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MPAA Blames BitTorrent for Star Wars Distribution

Posted by timothy on from the what-do-you-burn-apart-from-witches? dept.

AI Playground writes "Slyck News reports on the MPAA's press release (.doc) blaming the BitTorrent protocol for the leak of Episode III. MPAA President and CEO Dan Glickman: 'There is no better example of how theft dims the magic of the movies for everyone than this report today regarding BitTorrent providing users with illegal copies of Revenge of the Sith. The unfortunate fact is this type of theft happens on a regular basis on peer to peer networks all over the world.'"

2 of 1,196 comments (clear)

  1. And this is news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Look, most people I know who have the ability to download the movie chose not to. They want to see it on a big screen, with big sound, with other fans.

  2. Re:they need to be stopped by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ethically wrong? Illegal, certainly. In many places. For the distributor usually, not the distributee.

    But we're well beyond a universal system of ethics aren't we? I can imagine a number of arguments that could be used to by people who have no ethical problem with copyright infringement.

    For one, copyright is a contract between the government and authors on their people's behalf. Since it's made without the individual's say-so, he might not consider himself bound by it.

    For another, copyright has only existed for a few centuries. The great ethical minds of the past never had a problem with appropriating the intellectual property of others.

    Another argument that could be used is that modern copyright terms have been manipulated by big business into lengths of time that violate their intended purpose. Therefore the law is unjust and should be disobeyed.

    Another argument could be that copyright itself is a bad idea that stifles creation. In music, for example, the case could be made the copyright has killed live performance. Therefore the law is wrong and just be disobeyed.

    So on and so forth.

    I can imagine arguments in the other direction as well. But the point is that there is no universal morality on the subject.