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MPAA Considers Major Changes After Sony Hack

Earthquake Retrofit shares this story about changes that may be coming to the MPAA prompted by the Sony hack. "Fissures revealed by the hacking at Sony Pictures Entertainment have raised the prospect of profound change at one of Hollywood's oldest institutions: the Motion Picture Association of America. In a behind-the-scenes drama, the Sony Pictures chairman, Michael Lynton, last month told industry colleagues of a plan to withdraw from the movie trade organization, according to people who have been briefed on the discussions. He cited the organization’s slow response and lack of public support in the aftermath of the attack on Sony and its film The Interview, as well as longstanding concerns about the cost and efficacy of the group. Reversing course in mid-January, as the Oscar nominations were being announced, Mr. Lynton stayed in. But he and other studio executives are now discussing proposals that could alter the structure, mandate and governance of a 93-year-old organization that has been the policy front for Hollywood’s major film studios."

65 comments

  1. Disbanding? by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Disbanding is the only postive change the MPAA could make, IMHO.

    1. Re:Disbanding? by disposable60 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Now if we could just get the RIAA to fall over, we'd be rid of the
      M usic
      A nd
      F ilm
      I ndustry
      A ssociations of
      A merica

      That _should_ be a good thing, but I fear a competition to become the most draconian in copyright enforcement.

      --
      You're looking for quotes? See my journal.
    2. Re:Disbanding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Disbanding is only the first step. Seize their assets and put'em in jail (Sony execs too, btw).

      Nine tenths go to reduce poverty, one tenth to finance open culture projects. Presto! world a better place.

      One can dream, no?

      (captcha is "threats": I'd like to see this source code, really)

    3. Re:Disbanding? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If the MPAA disbands because of North Korea's actions, that could clean up North Korea's and the Kim dynasty's image overnight! We'd praise the Glorious Leader as a great hero of the people!

      (I'm joking...they do run death camps which are at least as bad as the MPAA)

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    4. Re:Disbanding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No jail. They must be crushed. They must be driven before us, and we must hear the lamentations of their women.

      .

    5. Re:Disbanding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You do realize that MPAA promotes a fascist system, not a capitalist one, don't you?

    6. Re:Disbanding? by Dr.+Tom · · Score: 1

      Heh. +1

    7. Re:Disbanding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'll miss Radio Shack. On the other hand, here is an enterprise which has been around almost exactly as long and which has definitely gone past its discard-by date.

    8. Re:Disbanding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But if the XAAs are disbanded, RICO laws can't be used on them.

    9. Re:Disbanding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd like to see this source code, really

      I agree, they must have some sort of content-based word selection algorithm, because this has happened to me on so many occasions it's starting to get creepy.

    10. Re:Disbanding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd be happy to set fire to it, especially if you were tied to a stake in the middle of it..

    11. Re:Disbanding? by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      No need to make that post. We all know the history of you fucking reds.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    12. Re:Disbanding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a stupid idea. You'd be better off setting fire to the money or taking a shit atop it and THEN setting it on fire.

      Not the worst idea, actually. At least then the money might serve some artists by keeping them warm, perhaps giving them a little light, rather than preventing them from ever existing.

    13. Re:Disbanding? by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      You do realize that MPAA promotes a fascist system, not a capitalist one, don't you?

      His point is that the ideal answer to fascism is not communism/totalitarianism.

    14. Re:Disbanding? by mjwx · · Score: 1

      You do realize that MPAA promotes a fascist system, not a capitalist one, don't you?

      You do realise that Fascism is a political system and Capitalism is an economic system. They aren't interchangeable and actually work quite well together.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  2. Anybody taking bets by houghi · · Score: 2

    Anybody taking bets if this will be good or bad for the customers and what are the odds? I am going for 1000:1.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    1. Re:Anybody taking bets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      i don't think you understand how odds work. or perhaps how context works. one of those.

    2. Re:Anybody taking bets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MPAA's customers are the studios themselves, not the muppets buying virtual goods and driving towards the pay-per-view cliff of no return.

    3. Re:Anybody taking bets by oodaloop · · Score: 1

      1000:1 that it will either good or bad for customers? I'm not taking that bet.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    4. Re:Anybody taking bets by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

      Anybody taking bets if this will be good or bad for the customers and what are the odds?

      It's Sony. If they're behind it, you can be sure it's bad for the consumer.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  3. Wow - Sony are imploding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Selling off their divisions, and now breaking ties with their industry allies.

    Hopefully, they'll take the RIAA down with them. They could end up getting bailed out by the Japanese Government.

    1. Re:Wow - Sony are imploding by jonwil · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If I was Sony I would be splitting the company into 3 pieces, one for the movie and music operations, one for the consumer electronics division (Bravia TVs, CyberShot & Alpha cameras etc etc) and one for the PlayStation division and their video games empire.

