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For-Profit, Illegal Movie Download Sites Threaten MPAA
vossman77 writes that BitTorrent is no longer the MPAA's enemy number one. They are now more concerned about illicit, for-profit movie download sites. This reader adds, "Just a thought, but maybe if the studios offered a low-cost, for-profit, legitimate download site without DRM, they could receive the profits at the expense of the cyberlockers." "Movie fans downloading free pirated films are no longer Hollywood's worst nightmare, but that's only because of a newer menace: cheap, and equally illegal, subscription services. Foreign, often mob-run, businesses aggregate illegally obtained movies into 'cyberlockers.' Cyberlocker-based businesses operate from Russia, Ukraine, Colombia, Germany, Switzerland, and elsewhere. ... Hollywood movies are made available via illegal for-profit sites within days of theatrical release, while the advent of global releasing now allows the proliferation of individual titles into an array of language dubs within the first month of a theatrical debut. ... When movies are released on DVD and Blu-ray disc, the sites upgrade the quality of video offered from camcorded images to pristine digital copies. 'Sometimes these sites look better than the legitimate sites,' Huntsberry said. 'That's the irony.'"
It helps them to justify not paying the people who wrote, directed, produced, starred in, etc the movies.
"See, I am paying for the movie! I'm not stealing it like my neighbors."
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Why do you think your drug should be legalized and mine should not? Why are you any different than the bible bangers who want to go back and outlaw booze? The only logical and reasonable stance is complete decriminalization of any and all drugs, even the ones you don't like. Sorry bud, but as an adult and a US citizen, I do not be believe it is the government's business what substances I choose to ingest into my body.
That argument might hold water if illegal downloaders waited 14 years after a song, movie or game came out before downloading it (28 if the author was still alive) because they actually believed in the copyright act of 1790 and promoting the progress of science and useful arts. But as it stands it seems like nothing more than a convenient excuse to post-justify wanting it now, and wanting it free.