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Do Pirate Sites Really Make That Much Money? Um… No

Wil Wheaton Says Chris Dodd Is Lying About Lost Jobs; Says MPAA Accounting Creates More Losses Than Piracy

Say That Again

from the indeed dept

Tue, Jan 24th 2012 10:16am -

We’ve discussed a few times in the past about how actor Wil Wheaton seems to understand that piracy isn’t an enforcement issue, but a business model/service issue. He’s also been somewhat vocal (since before many others caught on) concerning his opinion that SOPA/PIPA are a bad idea. And now he’s responded to our story about Chris Dodd threatening politicians that the MPAA has financially backed if they don’t pass PIPA/SOPA, by not only calling Dodd completely tone-deaf, but also noting that Dodd is lying about lost jobs:

I have lost more money to creative accounting, and American workers have lost more jobs to runaway production, than anything associated with what the MPAA calls piracy. Chris Dodd is lying about piracy costing us jobs. Hollywood’s refusal to adapt to changing times is what’s costing the studios money. That’s it.

Indeed, we’ve explained how highly questionable Hollywood accounting is used to keep actors from getting paid, even on some of the most successful movies ever. And, Wheaton is absolutely right. As we’ve been saying for the better part of a decade, the best way to deal with “piracy” is to properly compete with it. But Dodd and the MPAA still just don’t get that. Actually innovating and competing in the market just isn’t how things are done in Washington DC, I guess.

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Comments on “Wil Wheaton Says Chris Dodd Is Lying About Lost Jobs; Says MPAA Accounting Creates More Losses Than Piracy”

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97 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re: Re:

“…he joined twitter.

and shared his love of freedom, homebrew, and geek culture with the world.”

Then Hweaton’s not really an “actor” but an idiot has-been child star sharing his stupid likeness with the lot of ’80s holdovers who capitalize on 1) their former fame and 2) the reluctance of narcissistic gen-X’ers who refuse to grow up, through these new but pointless distribution models. Scott Baio, Flavor Flav… uh, Charlie Sheen… Used to be game shows or soap operas would be the has-beens’ realm of bill-paying. Now it’s, what, CreateSpace and AdSense?

Let’s see, where is everyone else from Stand By Me besides Kiefer Sutherland and John Cusack? River Phoenix is dead; even Richard Dreyfuss must be, what, “down and out in Beverly Hills” these days along with Corey Feldman and the fat kid from Crossing Jordan?

(Atomic wedgies are ready on queue to everyone who referenced Star Trek, by the way….)

Don’t get me wrong; I spit on the effigy of Chris Dodo like the rest of the 99%. I agree with Hweaton’s testament to the idiocy of corporate propaganda. But really, is an out-of-work child star the best individual to be offering any insight on the “real reasons” for lost jobs within the entertainment industry?

At least Jerry Mathers went out and sold real estate. Maybe Beaver Cleaver could offer something to chew on about the housing bubble putting him out of work.

demented (profile) says:

See? This is what a smart artist actually has to say about it.

And really, can you imagine how much money the studios would make if they did this:

1. Release the movie in theaters.
2. When the movie is out of theaters, list the DVD as being available for pre-sale.
3. At the same time, stream the movie with commercial interruptions on their own site.
4. Release the DVD. Keep stream up.

weneedhelp (profile) says:

Re: Re:

2. When the movie is out of theaters, list the DVD as being available for pre-sale.

Sell the movie right there on the way out of the theatre.

You go to see (insert favorite band here). Where the merch table usually is there is a sign, we will bee selling CD’s and t-shirts 2 months from now.

That would work well. /s

ltlw0lf (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

Sell the movie right there on the way out of the theatre.

Release the movie at the same time as it appears in the theater, as many folks have awesome theaters at home and don’t have to deal with the modern distractions that current public theaters have such as noisy patrons, cell phones, laptops in the theater, parents using the theater as a child care facility, etc.

Sure, it would kill off the worst of the worst when it came to movie theaters, but the ones that actually care about their customers would do fine. Theaters could have “Rocky Night” events like some currently have where fans who dress up like the characters from the movie could get in for 2 dollars off, so that you’d fill the movie theater with those who wanted to be there instead of those who are just using it as an excuse to burn two hours.

AdamBv1 (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

I can’t count how many times I would of bought a DVD of a movie as I walked out of a theater because I liked it enough at the time but never end up buying by the time I can get it 6-8 months later in a store. Think of all the suckers (like me) that would end up buying a DVD or Blu-ray just because they are on a “just watched the movie” high.

