The MPAA and EFF Cross Sabers

wigwamus writes "Motion Picture Association President Dan Glickman and Electronic Freedom Foundation co-founder Johh Perry Barlow lock horns, then knock lumps off each other over the movie business' attitude to the Internet. From the article: 'These are aging industries run by aging men, and they're up against 17-year-olds who have turned themselves into electronic Hezbollah because they resent the content industry for its proprietary practices.'"

Comments

Hear the audio

[wigwamus]

You can hear extended audio of Glickman v Barlow on the Newsnight 9th June podcast, 20 minutes and 20 seconds in. Download from http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/ viewPodcast?id=136697142

Re:that's right, we're escalating

[GPLDAN]

I'm curious why you've been modded as funny, since what you said isn't funny - it's true. Media pirates are being profiled in police documentation as people who are likely to be involved in hacking, stolen credit card rings and other scams. In fact, there is a whitepaper floating around that talks about tracking the upper echelon of hacking rings through their achilles heel - their propensity for aggregating large collections of stolen media. If you think the guys in Sweden who run the Pirate Bay are only involved in running a BT tracker for file sharing, you're incredibly naive. Raid those guys and you'd likely to find lots of other ancillary illegal activity, and running a pirate ring is just the probable cause you need to get a waarant.

Re:sooner or later the industry will give in...

[Ironsides]

which meant that when I lost one of my Futurama DVDs all I could do legally is buy another

I'd double check that if I were you. A few of the DVD manufacturers (Fox included, I believe), have a system set up so that if a disk fails, you can replace it for something like $5-$7. Basically, the cost of the media, processing and shiping.

Re:Both sides have it wrong...

[John Courtland]

Goddamnit, I meant http://www.magnetbox.com/riaa/ (RIAA Radar, not RIAA watch)

Re:There is a difference/ happy fans vs SPITE

[Infoport]

A few things that should be noted: the Grateful Dead do NOT give away ALL of their "product". But, giving away some of their products gives THEM much exposure and helps others see that what they have to offer shows skill and has variation each and every time. From this they are able to build greater customer base and support and from that sell more of their other products.

For instance,

1. you still usually have to pay to see a concert. RESULT: they were the top grossing band in 1990 with almost DOUBLE the 2nd place grosser (I'm sure they did ok in other years too)
2. You are not allowed to copy and sell COMMERCIAL releases, but are allowed to copy and give away concert recordings. RESULT: happy fans police themselves and each other, and stop any illegal sales through community pressure and free concert tapes.
3. They sell t-shirts, bears, stickers, coffee cups, license plates, etc, and protect their logos.
4. they also speak up on issues and are listened to, etc because fans like how they act
5. etc etc

With unhappy people, they may copy and distribute product out of SPITE, but with happy loving fans they only do what allowed out of happiness with group, and help police themselves out of happiness too. THIS is what the Grateful Dead have achieved (now some may find a few fans distributing stuff they shouldn't but it is the small minority)

To address the quality point, the Dead allow people to bring in equipment and mike stands, usually up to 6ft or 12ft. People spend thousands on equipment. Files are made using LOSSLESS formats (not mp3), and some copies are even distributed with 5.1 sound-- these are NOT low quality copies!!!

InfoPort

Re:sooner or later the industry will give in...

[kesuki]

Just because you can use software to illegally copy music doesn't mean you're stealing from the industry. As I recall, the record industry has been doing pretty good with all the popularity of american idol. The record labels would be a lot better off in the long run if they moved ahead with the times.

Right now I'm sitting on slashdot playing games all day, but you know what, i joined the columbia house record club many years back when i first learned you can rip CDs to mp3s I only had a 486 and i So knew 'this is the greatest thing everyone will love it! You don't have to steal from anyone just because you're using p2p software or cd ripping programs. I LOVE sourceforge because they have so many wonder applications like cdex.

I really beleive the aging dinosaurs who don't learn how to play fair (sony, that means YOU) will get swollowed up by the forward thinking execs, like the owner of virgin atlantic richard branson who HAS got it right, and is trying his best to make a change. Sure he still profits heavily off musicians, and that makes me angry a lot, but at least he's trying to keep up with the times by finding new ways to draw artists and audience.