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.'"

Comments

Oops I farted...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry. I farted in your cornflakes and ejaculated in your nostrils.

Re:why would anyone BUY an illegal copy?

[smooth wombat]

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."

Re:Crime Pays

[Anonymous Coward]

Torrents higher quality and are better than legal downloads and are more useful since they don't have DRM

I'm not sure which torrents you hit, but a significant amount suck/mislabeled, etc.

Weed is better than alcohol because it doesn't leave you hung over.

It probably does leave you something... but you just CAN'T remember it. You just know you want to do it again and soon.

Amphetamine is better than caffine[sic] because it takes much less to keep you awake and focus.

This explains you being proud of your small wanker. Besides, I try to not to listen to Philip Glass fans.

Re:Crime Pays

[stonewallred]

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.

Re:But this does actually cost them money

[kevinNCSU]

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.

Re:why would anyone BUY an illegal copy?

[mccrew]

Ahhh, the apologists always seem to lay in hiding, waiting, waiting, ready to spring their tired "it's not theft, it's copyright infringement" retort. Why is there always some shill who has to "correct" the record, as if it matters? Is copyright infringement somehow not as bad as theft? Is it because theft is something that those gang-bangers do in the bad part of town (therefore "I'm not a thief like them") and copyright infringement an acceptable highbrow, victimless, "non-crime" ("I may have downloaded the .mp3, but the content creator still has the .mp3, so I didn't steal anything.")? What's with the whole nonsensical hair splitting about theft or infringement?

Regardless how you try to rationalize it away, you have illegally appropriated content to which you are not entitled, and have deprived the creator of payment and/or proper recognition, and you are a rat. Apparently folks here are OK being an infringing rat but get pretty defensive when they are called out as a thieving rat.

I have been here long enough to know about the Slashdot hive mind and the cognitive dissonance around this discussion. Lots of folks chanting freedom-this and fair-use-that, but they really just want their music, movies, and digital content free (as in beer).

Should just be a few minutes before this modded down to hell...