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MPAA Threatens To Disconnect Google From Internet
An anonymous reader writes "Over the last few months, Google has received more than 100 copyright infringement warnings from MPAA-affiliated movies studios. Most are directed at users of Google's public Wi-Fi service, but others are meant for Google employees. The MPAA is thus warning the search giant that it might get disconnected from the Internet. Although the copyright holders use strong language, these notices are simply warnings, and typically do not lead to legal action."
That is all.
If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
That Google disconnects the MPAA from existence.
I won't be sad the day the movie industry goes out of business. I've found other ways to find entertainment which does not involve them. Everything does not have to last forever.
Who is this MPAA comedian guy again?
No law is adequate, no business is more important, no constitutional right can supersede the wishes of the commercial content industry.
MPAA threatens to disconnect the human race from the internet, citing nothing whatsoever. In other news, the sun continues to rise in the morning.
Jeebus chribs, they're acting like a stubborn kid who lost his bucket. Lying on the floor, rolling around, screaming on the top of his lungs! Imagine a RIAA baby and a MPAA baby in the same room. Glass would break...
"mpaa.org has mysteriously disappeared from our searches! That's a shame." - Google
Information wants to be expensive AND wants to be free. So you have Value vs. Cheap distribution fighting each other.
I mean, really MPAA? HAve you disassociated that much from reality?
When push comes to shove, I rather suspect that Google is more than up to the challenge of staring down this "shot off the bow" (more like pissing from the beach).
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Oh this is a good one. Listen MPAA, Google will CRUSH you in court.
> No law is adequate, no business is more important, no constitutional right can supersede the wishes of the commercial content industry.
G'kar, I know your government did some sketchy things to raise money during the Earth-Mimbari war, but speaking for the MPAA? Dude, go back to the arms sales. Much more honorable.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Victim kills assassin...
Isn't there a term for this? 'Legal Battery' or something? I think if Lawyers could lose their licences to practice over pulling these kinds of stunts then they'd think twice before sending these letters out... or else expect to get paid in advance to do so.
May the Maths Be with you!
Would be amused to see all Google Search Results for MPAA point instead to pages on TPB and Demonoid. Spread that link juice around I say. :)
Huh?
So what you're saying here is that there's someone even better capable than Sony in spewing out nuclear-grade stupid? How exactly do they propose to remove Google from the Internet? That's like removing oxygen from the air in an instant. Actually, I have a suggestion for a better course of action for the MPAA: How about just going back to the business of just making decent movies and quit harassing folks entirely? That way, you get products out there people actually care about, and people don't cringe in anger every time they hear mention of your organization in the news. Just a thought.
I would like to see them try to take Google to court with their vaults of money instead of single mothers and college kids that can't afford to fight back.
I think the MPAA *should* attack Google with everything they can muster. Because once Google breaks their impetuous arrogant charge dead in its tracks with its Great Wall of Lawyers, the rest of us can breathe a little easier.
The MPAA? They're the people Bing are paying to have Google knocked offline.
Trolling is a art,
Don't mess with Google, they will fuck you up.
REV 13:4
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I, for one, welcome our new Internet Overlords!
They've been here all along. Their name is Google!
This story, is basically a reprint of a story from last week. Not exactly new any more http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-snags-google-downloading-torrents-threatens-to-disconnect-110205/
In a lot of ways, Google almost IS the internet. At least they are trying to be. I can not express how laughable this whole thing is.
The resulting outrage would be the end of MPAA.
http://ipwatchdog.com/2009/01/19/riaa-attorney-appointed-to-top-doj-position/id=1594/
I've never understood why this is not considered extortion under the law? Isn't that where you notify someone they're breaking the law and you will go to the police unless they pay you? How do these 'settlement letters' they like to do not get classified as extortion? Or is this a civil law vs criminal law thing? extortion is legal for civil law?
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
"these notices are nothing simply warnings, and typically do not lead to legal action."
Eh? I'm having trouble understand this sentence, is the summary nothing simply written bad?
