by David Chan
There are three traditional ways to watch a movie. You can go to see it in the theaters, and buy or rent it on dvd. However, with the advent of peer-to-peer file sharing, the internet literate population is finding an alternative way to view movies. Sharing of copyrighted movies is of course illegal, but the method by which the MPAA, Motion picture Association of America, is going about in dealing with the situation is deplorable and foolish. The MPAA has in the past sued individuals for sharing and downloading pirated movies especially those unsuspecting college students. Currently the MPAA has a deal with UMass where the internet usage of students is monitors so that any copyright infringement is reported to the MPAA. To combat cam recording in theaters, the MPAA introduced frisking and large fines. The MPAA has event begun to indoctrinate children to copyright laws and piracy by sponsoring lectures on the subject for the Boy Scouts.
http://www.politechbot.com/2005/11/04/how-the-mpaa/
Instead of threatening people by introducing ridiculous fines and having movie goer suffer the humiliations of frisks, maybe the MPAA should focus on offering a movie going experience that supersedes the convenience of copyright infringement. The methods the MPAA have been using are largely ineffective. They continue to draw more disapproval because they treat the movie watching masses as children that don't know any better than to steal. They set examples by slapping large fines on people and they attempt to deter us with threats. If anything, the actions of the MPAA have only encouraged more people to pirate and infringe. Most people would rather watch a movie they deem worthy at the theaters than on a 22" computer monitor. Until the MPAA have figured out what they're doing wrong, copyright infringement will continue to grow undeterred and the MPAA will continue to lose money.
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2005/03/mpaa_piracy.html
http://www.tuxick.net/pics/piracy2.jpg
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To David from Jimmy:
ReplyDeleteThe MPAA should be more focused on stopping the people who are distributing the movies over the internet. There are too many theaters and not enough resources to stop the filming of movies in a theater. Everyone goes to the movies, but not everyone uploads movies to the internet.
I sometimes watch movies on the internet but those are only the ones that i wouldn't risk wasting my money on. Ill go to the movies to see a good movie, not something i leave in the middle of.