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MPAA Plans To Launch Movie Links Site
eldavojohn writes "To combat piracy, the MPAA's latest idea involves a site that would allow users to search for a movie and then provide links to legit legal downloads or ticket purchases for it. Why are they doing this? Because their research showed 'many users have a hard time differentiating between legal and illegal content online.' And all this time I thought people pirated movies because it was cheaper to do! Turns out they were just confused."
One reason many people commit copyright infringement of movies is because the p2p programs provide a simpler, faster way to find what you're looking for, all from a central location. If this really indexes everything available, and is quick and simple to use, I think it might actually see significant use.
Obviously it won't stop all infringement, but it's a much saner response than suing your customers.
FTFA:the site "could include links to Fandango, Movietickets.com, Amazon, Netflix, iTunes, Xbox Live Video, Hulu, and more."
What part of that sounds like a "piss-poor selection" of "crippled" flicks? Fandango and Movietickets, at least, aren't exactly DRM purveyors. And Apple's DRM is one of the least onerous options out there, for "legit" viewing.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I actually think this is a good move on the MPAA's part. I do want to know where I can get movies legally, and this could help increase competition - better for my bottom line. I'm not going to complain about what appears to be a sincere attempt to address consumers' needs.
So you can laugh all you want to...
No, they'll use the lack of interest for this site as "evidence" that people are only interested in ripping them off and getting things for free.
Hanlon's razor to the contrary, I think this was deliberately planned to fail, to be used as ammunition for swaying the lawmakers.
The RIAA will submit their own interpretation of why it failed. That it was designed to be cumbersome to make it fail won't be grokked by politicians.
People don't download copies of movies because they're free, but because they're free.
When you get a download from a P2P network, you get no DRM, no country restriction, no copy restriction, no media restriction, no troubles, no fuss, just a movie.
When you buy a movie, there's a chance that your player won't read it (because it's a DVD-Rom drive instead of a standalone player, which I don't have and don't see any reason to get), a near certainty that you can't put the movie on your server (which makes it much more convenient to play than to search for the DVD every time you want to play it), a good chance that a "foreign" movie gives you some headaches and no chance to put it on your mobile device (and for some odd reason, I don't see the reason to pay twice for content).
Here's your reason for copying. It's convenience, that's all. Care to tell me how I should explain people to pay for something AND have more hassle using it?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Huh? Which universe are you in? In my universe, Apple requires specific software to be installed on my machine -- software that takes over system functions, and even downloads other software that I don't want, which in turn takes over more of the system. It's the most intrusive DRM system I've ever seen.