I read about this a few days ago, I seem to remember its pretty much a standard template of a letter automatically sent out, so I don't know how much should be read into it.
when they made movies that were seen in cinema houses, which people bought tickets too. how quaint and historic
oh wait!
that's not history: the most profitable movie ever made, "avatar", just made a mint, less than a year ago, excluding all dvd sales. they made a massive profit in these quaint historic relics called "cinemas"
the cinema house is not a historic relic. it still works as a solid revenue generator and business model. i'm certain some strange gollum like creatures are happy watching movies alone in their cold basement on a 17 inch screen, but most of will go drive or walk to the cinema and pay to see movies, even with the cell phones and babies and expensive popcorn, its still a superior experience. they've even done sociological studies that all the oohs and aahs in the theatre alongside you in the dark heightens the movie going experience: we're social creatures, that someone else is crying or laughing or afraid heightens your enjoyment. it's the same sociology that drives people to go to church: shared emotional experience equals enjoyment (i know, this is probably the wrong website to talk about this social phenomenon)
cinemas, in other words, with the latest in IMAX tech, with their huge screens: you can't recreate that at home. cinema is a solid business. they said cinema houses were dead... in the 1950s. tv was supposed to kill them, it didn't. vhs tape was supposed to kill them, it didn't. and now the internet is supposed to kill the cinema. guess what: it's not. profits have been going up and up and up, no dvd sales, no internet streaming or cable deals needed
the mpaa is not protecting its existence, its protecting its dvd cash cow (which is already dying) and other cable deals/ internet ways to stream movies
but if they limited themselves to revenue just from theatres, and DID THEIR FUCKING JOB and protected the movie files form being pirated/ stolen from cinema houses... guess what? they would still make plenty of money to fund plenty of moviemaking from cinema houses. imagine that!
so basically: fuck you mpaa. stay in your cinema house, and don't mess with the internet. assholes
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
When you cut the Google's connection, you are not disconnecting Google from Internet, you are disconnecting Internet from Google.
yesterday they are sueing a genrec http host. today they make a totally empty threat to google. mpaa is not the fcc they have no control over the internet. hell even the court system is getting sick of the thousands of subpoenas there getting everyday. to me this is a good thing when they start affecting the rich people change happens for the better. when they where suing poor people who could not pay the insane judgments nobody cared.
You can send a letter saying anything you want, that letter in and of itself is irrelevant (with some extreme exceptions). I got a letter demand for cash from a lawyer who said my "corporate vail would be pierced" and I would have to pay him anyway. Point of fact, other then some attempts to slander me and a quick consult with the international law firm my liability insurance payed for (they take it very seriously) I never heard from that lawyer again.
They come in the dark, only in the darkest.
Just speculate for a minute - let's assume they pull their Evil Puppet String, call someone on the Purple Phone, and Voila, Google is faced with a cease and desist from doing business on the net. Just here in dreamland, suppose it is as easy as what Egypt pulled.
Would that be enough for the revolt to kick off real change? Would the frog finally notice it's been boiling?
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Fuck off.
Sincerely,
- Google
ObDisclaimer: I am currently not affiliated with Google in any way, shape, or form, except as a user of their products. This post is intended as social commentary only. IANAL. YMMV.
(OT why do I have to use <em> tags instead of <i> tags?)
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
**AA hits the stack Last In First Out with a +8 Corruption.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Thank you MPAA for being stupid enough to poke the sleeping bear.
Finally you've picked a fight with someone big enough to defend themselves against your usual bully tactics.
I hope Google effortlessly disembowels you. It couldn't happen to a more deserving institution (other than the RIAA).
I'm assuming here that it is within a business owners right to refuse access to any particular person. An example would be a bar owner asking me to leave and not return to his/her establishment and having me charged with trespassing if I do. So could Google, or any business entity with a website identify specific people (based on IP address) and notify them that they are no longer welcome at the companies website and then either block those IP addresses are bring them up on charges of trespassing if they did 'return'?
By what authority does the MPAA have the power to disconnect ANYONE from the internet?
Stupid, sexy Flanders.
"Google has received more than 100 copyright infringement warnings from MPAA-affiliated movies studios. Most are directed at users of Google's public Wi-Fi service, but others are meant for Google employees
Is there a link to these MPAA infringement warnings addressed to Google employees?
Google provide enormously useful products and services, generate many employment opportunities, and advance technology. More generally, they influence our economy and culture are both profound and beneficial. The MPAA produce warning labels on film and litigation. Next to nothing. However, there are laws that potentially enable them to do significant damage to Google. These are the inverted priorities we have assumed.
