King Kong vs. Movie Pirates

Caoz writes "The New York Times is running an interesting article about movie piracy with Peter Jackson providing some comments. There a couple of comments that I thought were surprising. Like an executive admitting that file sharers are not the biggest threat to Hollywood. From the article: 'There is a very dark, black cloud in this game. It's not in the hands of kids who live next door to you; it's organized groups and organized crime.' Why are they suing bitorrent users then?"

Comments

Bitorrent User Group

[fembots]

It's not in the hands of kids who live next door to you; it's organized groups and organized crime." Why are they suing bitorrent users then?"

Haven't you realized this very dark and cloudy organized group they're referring to is the Bitorrent User Group (BUG)?

I do have another question though - Why don't consumers buying/wearing fake branded products get arrested?

A Nike t-shirt is probably as easy and cheap to copy and produce as a DVD movie. Imagine law enforcement officers roaming the streets and ripping counterfeited t-shirts off materialistic girls.

Re:Bitorrent User Group

[Anonymous Coward]

Haven't you realized this very dark and cloudy organized group they're referring to is the Bitorrent User Group (BUG)?

Probably not what they're referring to. But in any case: if you stop the leak at the studio, you've stopped one copy. If you bring down BitTorrent, you've stopped the remaining 9,999,999 copies. That's why BitTorrent gets the attention.

I do have another question though - Why don't consumers buying/wearing fake branded products get arrested?

Same principle. Do you pick them off one by one, or go for the hive? In addition it's not against the law to get ripped off, which a consumer can always claim.

A Nike t-shirt is probably as easy and cheap to copy and produce as a DVD movie.

Having done both screen printing and DVD burning, I heartily disagree. A six-station screen printing machine will set you back about USD $8,000, before buying ink and screens and blank shirts and a dryer and a ventilated place to do it all. DVD-R's are a much easier product to make.

BT Users

[TheStupidOne]

Why are they after BT users more than the crime syndicates? Because BT users are a far more high-profile target. And BT users don't have the money or clout to get themselves out of trouble. When a BT user is charged, they usually fall on their knees begging for a settlement. When (more like if) the crime syndicates are charged, money talks and suddenly the case "disappears".

It's like asking a bully why he picks on the little guys. He's afraid of messing with kids his own size.

Re:BT Users

[shark72]

I imagine that if I only got my news via /., I'd be under the assumption that movie studios, law enforcement, et. al. target individual sharers exclusively and don't go after the large-scale distributors. Slashdot tends to cover the stories of suing file traders with much more regularity than they cover stories of shutting down DVD factories in China (presumably because Slashdot readers have more empathy for the former), so your confusion is understandable.

The reality is that law enforcement and copyright holders, just like you and me, can indeed walk and chew gum at the same time.

This false assumption is common in all walks of life. If you've ever wondered out loud why the cops aren't out busting the drug dealers and drug smugglers, etc. instead of writing you that ticket for failing to come to a complete stop, the answer is that law enforcement is indeed busting drug dealers and gun smugglers. They are fully capable of doing this, despite the fact that the officer happens to be writing you a ticket at that precise moment.

movie revenue

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't like this article. It claims that box office releases are "unprofitable, expensive form of marketing".
The truth is that hollywood has made an art of hiding profits ever since they started signing profit sharing agreements with actors and directors. Sure, a crappy movie isn't going to make a good ROI. But the movie industry generally makes out quite well.

Because

[Overly Critical Guy]

Why are they suing bitorrent users then?

Because movie piracy is still illegal?

Five years ago when Napster was getting sued, everyone on Slashdot--editors included--rallied behind the idea that they should lay off the companies providing the apps and going after the individual infringers, because that was fair and logical. I think nobody expected they'd actually do that. And now they are, and so the rallying cry has changed.

Re:Bruce Sterling had a great idea in his novel

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, according to the US economic census the total revenue of all sorts of entertainment and recreation was about $142 billion. That includes live performing arts, bowling alleys, and a lot of other stuff you can't put on a website for download.

The total economy was over $18 trillion in 2002, so arts and entertainment represent about 0.7% of the total US economy in this census. I'd say the effectiveness of the tactic would be about nil.

The only smaller categories in the census were management companies (mutual funds and the like) and educational services (Princeton SAT prep, commercial trade schools like DeVry, corporate training outfits). Categories taking in over a trillion dollars include construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, finanace & insurance, and health care & social assistence. Hollywood is barely on the financial radar.