'round here, but going after the people "sharing" the works is actually what the copyright industry *should* be doing under their existing legal protections. What they are doing instead is trying to buy/manipulate the law to the point where they've turned our potentially liberating technology into an esophagus from the corporate content industry to the consumer. I for one, would prefer they prosecute offendors under their existing protections rather than turn our PCs and other computing devices into next-generation cable TVs...
Trouble making decisions? Just flip for it.
I really don't understand the "Wanhh, the movie industry isn't giving me exactly what I want exactly how I want it, so I'm going to steal it since they're clearly ripping me off... yet I'm doing nothing wrong" mentality.
I actually help pirate movies and games, and I think any attempt to justify my actions is ridiculous. I know what I'm doing is wrong; I'm not foolish enough to pretend it isn't.
The movie industry has the right to produce crap and distribute it however they like. They have the right to charge you $100 a ticket. And guess what... even if they did, you STILL wouldn't have any right to sneak into a theater or pirate the movie. If you think they're charging too much, or they're taking too long to get the DVD to you.. tough shit. I know it's painful to hear, but you don't have any rights when it comes to movies.. unless you've already paid your money.
It's absurd: Someone makes a product you want, but you don't need. They don't want to sell it to you at the price you would like to pay for it.. and they don't want to give it to you (in DVD form, in this case) when you want to receive it. Too damn bad. It's THEIRS.. they can do with it whatever they please. If you have a problem with it, then don't support them... but it's never justifiable to steal something you merely WANT, simply because you can't legitimately obtain it in a manner that would please you.
That being said... I pirate some stuff because I want it quickly, and half of the stuff I seriously wouldn't buy even if I couldn't pirate it.. For the most part, I just enjoy collecting things. If someone makes a product that I think should be supported, I pay for it. I do not think, however, that what I'm doing is okay. I just acknowledge that I'm not the most morally upstanding person around. Piracy supporters: Stop fooling yourselves.