Hollywood takes aim at campus file-swappers

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MPAA is taking the right approach here...

The MPAA is taking the proper approach here to convince students why file sharing is not a "cool thing". Whether it works or not remains to be seen, as many students don't care about copyright and those that do tend to have a very negative view of it.

In fact, amongst intellectual circles (which one could argue exists in centers for higher education), copyright is often seen as a concept that once had a noble purpose but has been twisted and unbalanced by the major "intellectual property industries" for their own self-serving ends at the expense of the public. Copyright is unbalanced, draconian, and eternal-- and only the IP industry seems to think otherwise. Intellectuals know about Eldred v. Ashcroft. Intellectuals know that the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA are really used to restrict competition, like garage door openers and printer cartridges, not curb piracy. And many have cried out, but IP law is one area where Congress is unduely affected by campaign bribes from major corporations-- its a niche issue, receiving major funding from the IP industry but where the everyday man would place as low priority amongst other issues like personal economy, taxes, social security, and so on. Thus, the IP industry generally gets to have their way with the laws.

My experience has shown that students tend to be generally well-informed (because of the web, word of mouth, etc.) even if they lack the wisdom and experience to shape many decisions. Students read the web, communicate with their peers, and generally have much larger peer groups than older people. Its a society with relatively tight communications. I feel that students generally know about Copyright-- not the legal specifics, but they know that it exists and that selling copies on the street is a bad thing. But many students are simply giving the RIAA the middle finger. Lawsuits, copy protection schemes, and other oppressive measures generally work to foster resentment and disrespect for the principles of Copyright.

For the education campaign to have any chance to work, I feel that it needs to focus on why violating copyright is a bad thing FOR the students right now, and not some vague notion that "some poor Joe Schmoe working the movie set will lose a job" or "they'll lose out on great movies in the future", or "they will get caught!". It has to be immediate, and clear, and the "carrot". Because students know they've been getting the "stick" for a long, long time.

As a side note, I also believe the reason often stated by news articles (like this one) why movies are not pirated as much as music places too much emphasis on the file size. I believe that most people see movies as a very nice value proposition, so there is little reason to "steal" it. Why bother downloading a crappy version when you can get the official version with full theater sound and high video quality on DVD for $10-$18? I think it is the economics that really prevent piracy here, not the file size. The music industry is seen as overpriced (especially when they get censured for price fixing), and hence the massive piracy. The culture is also different-- people expect to mix, share, copy, and listen to their favorite songs everywhere. But people generally want to watch movies sitting down in a nice, comfortable place so the expectations of "portability", "burning" or "sharing" is not nearly as strong for movies.

Ultimately, I believe the only way to earn true respect for Copyright is to balance things once again.

(1) shorten the duration back to reasonable limits-- like the original 25 years without any possible extensions
(2) remove anti-circumvention and other draconian provisions
(3) explicitly write the doctrines of "Fair Use" and "First Sale" as a right to the public (especially Fair Use, because many people claim that it is no right, merely a defense)
(4) step away from so-called digital rights management technologies that treat users as criminals ("I can manage my own rights, thank you-- I don't need some software to manage them for me!").

Cheers!

Posted by: Root User   Posted on: 06/15/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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