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How To Address A Visit from MPAA Senior VP Rich Taylor?
tedswiss writes "Fate has dropped a unique opportunity upon my lap: I teach at a moderately small independent school who has as one of its alums Richard Taylor. Mr. Taylor is both speaking at our start-of-year festivities and being honored with this year's "Distinguished Alum Award." Having followed and been disgusted by the MPAA's corporate practices regarding DRM and government lobbying in the past (Anyone remember DeCSS?), I would love to make his visit a chance to truly educate our student body, not just indoctrinate them. The school administration is sympathetic to my plight, but I want to present them with more than just my complaints. How would you best make use of this opportunity if you found yourself in my shoes?"
Ask him if the MPAA uses the same "accounting" for determining losses due to piracy which its members so often use when declaring that movies rolling in cash in fact lost money.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I think that would be the very best way to welcome your fellow alum back to campus.
I suppose it depends on the opportunities and contexts you have access to (what classes you teach, whether you can hold a seminar or discussion panel before/after his address, etc). But my primary advice would be:
Be respectful. Think teamwork. Don't try to rain on the parade the college is throwing for him. Nobody will thank you for that. Not that you seem to be leaning that way, but it bears mentioning on Slashdot.
Consider sitting down with Mr. Taylor privately (asap, if it'll be in addition to other things). The article you linked said he seems willing to take outside concerns seriously. It sure seems that he could be a great resource in 1. getting the MPAA to take consumer/citizen concerns more seriously, and 2. helping educate the student body about what's at stake here (on both sides).
Perhaps you could set up a panel on intellectual property/DRM while he's in town (you, him, maybe some other relevant folks), and invite the student body. Man, I'd love to go to that.
AK47
---- Booth was a patriot ----
First off, I'd announce the planned visit on a very popular website (making sure to mention his name in the title), thus dramatically increasing the chances that he will catch wind of whatever clever plan I come up with.
Okay, sorry. In all seriousness, I think the coolest thing to do would be to invite him to a Q&A session with your class, and try to ask him questions that shed light on these issues (lobbying, legal overreaching).
File a whole bunch of baseless lawsuits at him as soon as he walks in. He'll feel right at home!
Seriously.
Somebody more powerful than you thought it a good idea to bestow this honor on him. I wouldn't ruin the ceremony by sandbagging him. Perhaps you could invite him to your class to discuss some issues but I wouldn't use this opportunity to harangue him and make yourself look like a whiny prick in the process.
how easy and rewarding it is play one his client's movies using software approved by his organization ... say, an HD movie on a Vista laptop? be sure to point out how the enhanced experience will motivate customers to pour bushels of cash on them.
+1 fashionably cynical
The word that worries me in your discussion above is where you say that you have been "disgusted" with the Motion Picture Association's activities.
If you've got a distinguished and influential guest addressing your class, you need to show him respect.
You are not in the business of making or financing motion pictures or record albums, so you have no real stake in the argument. It does not affect your ability to earn a living and feed your family one way or another. Richard Taylor, on the other hand, speaks for tens of thousands of people who earn their livings making and financing motion pictures and record albums. He wants to present their point of view, and he knows what he is talking about.
So show some class, act like a gentleman, and make sure your students are respectful as well.
You won't convince or influence anybody with scorn and invective. If you listen to Richard Taylor, you might learn a few things and better understand his point of view.
Get ahold of Ali G and let him handle the interview...
there you go.
MPAA owned
Unless you can get the school to organize an official debate on intellectual property, that's all you can do.
Come to the event with a big sign illustrating your message and objections to his status as a distinguished alum. Have a group of students do the same as well as boo and chant before/during/after the event. Engage in civil disobedience by bringing a notebook and helping friends make backups of their own DVDs in his plain sight.
In your question, you are asking what question to ask to educate the student body - I would think that this would be an opportunity to educate Mr. Taylor.
If you read some of the other replies, you'll see that people believe that the appropriate greeting for him is tear gas or an AK-47.
I would think that the meeting would be a chance for him to see your fellow faculty and students as people and not as criminals as we are always viewed by the **AAs. It could be a good chance for him to sit down with students and understand how they would like to enjoy the products that he represents and discuss ways that are mutually beneficial to both parties.
If he isn't receptive to this idea, then bring out the tear gas and AK-47s.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
What I've always wondered about companies that require DRM on their products is simply this: why do they insist on making their paying customers suffer, which those that don't bother supporting the content creators get a more convenient product?
With movies, the pirated version usually jumps straight to the movie without going through previews or FBI warnings. It doesn't include slow, time-wasting menus. It doesn't force you to skip by commercials for other movies. It just gets you to the product and lets you view it with minimum hassle.
As an added bonus, the pirated version doesn't prevent me from transcoding to a format my iPod can support or prevent me from storing it on my computer and streaming it via my TiVo. If I ever get an XBox360 or a PS3, I can stream them to that too.
With a DRM-encumbered movie, I can't do any of that.
Why do they insist on giving their paying customers a product that's simply worse than the pirated version? Why do they think we'll put up with it?
