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Hollywood Says Piracy Has Ripple Effect
ColinPL writes to mention a Washington Post article about a new study backed by Hollywood on intellectual piracy. The study, which they're presenting to lawmakers today, claims that piracy has a ripple effect on the economy. According to the study, lost revenues may have as much as three times the impact previously imagined. From the article: "Lawmakers and federal agencies such as the Justice and State departments have helped Hollywood battle physical piracy -- specifically, counterfeit DVDs. But now the stakes are especially high for entertainment companies as they sell more of their products online in the form of digital songs, movies and other intellectual property. Internet piracy may be tougher for lawmakers to conceptualize, entertainment companies fear."
I think the word Hollywood is looking for is *hoodwink*.
Eye implants, ala Minority Report. Only instead of just targeting you with advertising when you go somewhere, they also dictate what digital media, books, magazines and lazer light shows you can view. If you paid your fee you can see for the day.
No sig for you!!
is sooo small economically wise it is rather pathetic they have as much pull as they do...the candy industry is about 10 times the size
The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
They interviewed a crew hand from Waterworld and, aside from forcing him out of a job, the unnamed victim reported that piracy forcefully entered his home and raped him in front of his youngest son. Piracy has taken not only his source of income but also the joy that he and his son once shared.
The report concludes with piracy being at large and dangerous. Piracy is capable of flipping bits in a pattern that resembles music and is also known to cause cancer.
So when are lawmakers presented with the Piracy Is Actually Pretty Bitching for Consumers report? What about the Economics Research is Bullshit & Baseless report? Oh, that's right, the other side of the issue never gets to hear it's voice heard and no alternatives will ever be explored. Silly me.
My work here is dung.
*Everything* has a ripple effect on the economy. That's why it's called "the economy" as a whole. You can't expect a noticeable shift in traditional cash flow to not have at least some sort of chain reaction or reactions elsewhere.
"No fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
All Hollywood has to do is change the language so words like "theft" apply to non-applicable situations such as copyright infringement. After they succeed at this, they can transmute the words arson, rape, and murder to describe it. Make sure "think of the children" is mentioned occasionally.
Where were you when the voynix came?
Making crappy movies.
Sueing your audience.
Making your customers go through crap that people who don't pay don't have to go through.
If you think education is expensive, you should try ignorance -- Derek Bok, president of Harvard
This study recieved funding from NBC Universal and the MPAA. Why am I having a hard time taking it seriously?
I stopped buying DVDs since I'm never certain if the version out today won't be replaced by a extended version in six month and/or a gift box set next year. I want to spend my money only once. Not twice or thrice for the same product with extra features that should've been there in the first place.
Ripple effect is fine. I just don't want to see a butterfly effect. One person pirates, and the next thing you know we have a chimpanzee for president and our rights are being eroded every day... Oh damn.
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
Need they say more?
Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick Two.
It's important to remember, however, that even though piracy prevents money from reaching the movie industry, those dollars probably stay in the economy, one intellectual property expert said. Ridiculous! Doesn't everybody do what I do? That is, sink every penny I save through downloading pirated films into doubloons I keep buried in a chest in my back yard. Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!
Hmm, perhaps the memories of the members of parliament, senators, congressmen and women should have their memories refreshed.
In fact, it's the pirates who benefit the economy most, they produce the goods at a far lower cost, the benefit is far and wide, what is saved on music and videos can be spent on more important items.
Deleted
Hollywood study finds that Hollywood deserves more money. Big surprise?
What about the study about how only three movies this summer were bearable to watch?
(Pirates, Sunshine, Superman)
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
Which has a worse effect on the economy? Think about it for a sec... It increases costs of R&D of consumer electronics, it delays to market consumer electronics. It makes so only a select few can market products that will play the content. It makes the hardware more expensive. It decreases the size market that might buy the content.
...now that immorality is hurting them. Is this the same Hollywood that has been overtly hostile to people who insist that there is such a thing as right and wrong? Piracy is just one of the many effects that Hollywood's fuzzy morality is having on society, and it happens to be the one that's directly biting them in the ass. I don't feel a bit sorry for them. In the various ways they've attacked traditional values over the years, I can't help but wonder how they didn't have the foresight to expect their current predicament.
-Walrus
Now that anyone can record a song (that they wrote themselves) in their own home and distribute it over the Internet, isn't that going to reduce the value of the commercially-produced ones that the 'labels' make ? In effect, the 'control of the distribution channel' is gone, and we will be flooded with potentially-brilliant music for free (as advertising for band concerts, or as hobby).
To a lesser extent, it must be true of films, too. I don't think many individuals are capable of producing 'Star Wars' at home; but maybe some collaborations are.
Vizzini: Inconceivable.
...
Inigo Montoya:, You keep using that word. I do not think it means, what you think it means.
"Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey?"- Peter Gabriel
RIAA: Those danm Pirates are attacking our economy with their Voodoo Economics!!
Pirate: Arrr!! But 'tis naught to the voodoo that you do so well!! Ye scurvy dogs!
May the Maths Be with you!
There has been nothing worth copying! The stuff they put out is so pathetic that I would not want to waste bandwith copying.
I have not been to a first run flick for over 1 year. I have been seeing only 70's and 80's classics such as Blade Runner and Xanadu and James Bond.
Hollywood's product has really be very dissapointing to say the least. Perhaps Congress shall pass laws that dictate minimum quality to this stuff.
Luv
Cleara
I'm pretty sure that pirates bury their loot on tropical islands.
Hollywood needs to start getting its house in order before it can critise piracy for it's falling profits. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/19/business/media/1 9hollywood.html?ex=1313640000&en=a3d7d097e8c79a00& ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
The multiplier effect Hollywood is referring to is a well known economic priciple. Basically money spent in the economy has a ripple effect greater than its actual amount (money spent helps pay someone's salary, who then uses the money to go out and buy goods, etc). The assumption they're erroneously making is that the money not being spent on movies because of piracy (and let's face it, they grossly overestimate that by claiming that every pirated copy is a lost sale) is not being spent elsewhere in the economy instead, thus making ZERO NET IMPACT on the economy as a whole - it's just Hollywood that loses out as spending shifts to different areas.
...and you've eaten your pen. simply stunning.
Any study that is backed by "Hollywood" (whomever that is), is nothing more than the movie studios and the guilds getting together to figure out yet another way to control technology. These are some of the most greedy corporate tools on earth! I was once told by a union executive that all the new technology is great because they can digitally superimpose products into scenes (that were not originally in the scene) and get more money from advertising. Forget art! We can sell more Doritos!!!
My hero and friend, Richard Stallman has a lot to say on the topic of piracy and "Hollywood" in the new documentary ALTERNATIVE FREEDOM. It also features Lawrence Lessig, Danger Mouse (of Gnarls Barkley and the illegal Grey Album) and and others...
Buy a copy to support the folks out there who are trying to spread better information than "Hollywood."
http://alternativefreedom.org/
Is that so? From a recent press release:
Just because the Slashdot crowd doesn't like something doesn't mean that average consumers have the same view. Get over yourself and UNDERTAND THIS, the RIAA and MPAA don't give a flying fuck about what you think. You are not their target customer.
I imagine the effects on our descendants will be infinite...
It doesn't matter which ape activates the Monolith
Tom Cruise gets fired. . Stops buying his Prozac and Ritallin at the little pharmacy over by Paramount. . Pharmacy goes belly up. . The person that used to put the labels on the bottles at the supplier gets the pink slip. . Doesn't take that vaction to see Grandma.. Doesn't win the lottery. . Doesn't donate to the school that produces 2075's US President..
So, Tell me again what all this has to do with Piracy?
I'm sure that everybody was far too busy thinking up cute "+5 Funny" comments to go out and actually take a look at the actual study... but for anybody who's perhaps interested in formulating a defensible position on the matter based on facts rather than groupthink, the actual publication is available here.
For a bunch of geeks, I'd think that doing a bit of research & gathering the facts before reaching a conclusion would be the *first* thing you'd do when trying to combat what you decry as a campaign of FUD & misinformation. Sarcasm isn't going to win the case in a courtroom, or in Congress. Deconstruct their argument & their methods. Show their assumptions & conclusions to be faulty.
I can see the effects of a mini economy around Piracy.
o nomic-Thought/dp/0792383109/sr=8-2/qid=1159566373/ ref=sr_1_2/104-5959278-4596701?ie=UTF8&s=books
The Hollywood leakers, plus the illegal dubbers in South America combined with the rouge servers provide an avenue for people with burners at home that can go and sell this pirated content in flea markets and feed their families. It happens with books, music and other stuff....
Is it illegal and bad? YES....
So is WAR... (and it seems to fuel economies too...)
Read: http://www.amazon.com/Political-Economy-Recent-Ec
Oh well...
Internet piracy may be tougher for lawmakers to conceptualize, entertainment companies fear.
Feh! Like's that's ever been an obstacle in the past...
MPAA: Mr. Lawmaker, Internet Piracy of our copyrighted works is bad. When everyday people decide that they can download movies illegally without fear of repercussion, we find that sales plummet, the industry suffers, and the culture as a whole is significantly damaged.
Lawmaker: Eh?
MPAA: We're hemorrhaging money thanks to Intarwebs!
Lawmaker. Oh.
MPAA: And you see, accounting has this weird thing where our profits are directly linked to the campaign contributions that we make to you.
Lawmaker: And what would you like your new law called?
According to the study, lost revenues may have as much as three times the impact previously imagined.