Theaters could even give a 20-30% discount on a physical copy if you bought a ticket to see said movie to help sell more there on location.

That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Re:

but but but then no one would attend multiple screenings of the same movie to pick up on the parts the texting, wailing babies, questions of why your feet stuck to the floor distracted you from.

This would cause corn farmers to collapse as no one would buy their product ever again.

The loss in sales of watered down soda would crash the HFCS market.

They would not then be able to extract a higher fee for the PPV window, the rental window, the 8 other windows as they cut and recut the movie 8 times in the course of 2 years.

See it would kill the market… so this is why we have to wait for the media to appears in our market while they rush it out in others.

PaulT (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Re:

Yep, I’ve often said this. Imagine if when you exited the theatre, you passed by a selection of merchandise for sale, perhaps located in a place where only patrons who had been in that screening could access. We’re not just talking DVD/Blu Rays of the movie itself, but soundtracks, books (novels the film was based on, novelizations of the screenplay, making of art books, etc.), comics, even the oft-stated t-shirts… the list of possibilities is endless. Add gift cards, etc. for iTunes/Amazon/whatever for those who prefer digital versions.

Assuming the film (or a specific aspect of it, such as the soundtrack) is good enough, and the price is right, the sales could be a nice little earner, and definitely of higher perceived value than drinks and popcorn. But, of course this would involve hiring enough staff to man the booths, making an effort to think about the customer experience so they are as willing as possible to pay extra, and pricing the goods so that they’re not off-putting (i.e. not trying to scalp $40 for a soundtrack CD). So, it probably won’t happen.

Anonymous Coward says:

in all honesty, it isn’t that the entertainment industries cant compete with ‘file sharing’, it is simply that they dont want to. they have a cash cow with the law suits and the opportunity to be, when it comes to fruition, the only distribution method allowed on the Internet. with what they are now trying to pull off in the EU, (basically exactly what was in SOPA) that wont be far away!

Niall (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:2 Re:

Stupid? That was a great movie for the era! It had some great special effects, it managed to avoid being totally derivative of Star Wars, and it had some suitably realistic but nasty villains. In a way it was more reminiscent of 70s disaster or war movies, including the sleazebags getting their come-uppance (I could never take Ernest Borgnine seriously thereafter in Airwolf 😉 Plus, the music was really good too. Sure it’s a bit cheesy – but that was only 1980!

Compare to the original Battlestar Galactica for instance: V.I.N.CENT vs Muffet = no contest!

Anonymous Coward says:

Perhaps someone can refresh my recollection. How many in political office, either “bought” or not, have without any qualifications stated that piracy is simply a business model issue? I am not aware of any, but I may be mistaken. Hence my question?

Out of curiosity I took a look at the link entitled in this article “isn’t an enforcement issue”. I was about to watch it when I noticed your quote from the video concerning piracy. In essence, it provides that honest people will stop pirating when content providers (presumably mostly labels and studios) make it just as easy to acquire the content as is the case with “pirate” sites.

Frankly, use of the word “honest” struck me as particularly inapt.

threenorns says:

Re: Re:

here’s an example: me. where i live, it’s over an hour’s drive to the nearest cinema that’s open year-round. betw may 2-4 and labour day, i could go to the cinema in the next town over.

when i lived in toronto, i didn’t get pirated disks, nor did i download – with DVD prices coming down to reasonable and including all kinds of cool extras, it wasn’t worth getting second-rate copies with russian subtitles or copies that featured the guy in front going out for a smoke every 5min.

i live in a small town and there’s not a lot of ppl here – but there are an *awful* lot of small towns with not a lot of ppl in them with not a lot to do of a saturday and i think if they tallied them all up, they might find that it would be worth it to make new releases more accessible to us instead of acting like jackasses.

Keef (profile) says:

Re: Re:

It certainly is a business model issue.

Myself for example. I used to pirate games quite a fair bit, but since the introduction of the Steam platform – where content is delivered digitally, at a fair price with good customer service – I haven’t pirate a game for years.

STEAM has even been released in Russia (a famous haven for piracy) and has taken off spectacularly, earning Valve (the owners) millions.

Movies. Before companies like Netflix if you wanted to rent a movie you had to go to your local store like Blockbuster and rent some scratched disk that may/may not work and pay exorbitant prices or download a pirate Dvd Rip version for guaranteed quality – now I can have a wider selection of that content delivered for a set monthly fee.

Now of course the movie companies have tried to screw Netflix over.

In 1982 the then head of the MPAA Jack Valenti, testifying before a house judiciary committee said “I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone?”