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
1. A few days *before* his visit, open a debate in your classroom about filesharing, DMCA, DRM, piracy and the music and film industries' business models. Make your students do a research paper on it for homework (the homework will be BEFORE the class debate), and give the homework a +1 point over the final exam.
;-)
Perhaps you can research a little and give some pointers (links) that they can use for the research i.e. hackers' rants, slashdot posts, the 09 F9 scandal, and so on.
2. Invite the students to ask any questions they had when the MPAA Senior comes.
(I'm sure that after being educated with the debate, they'll ask questions on playing movies on Linux machines, DMCA, the broken DRM security model and so on).
3. Buy some popcorn and enjoy the fun. Trust me, It will get more embarrassing than Bill Gates' BSOD on the Win98 presentation.
Before he speaks have a lawyer type give a 5 minute discussion on how the preceding speech is CopyRight (R) $date by $school and reproduction by any means
will result in prosecution. Then Lock the doors (make loud slamming noises) and have him give his talk.
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
The Biggest Lie of the MPAA (and RIAA) is that every download equates to a lost sale, or a percentage of a lost sale. I'd love for him to have to explain how he can truly justify that position.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
But rather than post here what you should ask him and risk he won't, see if he'd be willing to provide a /. interview.
It's worth a shot and may be the best way for someone to approach him directly about it. I'm sure he's probably been asked in the past and was able to easily ignore the emails or phone calls. Asking him to do so in person will put him on the spot and he may take it more seriously.
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
It is well worth it to propose a week long series of special classes about the man, the organization, and the controversies. This allows plenty of time for a balanced presentation from all of the viewpoints. And of course, you can encourage students to put on their on presentations and reports, etc. This should be done in advance of the visit, so that when there is a question and answer period with the celebrity, you can rest well assured that students will ask well informed questions.
Remember that Copyright is included (under Article 27) in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (some clever human rights PSAs here)
and this provides for other angles and viewpoints that the MPAA might not be actually friendly to, even if they claim to be artist friendly. (Remember Hollywood accounting!) There is also the argument that the corporations are not acting in the best interest of the Artists, but their own personal profit.finally, the European view on copyright and an artist's rights are significantly different compared to typical american viewpoints.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Interrupt the beginning of the speech. Ask him if he stole his car. When he says no, ignore him and launch into a 5 minute prepared speech about how stealing cars is wrong, and the effects of stolen cars on everyone. Tell him how bad he is for stealing his car, and how he'll be punished when he gets caught. Most importantly, do not let him interrupt you or skip any portion of your speech. When you're finished, ask him how he appreciates being treated to a lecture about being a thief during time that is supposed to be his.
Ask him to explain the difference between a copyright held by a corporation and by an individual, rights and protections for the individual copyright holder v.s the corporation and Fair Use.
Ask him to explain why some "copyright" (sic) works may be freely redistributed (GNU, BSD, Creative Commons, Public Domain etc.) and why others can't.
Ask him how technological measures to enforce copyright can respect these different regimes, and who polices them.
Ask him to explain the difference between copyrights, patents, intellectual property.
Stick Men
Yeah, acting like a total prick and trying to beat confessions of wrongdoing out of the guy will surely make him repent all of his sins, join the EFF and start downloading movies.
Jesus wept.
By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
> How To Address A Visit from MPAA Senior VP Rich Taylor?
I believe to correct title is 'Darth'
Get all of the attendees to not defecate for about two days before his address. Once he starts speaking, have everyone sit silently for about 5 or 6 minutes. At that point, set off a discrete signal that all the audience can see. At that very moment, everyone simultaneously releases the feces they've been holding for the past two days. After everyone has done their business, continue to sit there, silently. He will likely smell the smell that tends to be released when 350 people simultaneously crap their pants.
You think he'd be able to complain, but he really can't. Do you really want to say that that a speech of yours made over 300 people shit themselves, and it wasn't even because they were laughing? No.
I've read through a lot of the ideas on here, and I figure it might be worthwhile to throw some of my own words into the mix.
There are a lot of anarchists on here - they don't like to be called that, but that's what they are. There are a lot of people who wouldn't know copyright law if it hit them in the face, but insist on speaking out as though they're authorities on it. There are people here who are quiet and informed, and quiet and uninformed. There are informed brawlers, soft-spoken lawyers, writers, programmers, and pirates. And, there are a lot of people who would push their own agenda on anything that comes their way, even to the detriment of you and your class.
Trust none of them.
Your students are about to meet somebody who is at the heart of one of the major social issues of our time. Get them reading up on it, make sure they're reading both sides of the issue, and then leave it in their hands. Don't put your trust in Slashdot, or some online forum - if you do that, you're putting it into the hands of a bunch of people who you've probably never met, and who may not even be who they say they are. Put your trust in your students - give them what they need to be informed, and then trust them to understand it (and if they disagree with your conclusions, keep in mind that YOU could be the one who misunderstood something). The most important part of education in the end, the part that ultimately can save you from something terrible, is learning to think critically for yourself and make up your own mind. Let them do that.
Robert B. Marks
Author, Demonsbane in Diablo Archive
Pillow fight?