If nothing proves they are imagining things more than this, I haven't seen it. Doesn't this statement indicate their losses are imaginary and that these new estimations are three times as imaginary?
I hate to say that it's time for another law but I think there should be "rules and ethics of evidence" introduced into law. Such a law would state that any studies submitted to the senate or congress must have, at the very least, an impartial study to balance out the claims of special interests. We all know how stats and studies can be twisted into outrageous lies and exaggerations. It's time we start disallowing such crap on a regular basis. If these special interests are willing to fund their own studies as evidence for a need for legislation, then they should also be willing to have another study made as ordered by the legislative commission that will be reviewing the information. It would seem like a natural extension of our other fair and balanced matters of law such as in the case of evidence presented in a court.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who's tired of the lies, damned lies and statistics given as evidence to write new laws. And while we're at it, let's stop the dairy companies from recommending our RDA of milk that seems to go up at every opportunity. Talk about conflicting interests.... and oil companies denying global warming? Enough already!
When you put money in the bank, the bank invests it.
In theory, this generates returns on investment (ROI).
If ROI > the interest the bank pays you, everybody wins.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
They're continuing to make shit up that suits them. Intellectual piracy is buying an ebook of Dostoevsky from a street bazaar in hong kong. Intellectual property is such that it can only be covered by patent. Copyrightable works are not property, unless you count my DVD collection. Those are my property. But, apparently, a property which I don't have any rights to. If it's intellectual property, then that implies it's not copyrightable. Which is it, a product or a license? If it's a license, I'm going to trade in my 60 or so VHS tapes for the DVDs. I'm tired of buying the White Album again. If it's a product, it's not copyrightable and, therefore, not covered under the bought and paid for laws like the DMCA.
The **AA wants their cake and your cake and make you watch them devour both.
They're using their grammar skills there.
Back in the 20es when they were stamping on hollywood's "liberties" about making socially controversial films.
See, today the opressed became the opressor, and this time the opression is not for what is right or wrong, but for MONEY.
Just when are you going to die out, 55+ generation ?
Read radical news here
But perhaps someone else will work that extra shift. I'm assuming that company isn't just letting people work for the hell of it, there must be the extra work available and someone else will probably do it (and lets not go down the whole 'but if everyone thinks someone else will do it' route). They will then get the extra cash to spend on something, which props the enconomy up by the same amount.
However if a foreign worker does it and sends the money 'back home' then that money is lost out of the countries economy. Although of course it props up the other country.
On a (semi-)related note. My father was reading Henry Fords biography and he (Ford, that is) said in it, if companies pay a good wage, then the employees have more cash to buy more stuff and that helps the economy out. In his case, his car workers spend more in other shops, which then hire more workers / pay more shifts which allow more of them to buy a new car which helps out the car manufacturers.
I still think the whole world is too obsessed over money, but I can't think of a good way around it. If we end money then you end up back in a feudal farming world... anyone got any good ideas on how to sort that out?
And then ninjas come and dig it up and use it to buy frisbees, swords, throwing stars and red bull.
Read my short stories - You won't regret it.
But on the other hand, sale of pirated DVDs helps the plastic industry flourish !
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
Never mind the fact that employers and the government directly benefit
from millions pre-trained IT workers competent in 100+ software packages, and you can bet your bottom dollar 99.999% of these have breached copyright to gain decent competency levels. Double standards alive and well.
Very rich, that black hats are considered used goods, yet the white hats who proclaim experience on X Y and Z - well, they have already stolen and been dishonest, if they really believe black letter law.
The US ecomony would be cripppled overnight if we arrested and gave criminal records all these experienced people who never actually bought whatever, and who had unlicenced whatever at home.
As for the ripple effect.. right. Every dollar spent on discs, media, paytv, means people on their asses in front of a TV screens, not working or flipping burgers or selling drugs. Instead the money was spent on health, childcare, education, housing or auto - all with greater GDP and job creation multipliers that hollywood.
Just take the numbers the RIAA *claim*, divide that by number of households (which would be more than the oil/gas money hike), and you would see if they got their wet dreams, the economy would tank, and malls, auto and housing would suffer even more.
The politicians do not act, because if the unemployed and low end menials/trash were denied mind numbing TV pacification, they might get see sunshine, up and vote out the shitheads who took away their remote controls.
For everyone to really win the interest the bank pays you must also beat inflation. Typical flexible savings/checking accounts don't have very good interest rates. You still win over stuffing it under your bed, of course, but typically if you really want to get a good return rate on savings you have to have enough money to make it worth it to pay the fees necessary for the kind of accounts/investments that will yield you a good return. Otherwise it's a big win for the bank and nothing for you. Takes money to make money, blah, blah, blah.
So, they extrapolated from their initial made up number, eh?
This type of false logic is called the Broken Window Fallacy. Read it.