Since then the movie industry has gone from strength to strength despite the ‘threat’ from VCRs and piracy.

Give customers what they want – affordable content in convenient delivery options, and they will come to you. The STEAM platform & Netflix have already shown this.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Well...

It’s more that the technology has changed the playing field.

I’m surprised we don’t hear more from TV people, it is TV that is facing the stiffest challenge for all that it’s the movie people we hear from the most.

TV’s model is toast, and I’m not sure there is any reasonably direct digital analogue to move to, much the same situation that newspapers face.

They can move online, but advertisers are able to see with online content what their advertising buck is worth and it ain’t worth anything like what TV has traditionally been able to charge.

Hephaestus (profile) says:

Re: Re: Well...

TV’s model is toast

The cost of content (TV shows, music) to the consumer is going to go to zero. I have been saying this for a while. Most likely it will go to a system of pay per view first broadcast, with commercials, and and embedded advertising model.

The commercials and pay per first showing, you can figure out yourself.

The embedded advertising model will probably be a more subtle version of what the series Eureka did with “Degree”, and “Subaru”. Done in a way that it can’t be edited out with out destroying the plot. This helps because they can then track torrent downloads and charge for them.

TV studios are going to need to become more efficient and frugal to survive. They will be going from cream your pants monopoly advertising rates and lucrative cable deals, to digital dimes where you know what sort of return you are getting on your advertising dollars.

With what I have seen from this years CES, they are also going to be facing off against competition from the public at large. Tablets and cellphones with that can do virtual sets and alter video on the fly.

I have to write this up on my blog. It would make an interesting read.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: Re:

Are you saying his compensation for work done was tied directly to royalties?

But for the few mega-stars who command large up-front payments, as well as royalties that are “gross” based, most who appear in movies, television broadcasts, ads, etc. are paid a fixed amount, and for a few the possibility of royalties at some future date.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

Because he clearly has NO knowledge WHATSOEVER in regards to ANYTHING other than what he may have gleaned in his short stint in a role in a sci fi show as a kid.

Oh wait, Wil Wheaton is smart as hell, and actually DOES know stuff. Imagine that, he’s not just a kid in a sci fi series.

But hey, keep on making assumptions.

Loki says:

Re: Re:

ROFLROFL – yeah the man’s done nothing outside of Star Trek (eyeroll).

Let’s see, he’s written five books (and recorded their audiobooks) and his own weblog (and tumbls account)
Monthly columns in Dragon Magazine (sept 04(?) to May 05)
The Onion AV Club (January 05 to Oct 06)
regularly contributes to Mertoblogger,
June 2005 featured Tech writer for the SuicideGirls Newswire
2005 article for Salon.com.

Regular convention speaking/panel gigs (PAX, GenCon, ComicCon)

Then there is his “screen” resume (recent highlight include 4 seasons of Eureka, recurring roles in Big Bang Theory and Felicia Dey’s online series The Guild, and the voice of Robin in DC Universe Online)

Meat Puppet (1980)
A Long Way Home (1981)
The Shooting (1982)
Highway to Heaven (1985)
St. Elsewhere (1986)
The Defiant Ones (1986)
Long Time Gone (1986)
Family Ties (1987)
Young Harry Houdini (1987) (ABC)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1987)
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987?1994)
My Dad Can’t Be Crazy… Can He? (1989)
Family Double Dare (1990)
Monsters (1990)
The Arsenio Hall Show (1991)
The Last Prostitute (1991)
Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special (1991)
Tales from the Crypt (1993)
It Was Him or Us (1995)
Mr. Stitch (1995)
The Outer Limits: “The Light Brigade” (1996)
The Love Boat: The Next Wave (1998)
Diagnosis: Murder (1998)
The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1998)
The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001)
The Invisible Man: Perchance to Dream (2001)
Twice in a Lifetime Episode 22 “The Choice” (2001)
Weakest Link (2001) (Star Trek-themed edition)
Beat the Geeks (2002)
A&E Biography: “Eclipsed by Death ? The Life of River Phoenix” (2002 – narrator)
Walking the Tracks: The Summer of “Stand by Me” (2002) (Stand by Me documentary)
Arena (2002) (also as writer)
Favorite Stars: Then & Now (2003)
Book of Days (2003)
The Screen Savers (2003, 2002)
Call for Help (2004)
Teen Titans (2004?2005) (voice of Aqualad)
Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! (2005) (voice)
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2005)
I Love the ’80s 3-D (2005)
I Love Toys (2006)
Legion of Super Heroes (2006) (voice of Cosmic Boy)
Ben 10 (2007) (voice)
Ben 10: Alien Force (voice of Mike Morningstar/Darkstar)
Numb3rs: “Graphic” (2007) (as Miles Sklar, 1 episode)
What I Learned From the Movies (2007)
Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2008) (as Blue Beetle/Ted Kord)
I Love the New Millennium (2008)
Criminal Minds (2008) (Episode “Paradise” as Floyd Hansen/Wayne Dryden)
Kyle + Rosemary (2008) (voice)
Family Guy (2009 & 2010) (voice) (Episodes “Not All Dogs Go to Heaven” and “Partial Terms of Endearment”, as himself and a protester)
Naruto (2009) (voice of Menma)
Kurokami: The Animation (2009) (voice of Yakumo)
Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy (2009) (voice)
The Big Bang Theory (2009?2011) (“The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary”, “The Wheaton Recurrence”, “The 21-Second Excitation” and “The Russian Rocket Reaction” as himself)
Leverage (2009-2012) (“The Two Live Crew Job” (2009), “The Ho Ho Ho Job” (2010), and “The Last Dam Job” (2012) as Chaos)
Slayers Evolution-R (2010) (voice of Hans)
Naruto Shippuden: The Movie (2010) (voice of Taruho and Shizuku)
Eureka (2010) (Season 4) (as Dr. Parrish)
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2011) (Episode 3: “Ghost of Laplace”) (voice of Aaron Terzieff, Additional Voices)

