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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."
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.
> 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!
I think the word you're looking for is "barratry".
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Can't happen. Google can't delist swaths of multi-billion dollar entertainment companies responsible for generating the bulk of popular culture. They'd sink their own battleship.
Google is strong because their search engine is strong. Take that away and they're not the Google we know today.
That's not to say it wouldn't be awesome to see, though. :)
I can see it now:
"No results found for 'MPAA'. Did you mean 'NAMBLA'?"
I was going to make the joke "Who's MPAA? Google search turns up nothing."
Then I could say "Bing doesn't have anything either. WTF?"
But it's just too easy.
Actually no. It's a mutated urban legend based on the truth that they did refuse to speak to CNET's reporters for a year after CNET published an article containing a number of personal facts about Eric that they 'discovered' using Google.
>>>RIAA and MPAA have managed to get a 'man inside' the DoJ and to harness the power of federal government to protect their interests under the guise of movies and songs being a national security issue
Or as Thom. Jefferson wisely foresaw ~220 years ago:
"Copyrights of this sort can be justified in very peculiar cases only, if at all; the danger being very great that the good resulting from the operation of the monopoly, will be overbalanced by the evil effect of the precedent. And it being possible that the monopoly itself, in its original operation, may produce more evil than good." - He must have used a crystal ball to see RIAA and MPAA colluding with the government to protect their assopoly,.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Google is several times larger than Hollywood.
Remember, Hollywood is the land of hype. It makes itself look more profitable and important than it is, because that helps it sell itself and its products.
The entire annual gross revenue of movies from the MPAA member studios (about $10 billion) is only a little bigger than Google's annual profit (about $7 billion).
I'll say that again: Google's PROFIT is almost as big as Hollywood's REVENUE.
Now, that doesn't include TV, home-video, and merchandising. But it should indicate that Google has a lot more say in how a head-to-head fight would go.
Think of it this way. If Hollywood decided to start a software company and search engine and ad reseller and hire away Google's talent to do it, how would it do? And if Google decided to start a movie studio and hire away Hollywood's talent to do it, how would it do? Google's people are all salaried and sinecured. Hollywood's are a ravenous band of nomadic, mercenary contractors who go to the highest bidder without any concern for loyalty or decorum. And, once you've got the talent in place, good movies make themselves better without corporate involvement, since they make money by pulling in small but distinct segments of the overall market. But a Google-alike has to be able to please the entire planet all at once, something no Hollywood suit has ever accomplished and never will.
Google would win, and end up owning both industries.
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.
If, all of the sudden, Americans woke up one day and found Google (mind you, Amazon, Facebook, and a few other web presences would have a similar effect) gone, they would go into a frothing mad rage. As soon as one person pointed a finger at Hollywood or the DHS, you'd have a God damned holy war on your hands. We Americans are certainly passive little government lap dogs as long as we have a steady soma dose of useless crap pumped into our veins via T.V. and the internet. But if you cut off that IV, you will learn really quick like just how much rage a bunch of pissed off house wives that can no longer access their lolcats pictures can generate.
"Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, nephew. They're a wonderful, friendly people – as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts... deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers... put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time... and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people will become as nasty and violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me? Look at those faces, look at their eyes..." - Quark
Bribe money, the highest authority in the land.
Unfortunately... probably not. As much as I'd like to see Google launch an "the end justifies the means" campaign and crush MPAA, after some thought I got pessimistic about the prospect. Though theoretically Google could maybe buy all MPAA members one by one, Google is "new money" compared to it and the battle would be far, far from easy and predictable. After some amount of $$ it matters who you know, not how much you have.
-- Sig down
All of the members of the MPAA combined have a market cap barely more than Google itself
Disney - 82 billion
Viacom - 26 billion
News corp. - 44 billion
Time Warner - 40 billion
NBC Universal - 35 billion estimated
--
Total = 227 billion
Google - 196 billion
at least not without the help of a Republican president.
Who is it that's sitting in the White House, pushing for an internet kill switch and is already taking control of domains suspected of activities related to possible copyright infringement?
I love how you blithely limit the MPAA-members' financial clout to just their movie revnenue.
We're talking about Sony, Disney, GE, NBC Universal, Viacom, NewsCorp, and Time Warner here. They've got a lot more money than just the movie business, if they are so inclined to throw it around.