Take me off the internet?
I AM THE INTERNET FOOL!
Now be gone!
I don't have an intelligent phone, so I need to be.
Google, call their bluff.
For one day (one hour would suffice), shut down ALL Google services. Search, GMail, Youtube, Voice, Android, Ads, Picassa, Docs, Blogger, Maps, all of it replaced with a message that says "Google is offline thanks to the Media conglomerates. A message has been sent to your local representative on your behalf indicating your support for Google. Thank you." That should get some attention.
Planning to be moderated ± 1: Bad Pun.
Answer #1: Attention world please find attached a list of materials MPAA members or agents have directly released to the internet. We belive these are now considered free use to all.
Answer #2: Discovery request. The MPAA is requested to turn over all authorship and ownership rights documentation on all material the MPAA claims to have authority over. Note we are Google. We mean ALL. We will take paper napkins and scan them if needed. We want all physical mail and all email correspondence between the MPAA and members for the last 100 years or life of claimed copyright, which ever is longer. Note we are Google the amount of material is not a problem to us. Have a nice day.
Give me the arm of law long enough, and a bank account to leverage it, and I will move the earth...
FCKGW 09F9 42
Instead of fighting the MPAA, Google could replace the MPAA.
Google could approach each major studio and make a very clear case.
We control the disemination of information in a major way. We control the distribution of content in a major way. You haven't figured out the online model yet. And while the RIAA was busy chasing Napster, Apple came along with iTunes and took over the music industry. What if we decided to start purchasing the rights to distribute films, and completely eliminated your current distribution system?
We have the backbone to distribute them to theaters and invidual consumers just the same. And the people who would jump onboard first are the guys like James Cameron, Steve Speilberg, George Lucas, Chris Nolan, etc. that love to push innovation and new technology. The big blockbuster films that provide the bulk of your profit would disappear overnight.
Or you can beg right now to be kept in the loop and cut a similar deal with us now, where we allow you to continue to distribute to theaters and just use Google to help distribute to video on demand, Google TV, etc. in the future.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
...time to put it down for its own good, before it really hurts someone
I read TFA and looks like they are quoting boilerplate. It is still funny, though.
The MPAA has been making such lousy pics that I haven't even had the urge to download them. Btjunkies top recent downloader is Gullivers Travels. It's sad. And for the most part it's bypassing an $8 subscription to netflix. Just seems like a lot a fear mongering over some people not paying a fee for something that isnt entertaining.
Wouldn't that be suicide for Bing?
This is more evidence that MPAA are thugs and they want to destroy the internet. Just because you want to destroy the internet, doesn't mean you can actually do it, or at least not without the help of a Republican president.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
The Asylum's low-budget knockoff of Sherlock Holmes was, IMO, better than the big-budget movie. Though this is in part due to the terrible writing of the big-budget one. Plus the Asylum version has a giant steampunk mechanical dragon, which automatically makes it cool.
... who's calling the shots for the DHS. Being unsurprised, perhaps somebody can tell us all why this is a BadThing(TM) ?
Cheers, DH.
Why the fuck doesn't google just buy the MPAA and disband it?
think it would look something like this for any movie title you tried to search for http://itslennysfault.com/stuff/IfMpaaSuesGoogle.jpg
----------
Trying to fix or change something only guarantees and perpetuates it's existence
I wonder when the Government are going to disconnect the member studios of MPAA from "Hollywood accounting", and the WTO are going to disconnect them from the price fixing and market segregation they have gotten away with when it comes to the DVD and Blu-ray region systems.
All they would need to do is consult with China.
Why would Bing want to mess up their search engine back end?
: D
There is a war going on for your mind.
do you know how much they spent to make avatar? and they made a huge profit
someone, the producers and investors, have to put up a lot of money to make a movie, you are correct. but that's their risk, not mine. if the movie does good, they reap a windfall of profit. good for them. if the movie bombs, well too bad, i owe them nothing, and there's no valid argument where we owe them anything. if they think they can reduce their risk by destroying the internet, fuck them
a business is a business is a business: you invest, and reap a reward, or you don't. that's the business of movie making, and it should not in anyway be anything but exactly that sort of speculative endeavour. fucking with how the internet works in order to guarantee them a profit? for movies that might be bad? no, no fucking way
you are not guaranteed anything just because you tried to make a movie
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Remember, Sony (Sony Pictures) is a member of the MPAA. The MPAA is a collective of companies that are not only capable of spewing out nuclear-grade stupid, but also in getting people in powerful positions to believe them. That's why people cringe in anger instead of responding in anger.
