Round Two for MPAA Lawsuits

An anonymous reader writes "CNET is reporting that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has filed a second round of lawsuits against individuals trading movie files. This follows the lobby's legal attacks on BitTorrent servers a few weeks back. A couple of commentaries on this latest legal barrage can already be found here and here."

Comments

For parents?

[Coneasfast]

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) also made available a new free software tool so parents can scan their computers for file-swapping programs and for movie or music files which may be copyrighted.

"Son, come over here and show me how to run this thing."

Re:For parents?

[malcomvetter]

"Son, what is all this crap that program found? ... You mean you can download entire movies? Pull up a chair and show your father how to do that."

Will downloaders of Gigli...

[Anonymous Coward]

...be able to sue the MPAA?

Round Two! Fight!

[Mitaphane]

Until the MPAA starts cracking down people actually selling their wares instead of people downloading them for free they will not get a tear of sympathy from me. Seriously, I don't understand it. When I was NYC, street vendors make no attempt to hide the fact they are selling pirated goods. Why isn't the MPAA cracking down on them instead of college kids that have nothing better to do with their bandwidth than download DiVX ripped movies?

Re:Round Two! Fight!

[Ohm2k]

I am very agenst people selling downloaded material. Guy at my local dirt mall sells movies He downloads, burns and prints covers for. I went as far as to call the 1-800-no-copys number to report it. Took 3 weeks before a human picked up the phone. I gave them all the contact information of the dirt mall and titles of movies being sold. 6 months later he's still there making $10 a movie hand over fist.

Why should we feel sorry for the MPAA when they won't even do anything about people stealing accual sales from them. Even after someone hands them all the information on a silver platter.

Re:Round Two! Fight!

[Eskimore_]

The "college kids" that are downloading ripped movies are precisely the demographic that the movie industry depends on for generating theater revenue. If it becomes as popular as MP3 sharing, they're going to lose $, hence sue now before it becomes a major problem.

I disagree with that. Although it is logical it isn't what is actually happening. In actuality the revenue streams of the music industry are not suffering. As proof I offer this article that shows that even though piracy is increasing SO ARE LEGIT CD SALES.

It's not the actuall loss of sales that is affecting the content industry. It's the threat of lost control.

You have to realize that it's not the artists that are freaking out here, it's the content distribution companies, who by the way keep the bulk of the profits made from sales. You see, before the Internet they had a lot of control over the end user experience. Now that control is slipping away. In fact, I would say that the internet will almost completely dissolve the RIAA/MPAA business model in the next few decades.

But they want YOU to think the issue is lost revenue due to pirating. But it's not. It's potential future revenue loss for the distribution companies who, by the way, have reisited every major technological change in the history of the industrial revolution, even though time and again those changes made them richer. They're just plain short sighted.

Better than a program to track P2P apps...

[hal2814]

...would be the parents monitor what software little Johnny is installing on the computer and to ask what that software does (with demonstration of course). I know if I see icons pop up on the family computer desktop or start menu, I tend to ask the family who installed it and what it does.

LokiTorrent

[Eminence]

Let's remember about LokiTorrent's law defense fund. They had the guts to stand for their rights and say no to corporate bullying, and they are doing it for the rest of us too. If they win such lawsuits would have to stop.

Imagine...

[GillBates0]

parents can talk with children about the legalities of peer-to-peer activity

parents having a "little talk" with their kids about P2P activity:

Johnnie: Daddy, where do MP3 files come from?

Daddy: Johnnie, Mom and I are going to have a little talk with you now.

Johnnie: Okay, Dad.

Mommy: You know Johnnie, there's something you need to know about MP3 files and P2P clients.

Daddy: When an MP3 file meets a P2P client, something very beautiful happens.

Johnnie: What's that Daddy?

Daddy: It's called File Transfer, son. When a beautiful MP3 file meets a nice, young P2P client, they start exchanging packets and then a new MP3 file is born.

Mommy: But you have to remember, son...bad things can happen if MP3 files and P2P clients do not take proper precautions during the File Transfer. Then they can get infected with Spyware and Viruses and die.

Daddy: You'll understand this better when you grow up, but always remember that we're here for you if you need us. And always remember to take proper precautions during File Transfer.

Re:Absurd!

[grumpygrodyguy]

What is this country coming to?

It's coming to citizens having to personally reclaim their rights from corrupt lawmakers.