MPAA accused of hiring a hacker

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Hand that feeds MPAA is the studios, not congress

What many people don't realize is that the MPAA is NOT a gov't, nor even a 'public service' organization. It is a private board, set up BY THE STUDIOS! The purpose it serves, other than the role the studios would have the public believe, is to act as a 'barrier to entry' for any products NOT produced by the major players. Most theaters in the U.S. will not play movies 'unrated' by the MPAA. Same goes for the print media. Most major newspapers in the U.S. will not carry ads for movies not 'MPAA approved'.

In a fair world, such machinations would be outlawed as 'prior restraint of trade', since it allows the studios to exercise the same monopolistic control over what is and is not shown in the theaters as they had during the 'Golden Age' days, when they still OWNED the theaters. The MPAA, with its 'anonymous' board of content reviewers, allows the studios to exercise that same control, without the inconvenience of having to even own them anymore.
Jack Valenti (previous head of the MPAA) was a thug, with a thug's mentality. He built the power of the MPAA, and promoted it on the premise of "no one screams louder than a thief being robbed."

The MPAA was created as a last ditch effort to forestall the gov't. from creating its own ratings board. But, very shortly after its inception, it morphed into a much uglier monster than any gov't. 'censorship'.

If a studio submits a finished project to the MPAA, it receives back almost a 'frame-by-frame' analysis of what needs to be edited to obtain an "R", vs. a "PG-13", "PG", etc...

However, if an independent filmmaker submits a similar project, the MPAA provides NO such 'guidance', and will more often than not, slap an "NC-17" rating on a flick for something as spurious as "implied gore", with no further indication as to how to remove the 'offensive' material. This is the equivalent of a death sentence, since no major publications in the U.S. will even carry ads anymore for "NC-17" movies, nor will any of the major theater chains even show the trailers, let alone the movies themselves.

If you want an honest glimpse into the nefarious workings of the MPAA, by all means find and view a copy of Kirby Dick's "This film is not yet rated"...a scathing expos? of the fact that the MPAA is nothing more than the studios' private force of stormtroopers who, under the tranparent guise of "protecting our children", run riot over the rights of the public with apparent impunity from government oversight. Meanwhile, the only rights being preserved are the rights of the studio moguls to continue pumping out tripe to the public, and stifling any and all competition in the marketplace.

The MPAA is an outlaw organization, and needs to be outlawed. Perhaps this lawsuit will start an avalanche that is long overdue.

Posted by: cyberian_z   Posted on: 05/29/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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