      A 3-way split means the consumer electronics division will no longer be restricted by the need to not do anything that would piss off the guys over in the content creation division. Also people who hate Sony and refuse to buy their products due to the crap their content creation division does (come on, they made & sold a whole pile of audio CDs that installed malware on basically any Windows PC you put the disk into) would be able to buy from the (presumably no longer super-evil) stand-alone consumer electronics company knowing they aren't supporting the super-evil content creation part of the company.

    2. Re:Wow - Sony are imploding by SIGBUS · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I always thought that Sony's acquisition of Columbia Pictures and CBS Records were long-term colossal mistakes.

      Old Sony: made cool stuff, fought tooth and nail for consumer rights (example: the Betamax case that went to the Supreme Court).
      New Sony: all about DRM and lock-in, fights tooth and nail against consumer rights.

      I liked the old Sony better.

      --
      Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
    3. Re:Wow - Sony are imploding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is why you are not Sony.

      Thank GOD for that

    4. Re:Wow - Sony are imploding by turp182 · · Score: 1

      They can't do that. The electronics side has only lost money for years (at least $8.5 billion lost over 10 years). I'm not sure if that includes the Playstation brand.

      Film and music has brought in about $7 billion in earnings.

      And the life insurance arm (that's right, Sony Life) brought in over $9.07 billion in that time. Life insurance represented 63% of their operating profit last year (2012 or 2013, I'm not sure).

      So they need to shed electronics completely, it has proven, over a reasonable time period, to be a consistent way to lose money.

      http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05...

      --
      BlameBillCosby.com
    5. Re:Wow - Sony are imploding by SydShamino · · Score: 1

      My 2003 Sony plasma (still doing fine, thanks) is the last Sony product I've bought. If they're losing money, it's in part due to engineering mistakes (investing in plasma over LED) but also in part due to the film and music arm (makes my hate the company).

      They need to get the hardware arm lean and mean and profitable and spin it if off. Actually I'd keep the Sony name on the hardware and gaming arm and spin off film and music and insurance. If I owned the company. Which I don't, not even slightly, because they suck and I don't want their stock in my portfolio.

      --
      It doesn't hurt to be nice.
    6. Re:Wow - Sony are imploding by BronsCon · · Score: 1

      So they need to shed electronics completely, it has proven, over a reasonable time period, to be a consistent way to lose money.

      Only after they began consistently shitting on what was once a respectable brand. The alternative, which I'll admit would be a loss for several years before people caught on and started buying again, would be to stop shitting on their own brand and start producing best-in-class products like they used to. Sony needn't be a brand for everyone; what they sell as high-end now should become their entry-level gear and they should start producing real high-end gear again.

      I hate to say it, because I love my country, but catering to the American economy has ruined a once-great Japanese company.

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    7. Re:Wow - Sony are imploding by Dogtanian · · Score: 1

      Also people who hate Sony and refuse to buy their products due to the crap their content creation division does [..] would be able to buy from the [..] stand-alone consumer electronics company

      Sorry to break this to you, and I've said it before, but too many people on Slashdot frequently make one (or both) of two mistakes; either:-
      - Assuming that because a view is common- and oft-repeated- here (e.g. dislike of the Sony rootkit malware) that it's more representative of public opinion in general than it actually is, or
      - Assuming that the Slashdot/geek-type demographic that holds those views holds more weight and is much larger than it is in reality.

      Like it or not, I suspect that the vast majority of people don't care (and have never cared) about the Sony rootkit fiasco. They bloody ought to have, but I don't see any sign that this is the case.

      This is why, for every geek that says (e.g.) "I'd buy a PSP (or whatever) if it wasn't locked down" is missing the point. It's not a niche product for nerds, and it never was. Locking it down lets Sony sell more overpriced content to vastly more people than any extra hardware sales to a small number of geeks would.

      Plus, the fact that half those "principled" geeks complain on Slashdot, but when push comes to shove hand over their money anyway (rather than forego the latest shiny tech or game) makes their views even less significant- Sony doesn't care as long as it's got your money.

      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
  4. Those are substantial annual fees by operator_error · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Have you folks read TFA and seen the annuals fees due the MPAA by it's members? I am stunned. What value does the MPAA possibly offer that could come anywhere close to commanding such regal sums annually?

    1. Re:Those are substantial annual fees by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Interesting

      What value does the MPAA possibly offer that could come anywhere close to commanding such regal sums annually?

      Lobbying. And the MPAA has done a tremendous job, which is why all of Disney's characters are still under copyright half a century after Disney died, and nearly a century after they were first created. $20 million from each of the 6 big studios is a pittance in return. FTA:

      Under tightened government ethics rules, the building’s screening room [MPAA's in Washington DC], though still active, is no longer the scene of lavish movie-and-dinner nights that were once popular with lawmakers.

