Slashdot Mirror
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.
Great work guys. I'm downloading Matrix: Reloaded right now with BitTorrent and the whole thing is about to get Slashdotted. Thanks.
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?"
Without a company to go after, it's only a matter of time before the MPAA goes after a few users a la the RIAA over the last couple months. Considering that studios put oodles more money into a major movie release than a music CD, they have plenty more to "lose" from P2P trading...
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
Their lawyer was quoted as saying 'This one is the exact same thing as the last one. Same gimmicks, same fast-food mysticism. I believe we have a strong case for plagarism'.
I guess next you will tell me that people use Kazaa for porn.
Slashdot subscriptions have real added value... subscribers can get their copy of Reloaded before the whole site gets /.ed
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.
Ahem.... Perhaps you missed this detail from the BBC article:
Although it is not unusual for pirate copies of blockbuster films to appear on the internet soon after release, they are often of poor quality, filmed on a hidden videcamera by a cinemagoer.
The picture is often jerky, with poor sound, punctuated by ambient noise in the cinema.
But the copy available using BitTorrent appears to be have made from a film print, and is in widescreen format with surround sound.
So all I can say is: Bah.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
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
This is pure nonsense. There are about 6 different versions of Reloaded floating about online but all the ones I've seen are Telesyncs.
There aren't any screener versions or similar online yet... believe me, I'd have looked!
At the end of the day, I can't imagine any Matrix fans are going to download the movie rather than seeing it on the big screen and/or buying the DVD.
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 !
Though it's true the Matrix Reloaded is a far better film to see on the BIG SCREEN than in some cheesy little window on my PC, my enjoyment of it that way (and I took my wife with me to see it too!) did not contribute anything towards the 380 million dollars it has collected to date. Why? We snuck in! Never pay to see a movie at a megaplex... just leave your coat in your car and claim you're returning from a cigarette break. It's the punk rock thing to do!!
The flag just makes more sense than the constitution. - Judas Gutenberg
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.
Becuase Bruce Almighty made more money than them....they have to come up with some excuse for a shitty Jim Carrey movie beating them. Wouldn't you?
Rob
I'll probably rent it on DVD when it comes out, because my girlfriend doesn't want to see it. I guess she doesn't understand the responsibilities of dating a geek?
I want my rights back. I was actually using them when our government stole them after 9/11.
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.
In other news, the Associated Press is reporting that 85% of Matrix2 bootleg bytes flow over Cisco routers. Therefore, Cisco is to blame for bootlegging. Several users reported that their Cisco products simply began downloading a Matrix2 bootleg without their permission.
smd4985
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.
I can share the Matrix on Slashdot. Here :
_O__-._O__
_|\___\|__ Dodge this !
_|_____|__
_/\____/\_
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I believe The Matrix: Reloades is a special case. Of all the people online I know of several people who paid to see the movie and then downloaded. Yet, I know not a single person who has simply downloaded without seeing it in a theatre. I realize this is only anecdotal evidence and prooves nothing, I am comepelled to believe that wide spread piracy without paying is not nearly as bad as the MPAA would like everyone to believe.
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.
This is getting off topic I know, but I thought Neo's battle with 100s of Agent Smiths was a great metaphor for what I do to my spam every blessed day.
The flag just makes more sense than the constitution. - Judas Gutenberg
Piracy: a crucial part of viral marketing.
Pirates have been given a bad rap, historically. History is written by the victors, remember. Many of the pirates from the great sailing age freed slaves and the indentured, set up their own kingless mini-republics and functional anarchies, and would appear more modern to us than their other contemporaries.
See this excert from TAZ on pirate utopias or this article or google it. And of course if you're really into the spirit of things, you could goof around reading No Quarter Given.
"They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference, they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage. Had you not better make then one of us, than sneak after these villains for employment" - D. Defoe
Damn those pesky terrorists
*yawn*. All things can be used for good or evil. Duh. What would be ideal would be for the BitTorrent folks to publicly denounce this. Or add a little disclaimer to their page (like Apple did with Rip Mix Burn) saying "We do not endorse or support the use of BitTorrent for illegal activities".
Now, here come the cries of "waaah, censorship, you're a fascist, etc". But think about it for just a second. All BitTorrent would be saying is "look, we created this to solve the problem of distributing things like ISO images to hundreds of people. We didn't create this to help you download the matrix. We stronly encourage you not to use it for that". That's not censorship, nor is it selling out. (Unless, of course, they really did create BitTorrent specifically for downloading movies.) They can't actively prevent you from downloading illegal files, but they can tell you that they think it's not such a bright idea.
Napster, Kazaa, and all the others really couldn't pull the "people can download anything from our networks, not just music" without the entire world laughing. Seeing as how BitTorrent has been used by RedHat and others to distribute ISOs, they actually can pull that argument and have it stick. And I really hope the BitTorrent folks don't pass on this opporuntity. Because then the RIAA has two choices: 1) accuse RedHat and others of supporting piracy by encouarging BitTorrent (which, while it would have MSFT dancing with glee, just isn't going to stick in this day and age); 2) suck it up and realize that tools can be used for both good and evil
There is no sig, there is only Zuul.
So if they go after ONE person, they also have to go after the other 700 million people downloading as well
Try telling that to the officer when you get a speeding ticket. "Well, I was going as fast as everyone else."
I think you misunderstand. Hope you don't learn the hard way.
They discover that your ip is offering this unauthorized copy of a copyrighted work. They investiate. Track you down. Some days later, you get served with legal process. (Or arrested?)
You are guilty of a crime. It doesn't matter that everyone else is also doing it. It doesn't matter if they don't even go after all the other people.
All they need to do is make a few very public examples. For this reason, I'm sure they'll sue you for $300 milliion, and then settle for $15,000. Just as the RIAA recently did with four students. This had the effect of completely stopping piracy of copyright works owned by RIAA member companies.
Those who would give up liberty in exchange for security and DRM should switch to Microsoft Palladium!
could you put the porn up on BitTorrent please? I've been trying to download porn and every time I wind up with a dvd-rip of Matrix Reloaded :(
True, but the websites that host to the bit torrent files are very vunerable to slashdot effect. The last article on Slashdot crumled some of the more popular sites. Three of my five favorite sites were down for 2-5 days. That said, once people grab the files and actually start downloading, when there is a more than 60 people streaming the file, downloads rock.
And hey, don't let age be a factor in bringing that family. Got an infant!? Grab an extra diaper or two and bring 'em right in with you! After all, what infant wouldn't love special effects blasting at 1000 db with flashing explosions lighting up the room. They were absolutely screaming with joy!
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.