Also, Hollywood is made up of many people and a number of differing interests. You can't speak of Hollywood as a collective whole any more than you can speak of Silicone Valley as a cohesive entity. Even the MPAA is run by a group of studios, who don't always see eye to eye on how things should be done.
Google on the other hand...
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Just speculate for a minute - let's assume they pull their Evil Puppet String, call someone on the Purple Phone, and Voila, Google is faced with a cease and desist from doing business on the net. Just here in dreamland, suppose it is as easy as what Egypt pulled.
Would that be enough for the revolt to kick off real change? Would the frog finally notice it's been boiling?
No, the frog would just switch to Bing unfortunately.
Remember: back in the day there was Hotbot.. then MetaBot... then AltaVista and Yahoo!... then Google... then a bunch of names that are bigger than AltaVista ever was (Wolfram, Bing, etc.), but are still tiny compared to Google.
However, considering that Google Egypt employees played a large part in that revolution, and that Google has their own darknet that they could activate should they get pulled from the Internet, you might have a point.
For many people google is the internet. Yes, yes, we /.'ers know better, thuh interwebs is series of tubes....
Google sells direct connections to their nationwide backbone, creating a whole new internet. The old internet withers and dies in a matter of weeks.
Since Microsoft has been allegedly been caught re-posting Google searches If you brought down Google, Bing would disappear as well.
http://htmlhelp.com/reference/wilbur/phrase/em.html
been that way since I handcoded my first web page back at college. *wipes tear for the good ol' days*
Considering Google owns a not-insignificant portion of "The Internet" (backbone connections,) I'd love to see the MPAA try. Might as well try to "disconnect" Level3 from the Internet.
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
Would the frog finally notice it's been boiling?
I'm going to have to issue you a cease and desist for that fucking analogy.
That analogy is 100% bullshit. A frog will jump out of a pot of water that's too hot, or too cold, regardless of how gradually you've changed the temperature.
RIAA, I hope Google takes a sack full of money and hits you in the face with it. SACK ATTACK! :)
Ah, the secret Microsoft strategy is revealed! :)
Get the MPAA to do the dirty work, Bing wins.
--Udo.
Yes, that's a quote from Marooned in Real-time (Vinge), but I think it applies perfectly well to this situation. Just 'cause a company says it will not be evil, doesn't mean it can't squash you like a bug.
"No, the frog would just switch to Bing unfortunately."
without Google.. would Bing have any results though!?
Would the frog finally notice it's been boiling?
Nothing will happen. The frog is already dead.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
More interestingly. Would if be possible to split the Internet into two. The Google one, and the rest? I would assume that Comcast-NBC merger may help to disconnect people from Google, but what would be a proper retaliation from Google, if is not to set up their own Internet?
Now, I know we are in dreamland, but go figure, maybe Google manages to pull that one out of their hats.
When Hell Freezes Over...
Asking them to disconnect themselves? Doesn't google own a significant part of the internet backbone including lit and dark fiber?
the mpaa wants to get rough...... the mpaa needs to understand who pays their luch ticket...... any punitive action on their part would seem to me to be an "act of war"; as well as an act of self-destructive, suicidal childishness.
MPAA: Dear Google, if you don't stop violating our copyrights, we'll disconnect you from the Internet.
Google: Dear MPAA, I DARE YOU TO TRY.
MPAA: Dear Google, nevermind. We were just kidding. We know you could start handling record distribution and put us out of business in a week. We're sorry to have bothered you. Please don't hurt us.
Yeah, but "MPAA related" should include IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon... down to the most obscure movie-freak blog. That would be fun.
It's not an analogy, it's a meme after 'sheeple'.
It's quoted often to demonstrate the authors misunderstanding of 'I have an internal monologue and I can't hear yours' whilst simultaneously demonstrating their ability to follow exactly the others around them without thinking or doing any research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog
You cannot disconnect Google from the Internet. That is impossible. Instead, you must realise the truth: It is the Internet that will be disconnected from Google.
