Hollywood's new lesson for campus file swappers

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Valenti is an army of one

According to a Variety article about the MPAA's "fight" to stop piracy, Hollywood is not as supportive as you are being led to believe. His order to stop screeners caused a lot of heartburn among the indie studios and didn't stop someone from making and distributing copies. I guess he thinks that everyone in the world is falling all over themselves to "steal" HIS movies (Valenti does seem to think all the movies made are his personal property).

Most of what I see available is OK to watch on the computer, but not TV quality (let along DVD).

I have actually started looking at some of what's available and gotten a few files. A download is like a previewer to me as I cannot afford to go see something 10 times at the theaters (10% entertainment tax on top of the usual prices). The quality is good enough for looking at in a corner of my PC while I work. BUT-you know that if I like something that much and take the time to download it, I will be making a purchase of the legit product when it comes out.

The students are paying a fortune as it is to go to college and cannot afford to go see or buy every single CD, DVD or movie that comes out. It's simple economics. Yet the entertainment industry has nothing better to do than get their drawers in a twist because some freshman bought books instead of a "Gigli" DVD and downloaded the film. They should be happy that the kid was actually willing to take that kind of time.

Seriously, though: the interview posted actually made the right point. File-sharing is not the real issue. It is the replication and resale that is the killer for the industry. For example, I just bought a DVD of an older movie today for $3.95. It came in a bulk packaging deal sort of like the $5.50 Wal-Mart bins. No liners, no special features, just the movie. Is it a legit distribution? How do you tell?

If I were a student, what if I "rip" a copy to a shared drive that I can access across the network so I can watch it from a computer in the campus library? Does the MPAA and its watchdogs differentiate or will I get blocked automatically? Too many questions and no answers being provided, in my opinion.

Posted by: AbsolutelyNot   Posted on: 04/19/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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