      So they had a "lavish" theater where they would wine and dine lawmakers, and most certainly let lawmakers rub elbows with A-list celebrities, over the decades before more stringent rules were put in place. You bet that influenced laws that keep extending copyright in favor of the MPAAs constituents.

      --
      Better known as 318230.
    2. Re:Those are substantial annual fees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The money goes to brib..eh, I mean lobbying the people at Washington. Perhaps they will just cut the middleman and donate money directly to the politicians to ensure that proper laws are made. The hell freezes before Mickey Mouse loses its copyright.

    3. Re:Those are substantial annual fees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      The fact that they have the entire film industry by the short hairs, and whatever they want in Congress, they get.

      The only reason we are seeing cracks in their structure is that the app market on devices is now bigger than Hollywood, so there are new players in town that are out of the MPAA's control, and they have their own studios and abilities to create content. In fact, movie theaters (other than the Alamo Drafthouse because they offer a decent menu and give cammers, texters, cellphone yappers, and other vermin the boot) are hitting the worst times since the film reel was invented.

      Of course, this doesn't mean to cheer. The MPAA has taken a blow to the face, but they are definitely not KO-ed. They managed to get a treaty passed (WIPO) which supersedes the US Bill of Rights (and I dare anyone to find any precedents stating otherwise, otherwise the DMCA wouldn't remain law), and could easily get another treaty, or have stuff attached to the TPP treaty to shore up their territory.

      The MPAA also has two targets now: Apple and Google. If they get control of the App Store in the name of content protection (copyright lawsuits are not just for the 12 year old downloading a torrent), they easily will re-assert those markets, especially because there is only one gatekeeper in each market. Control Apple, control all the apps on the platform and the ecosystem. End of story. Same with Google.

      We will see a shift after the MPAA reorganizes. They will be going after any cracks possible in the app market as a way to reassert control. A cut scene playing in a game? That can be considered a movie, and thus has to be MPAA rated. Websites that stream videos like YouTube are also easy targets for the MPAA to go after and force all content to have to be registered with them.

    4. Re:Those are substantial annual fees by Zalbik · · Score: 3, Informative

      What value does the MPAA possibly offer that could come anywhere close to commanding such regal sums annually?

      Hey, congressmen are expensive!

    5. Re:Those are substantial annual fees by chappel · · Score: 1

      If you buy into the bogus reality that pirated materials are worth mega-brazillians of bux per download, then it's easy to justify crazy money for the service to reduce that 'loss'.

    6. Re:Those are substantial annual fees by fortfive · · Score: 1

      Favorable movie ratings.

  5. I doubt they are looking to go kinder and gentler by Crashmarik · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From the sound of it Sony wants a Meaner and leaner attack dog that does more damage and costs less.

  6. MPAA did so much damage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They fought tooth and nail against digital distribution to keep the Movie Theatre business model, and by the time Netflix and the like had come out, online piracy model for movies was already well established. So now they have the US as a decent digital market, and some developed countries, but a large part of the world is not covered properly.

    So much time spent on DRM and DVDs that self destruct, what a waste.

  7. Conventional Wisdom has always been by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

    You want to make a small fortune in Hollywood start with a large one.

  8. Re:I doubt they are looking to go kinder and gentl by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was, of course, talking from my own point of view. I am not talking better DRM, I am talking about getting rid of some corporate idiocy. We are all drowning in it.

  9. Change in Leadership by Guy+From+V · · Score: 4, Funny

    Insiders are reporting a shift in the hierarchy are being proposed such as allowing Satan to step down as CEO and having a board of directors take his place with possible suggested applicants being Lucifer, called the Lord of Light by some for his personality and ability mediate conflicts effectively, Babylon The Great Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth...a possibly good PR move to appeal to women in the field and a relative newcomer named Nyarlathotep who is unknown in many circles and seen as charismatic Middle-Eastern troubleshooter that "gets things done with everybody happy".

    1. Re:Change in Leadership by oodaloop · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Lucifer, called the Lord of Light by some for his personality

      That would be apropos moniker considering Lucifer means "light bringer". Or was that the joke?

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    2. Re:Change in Leadership by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please, Satan clearly isn't the leader of the MPAA right now. Do you really think Satan is evil enough to perform the heinous acts the MPAA is guilty of to date?

    3. Re:Change in Leadership by JeffOwl · · Score: 1

      Lucifer, called the Lord of Light

      The how come he had to cast magic missile?

    4. Re:Change in Leadership by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why must you say such hurtful things about harlots?

  10. Re:I doubt they are looking to go kinder and gentl by Crashmarik · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well I agree about too much corporate and idiocy in general. I just wouldn't hold my breath on this guy. Just how did he expect the MPAA to come to his aid when his company was too stupid to properly secure it's network ? Strikes me as someone who is adept at blaming others for their mistakes.

  11. "We can harass our OWN customers," said Sony by NotDrWho · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We already have enough DRM, region coding, forced commercials on our blu-rays and DVD's, etc. to annoy our OWN customers. Why do we need the MPAA harassing them too, when we do it so well already?

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    1. Re:"We can harass our OWN customers," said Sony by Polo · · Score: 1

      Yeah, what has happened? Before it seems I was able to skip through DVD previews and now I can't. Has this been changing?

    2. Re:"We can harass our OWN customers," said Sony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes I believe the content publishers strong-armed hardware vendors into making sure you could not skip over those commercials. Every time I watch a DVD I swear it is the last time.

    3. Re:"We can harass our OWN customers," said Sony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really. That capability ("Prohibited User Operations") has *always* been present in the DVD specification, and in the playback hardware. There were quite a few early DVD titles (esp. from the usual suspects like Disney) which had unskippable ads and promos, too -- they just stopped making the discs like that for a while because they got a lot of angry feedback from customers about it. If the practice is on the rise again, it's just because they're trying to see exactly how much inconvenience you'll put up with.

  12. Re:I doubt they are looking to go kinder and gentl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From the sound of it Sony wants a Meaner and leaner attack dog that does more damage and costs less.

    Yeah, so they can ensure they stop all those evil pirates from streaming The Interview at home before it hits theatre...oh, Sony did what?!?

    (Yeah, kind of a bitch to take that hypocritical stance now that Sony themselves have set precedent with first-run screenings, regardless of the reason.)

  13. Re:I doubt they are looking to go kinder and gentl by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

    From the sound of it Sony wants a Meaner and leaner attack dog that does more damage and costs less.

    I fear that you are correct. The only possible bright spot would be if Sony realized (bear with me here, this is purely hypothetical, not a prediction) that an attack dog that spends all its time throwing lawyers at the next advance in content distribution(in the fine Valenti tradition of accusing the VCR of being the Boston Strangler of the film industry) is actually not as useful as an attack dog that doesn't roll over and wag its tail the moment some rag-tag band of competent but not extraordinary hackers make one of the world's larger movie publishers cry, in public, for weeks on end, with effectively no response from anyone else in the industry.

    I doubt that they'll actually do this; but if they decide that the MPAA is better used to protect them from real threats, then even a toothier version of it might actually be good, or at least indifferent. I'm not holding my breath, though.

  14. It's too bad by swb · · Score: 1

    They're not saying this in terms of wide-open streaming of back catalogs and less obsession with DRM.

  15. They will have my support by Revek · · Score: 3, Informative

    When they give back what was stolen from me.

  16. Re:I doubt they are looking to go kinder and gentl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yea - Sony wants a pickachu, not a damn snorlac

  17. lack of public support in the aftermath?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this comes as a surprise to them?!? are they fucking serious?!? I felt bad for the worker bees who had their pii plastered out to the world (& whose jobs will be cut to make up the cost cause it obviously ain't coming out of the bonuses of those who didn't fund security) but sony as a company? those inglorious bastards should count their lucky stars they didn't dd /dev/random their entire enterprise!

  18. Sony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From the rootkit company? Nothing good.

  19. Re:I doubt they are looking to go kinder and gentl by Xest · · Score: 1

    Right, and I want a Unicorn, but thankfully we can't have all the things we want.

  20. Re:I doubt they are looking to go kinder and gentl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Heaven forbid a company want to protect their rights.

  21. Re:I doubt they are looking to go kinder and gentl by jedidiah · · Score: 2

    Except they don't want to "protect their rights". They want to steal ours.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  22. Rubbing...elbows by swb · · Score: 2

    I wonder how many young starlets were convinced they would be up-and-coming if they would get with a senator and be up-and-cumming?

  23. I heard they put Cthulhu in charge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why settle for the lesser evil?

  24. Re:I doubt they are looking to go kinder and gentl by Rakarra · · Score: 1

    From the sound of it Sony wants a Meaner and leaner attack dog that does more damage and costs less.

    Yeah, so they can ensure they stop all those evil pirates from streaming The Interview at home before it hits theatre...oh, Sony did what?!?

    (Yeah, kind of a bitch to take that hypocritical stance now that Sony themselves have set precedent with first-run screenings, regardless of the reason.)

    That's not a hypocritical stance. Their stance has always been that the movie owners dictate when and how movies are distributed. If they want to put it up on streaming before or during a theatrical release, it's entirely their choice and doesn't smack of hypocrisy.

  25. What about ratings by ichabod801 · · Score: 1

    Can we get some new ones where violence is bad and love is good?