Here we go again!
Think about this from a Hollywood perspective for a moment (and I don't mean the snorting middle-manager suits). Hollywood wields the modern day pen with considerable acumen, and they understand the making of a political 'plot' and what's required to be plausible all too well. And they already make their money at the high end of the risk spectrum (I don't know of any studio bailouts).
Shutting down Google is not an objective, it's the denouement of the first act. The misinformed people, the 'other' and even the gods are against them, but down on their luck they still are fighting, and you, the intrepid state senator who would really like a movie-middleman job can help!
The first part of Act 2 will be when they lobby most of the state legislatures into passing draconian infringement or usage laws, while we're busy chortling over how Google stomped on them.
I don't even know how we get through Act 2, much less Act 26.
To put it another way: Would you rather have $100m and the ability to invest it with 2% better return than the S&P, or the ability to talk anybody you meet into giving you 1% of their wealth?
So I am assuming that the MPAA would be cutting Google off by blocking off the tubes that feed to Google's house? Or is it more like closing a faucet?
"Showing results for 'bunch of self-important jackasses'. Search instead for 'hahahahahahaha'?"
you disconnect Google!!
93rd rule of Slashdot: No matter how obvious my sarcasm is, my comment will be taken seriously by someone.
They could just stop indexing everything MPAA related (i.e. their homepage).
and the week after Google de-indexes them, the "MPAA" will also disappear from Bing resulsts too,thanks to some tool-bar magic.
cue-in microsoft maketeer publicly announcing that they don't copy-paste the results.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
At last, It's entertainment, isn't it?
Oh, the beautiful gloss of greality!
Doesn't Google have offices and servers in nearly every developed country in the world? If the MPAA tried anything, surely they can simply set up shop elsewhere and carry on?
C17H21NO4
Google has been buying dark fiber left and right, by now they probably have enough to connect themselves to several major ISPs. Pretty soon those ISPs would be offering you a choice between two internet connections
- The old internet, with the MPAA website on it
- The Google Internet (tm), the one with youtube, google, gmail etc....
guess which one i would be signing up for
People, what a bunch of bastards
The MPAA would have an easier time trying to pull the internet switch on M$ or IBM than Google.
Unless Google the company encourages downloading of copyrighted material, which I highly doubt, Google should not be held accountable for its employees' actions, for the simple reason that Google cannot lock the entire internet for its employees: at any time or place, someone will be able to download copyrighted material from any site.
What do you think of when you say revolt?
Is it like Egypt?
I think it's going to be more straightforward. People will simply stop complying with the Federal government.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Shut up or we'll buy you out and fire your a$$e$.
...that the Internet is about to split in three. Google land, Apple land and Microsoft land, together with a few ancillary service providers like Facebook, Netflix and Twitter.
- In US the communist party is called MPAA.
Bad joke? - Not really when you think about it. In China the party threatened to "close out" Google, if it would not censor "dangerous" (ie. damaging to the party) content. In US the MPAA is threatening to "close out" Google, if it would not censor "dangerous" (ie. damaging to the MPAA) content...
If all else fails, pull the plug and get out...
The Life is out there...
Google has been buying dark fiber left and right, by now they probably have enough to connect themselves to several major ISPs. Pretty soon those ISPs would be offering you a choice between two internet connections
- The old internet, with the MPAA website on it - The Google Internet (tm), the one with youtube, google, gmail etc....
guess which one i would be signing up for
Not sure... which one will have the most pron?
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
Nice question, though I like someone's comment that you can't quite pull an Egypt incident here in the US, the US Military would just use our money to pulverize us and then send us into social nuclear winter.
The best revolt against social mores I can think of was the 60's free love movement against excessive morality of the 1950's. The key is legality. The "Spirit of 69" didn't violate any laws, which is why it worked. Morality was "just so", which lost out.
My rough guess this time around is a national vote social networking site. We used to "want privacy" in our votes, but now (last 50 years) that fragmentation is being used against us with colluding politicians & corporations. But if we used the Big Tracking mentality against them, we could create our own consensus of opinions and then the polls would just be the formality.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine