Crookes, RIAA, MPAA, ICE — 'Linking Is Publishing'

newtley writes "What do Canada's Wayne Crookes, the Big 4's RIAA, Hollywood's MPAA and brand new ICE agent Andrew Reynolds have in common? They all claim linking is the same as publishing. Crookes is using it to demand Canada's Supreme Court effectively shut down the net in Canada. With the RIAA and MPAA providing the 'initiative,' the Obama government is using Andrews [read ICE — US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to try to shut down innocent sites for, and on behalf of, Hollywood and Big Music. The sites are 'accused of contributing to online piracy, and it was essential for the domain names to be seized without a trial and without giving the sites a chance to respond. Why? Such sites are 'destroying the US economy.' Forget about legally appointed courts, proof or due process. Hollywood and Big Music rule."

Comments

This isn't helping.

[SuricouRaven]

Every time measures to stop piracy are stepped up to an even more draconian extent, the pirates feel a little bit less guilty.

I know a lot of pirates. Some of them have now moved on from "I want free stuff" to "I want to collapse the media empire before it enslaves mankind."

Also, First!

Re:This isn't helping.

[bmo]

This. I don't begrudge anyone pirating anymore.

The only real argument I have left with piracy is that it distorts the market. This is especially seen in the software market - where the incumbent publishers get undeserved market share through piracy - locking out alternatives. Repeat offenders giving piracy the wink-wink-nudg-nudge would be Microsoft, Adobe, and Autodesk. How else would they build their userbase if they made it impossible for HS and college students to pirate full editions?

I know a lot of pirates too. It's laughable how the studios and publishers come up with the "lost profits" that are pulled out of thin air because they assume that every pirated copy would be a bought copy.

My sympathy is gone.

--
BMO

Re:This isn't helping.

[SuricouRaven]

Adobe and Autodesk certainly. No student could afford the price of their design products, and they know it. I imagine they tolerate student piracy so that those students will go on to become professional users and pay for a licence, rather than turn to free software or lower-cost competitors.

Microsoft is something of an odd case. Their situation is complicated by the extent to which their licences are via OEM. No student need ever pirate windows, for every computer comes with it - so unless they are on a development course, that only leaves office, which does have a low-cost student edition. Which is still expensive for a student, but not ridiculously so.

Re:This isn't helping.

[TheGratefulNet]

I'm an older guy who can afford to buy cd's and stuff.

I choose not to, though. I'm one of those who has had enough bullshit from big media and now ACTIVELY WANTS TO SEE THEM GO BANKRUPT.

I no longer view pirates as kids with no money; I view them as equalizers in the new david and goliath struggle.

I also buy used cd's so that no money goes back to the media companies. the last new cd I bought was probably over 10 years ago.

"meet the new customer; NOT the same as the old customer!" /apologies to The Who

Re:This isn't helping.

[dnaumov]

I imagine they tolerate student piracy so that those students will go on to become professional users and pay for a licence

Adobe offers a student license for a very affordable price. Last I looked it was $300 for a specialized suite of CS5 programs.

WTF, are you insane? My girlfriend (who is a student) will eat for 1 1/2 months on that 300$. Affordable my ass.

Re:This isn't helping.

[EvilIdler]

Well, you could say the $300 investment in food also pays off. Try a month and a half without food and see if you can't see the long-term benefits of the investment ;)

Linking != publishing

[kimvette]

Sorry, but linking is not the same is publishing.

Linking is the equivalent to pointing and shouting "Oh look, a deer!" in the real world.

Now, if I were to do that, I am not putting the deer there. I am simply mentioning that I see one and pointing it out to people. Now, if you mis-use the information if you happen to be within earshot and hear me and you poach that deer, it's not my fault nor my responsibility you did so - even if you are holding a shotgun when I point it out.

Publish the internet in a single link

[Anonymous Coward]

If a link is publishing, then is a link to a link publishing the link which published the original? Does any website that link to google, or to a website that links to google, in effect publish the entire internet?

This is dangerous thinking.

[morgan_greywolf]

Linking can't be publishing. If linking is publishing, then Google, Bing, and Yahoo are breaking the law, right now. Guess we'll have to to shut them down.

Re:This is dangerous thinking.

[morgan_greywolf]

Damn! I think I just broke the law by mentioning Google, Bing and Yahoo!

For Realz, Player?

[SilverHatHacker]

What does it take to get a government of the people, for the people, and by the people in today's world?

Damn You George Bush!!!

[Vinegar Joe]

I can't wait for Obama to be inaugurated!

Time for the IT giants to step into the ring

[MartinSchou]

According to the RIAA:

Digital revenues have grown from nearly $200 million in '04 to $2.3 billion in '07 (estimates for '08 - $3 billion), accounting for 25 percent of all retail value revenue (upwards of 30 percent at end of '08).

That gives us a 2008 estimate of 12 billion dollars in revenue for retail sale of music. Presumably for the RIAA, who "create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States". So a total of about $14.2 billion in revenue.

Now, obviously we also need to take the MPAA into consideration. Again, using 2008 numbers:
Ticket sales grossed about $10 billion. And since quite a lot of people seem to claim (and no, I have no source handy) that home video sales is about the same as ticket sales, then we're looking at around $20 billion in 2008.

Apple's revenue for 2008 in the Americas was $14.5 billion. Granted, that's a larger geographical area than RIAA's numbers, but then again Apple is a relatively small company in the IT landscape.

How about some of the bigger fish?

IBM reported revenue of $103.6 billion, and pre-tax profit of $16.7 billion.

So, the movie and music industry combined gets up to around $35 billion in 2008 in the US.

IBM (world wide) - $103 billion
Apple (Americas) - $14.5 billion
Google (world wide) - $21.8 billion
Microsoft (world wide?) - $60.4 billion
Oracle (world wide?) - 22.4 billion
Dell (world wide?) - 61 billion

Seriously - why the fuck are the IT giants just turning their back on the complete and utter gang rape on things like the Internet, when most of their products would die off the moment it stops working the way it should.

Just buy out the fuckers, boot the executives, lawyers, assistants etc. from their penthouse offices (literally boot them out over the balcony) and just kill off these massively debilitating parasites.