[edit] Movies

The Secret of NIMH (1982) (voice)
Hambone and Hillie (1983)
The Last Starfighter (1984) (scenes deleted from film but included as DVD extra)
The Buddy System (1984)
Stand by Me (1986)
The Curse (1987)
She’s Having a Baby (1988) (uncredited cameo)
Toy Soldiers (1991)
December (1991)
The Liars’ Club (1993)
Pie in the Sky (1996)
Boys’ Night Out (1996)
Mr Stitch (1996)
Trekkies (1997)
Flubber (1997)
Tales of Glamour and Excess (1997)
Fag Hag (1998)
Foreign Correspondents (1999)
The Girls’ Room (2000)
Deep Core (2000)
Python (2000)
Speechless… (2001)
The Good Things (2001)
Jane White is Sick and Twisted (2002)
Fish Don’t Blink (2002)
Star Trek Nemesis (2002) (briefly; extended scene deleted but appears as DVD extra in some regions)
Book of Days (2003)
Four Fingers of the Dragon (2003)
Neverland (2003)
Americanizing Shelley (2007)
Star Trek (2009) (voices various Romulans)[43]

[edit] Internet video

The Guild (2009?2011) (Fawkes, Axis of Anarchy leader)
LoadingReadyRun
InDigital
Retarded Policeman #5[44]

[edit] Video games

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (2003) (voice)
EverQuest II (2004) (voice)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) (voice)
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 2 (2004) (voice)
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Lockdown (2005) (voice)
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (2005) (voice)
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (2006) (voice)
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2005) (voice)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006) (voice)
Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) (voice)
Fallout New Vegas (2010) (voice of Robobrain)
DC Universe Online (voice of Robin)

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

“…Will has some special insight into economics, having a role in a sci fi show when he was a kid. His opinion carries a lot of weight.”

Um…yeah. OK.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120124/04344817524/wil-wheaton-says-chris-dodd-is-lying-about-lost-jobs-says-mpaa-accounting-creates-more-losses-than-piracy.shtml#c1532

That’s like saying Maury Povich has some special insight into the field of genetics, having played a major role in authorizing all those paternity tests on his talk show.

“Remember, back in the 80’s Wil was a rising star. He was the star of Stand by Me which did very well both financially and critically. Then on Star Trek:TNG he was a title character for the first 3.5 seasons. I would be surprised if he didn’t have at least a few contracts that included royalties.”

Child stardom has probably lost more jobs than piracy… or bad accounting practices. Meanwhile, the Trekkies who built the Internet have turned the whole economy into space junk.

ltlw0lf (profile) says:

Re: Re:

Obviously he never wants to work in Hollywood again.

Well, from reading his books, it appears that Hollywood really didn’t want him to work in Hollywood since he left STNG, though he has gotten geek roles on Big Bang Theory and a couple of other shows, so he is still wanted even though the majors have all but ignored him.

ltlw0lf (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: Re:

Yup. It’s called sour grapes.

How so? Just because Hollywood abandoned him so long ago doesn’t necessarily mean that he has an ax to grind (read his books, he talks all about it.) I think he chose the better route — Hollywood isn’t kind to child actors, and very few make it to be adult actors. I really recommend his books, I have both hard copy and e-book versions of his books, partly because he is an excellent writer and partly because I like supporting everything he does.

Unless this is Will Fucking Shatner, then yes, it is just called sour grapes.

Violated (profile) says:

NetFlix

Well I think these days they are starting to compete with piracy when low-and-behold even the UK now has NetFlix and at ?6.99 a month with one month free it is nice value.

They will be competing against LoveFilm’s movie streaming service and I will say I sure as Hell hope they DO NOT COMPETE.

Real competition under the monopoly market only increases costs while making Hollywood rich. Then if competition is done too long… then a monopoly forms and one will die. So respectful cooperation works much better in this flawed market.

Reforms obviously need to be done there as well.

PaulT (profile) says:

Re: Re:

No time to read the whole thing, but: from the abstract, it seems to be a simulation of how the market would supposedly have changed among the four major labels’ iTunes sales in France if HADOPI had not passed.

In other words, it’s an “educated” guess using no independent labels or outlets and only a single retailer in a single market and not taking into account other causes of sales changes other than the introduction of HADOPI.

Does that really need more debunking than that? Keep clinging on to your weak “evidence”. We’ll be over here, looking at how markets elsewhere have changed without morons trying to kick people off the internet.

Inuki (user link) says:

I did an investigation into the claims of lost jobs.

The MPAA claims that in America alone $500m has been lost due to piracy last year. They then go on to say “141,000 jobs were lost due to piracy”.

Simple maths. $500m divided by 141 thousand comes out at around $3100 for the year.

But there is a lot more going on to suggest piracy no where near threatening any entertainment industry. If it was. They wouldn’t exist. The gaming industry has no excuse. It’s almost twice the size of the film industry yet it still thinks it’s suffering the effects of piracy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aln81Km1VH4&feature=channel_video_title

Nick says:

Piracy Is Not Stealing

The music and Movie industries need to change with the times, they need to introduce a newer, sleeker system to sell their products. Netflix is a great start, but I think the first step is to reduce the price of all media. To still pay $24.99 for a digital download is ridiculous. The MPAA is no longer needed as well, the internet has taken over the middleman, and they know it.

counsel dew says:

really?

Piracy hasn’t cost any lost jobs? Not one? I’d like to see that data… i am for all about better distribution, but i don’t take gum from a store – even if it doesn’t cost someone their job… Is it wrong to steal something ( assuming this isn’t like you aren’t making a copy of a movie you bought for viewing on a mobile device, etc…), or is it wrong to steal something only if someone loses a job? A moral compass is spinning somewhere…

That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

Re: really?

except they made format shifting things you “own” illegal under the DMCA.

Piracy did cost a job, Dodd’s predecessor who could not wave a magic wand and make it all better.

Making a copy is not theft, at least until they can open reeducation camps to force all of us into.

While its nice your asking for data, why don’t you provide actual data to back up your position? Your quoting the talking points of the Content Cartel, and a majority of their statements have been disproven as outright BS.

0/10 – WTF is it wrong I miss OOTB and Daryl?

Bob Jones says:

Re: really?

Really?

Stealing is depriving someone of something so that they can no longer use/make use of it.

Piracy is NOT THE SAME THING. With piracy, you are making a copy, the original is still with the owner(and they can still sell it), you haven’t deprived them of anything. You’ve made a copy, that’s all.

The MPAA/RIAA conveniently cherry-pick their lies. The internet isn’t a zero sum game. (There’s only so much of any one thing, so you can “run out” of something.)
When you make a copy of something, you’re actually INCREASING the amount of that item available on the internet.

Also, people who call piracy stealing assume that you would have purchased a copy of what you pirated. This is a dangerous assumption as it’s not always true.

If I pirate a song, that doesn’t mean I would have bought it.

So much mis-information.. and so many mis-informed people out there.

Piracy DOES NOT equal stealing. Period.

ftps says:

Let me define theft/piracy: Taking something against the wishes of owner is theft.

Why is it coming to a point where everyone feels a sense of entitlement to steal content they didn’t create or own and forcing the content creators to “change business model”.

The rules are pretty simple, if you want the content you buy it, if you don’t want the content you don’t buy NOR Steal it. If you steal content, it obviously shows that there is demand for the content just that people are not willing to pay.

We dont go stealing cars and TV’s just cause we can’t afford it now do we? Why is digital content any different?

If you think business model needs to change, then create some content and deliver it with a new business model you propose. Don’t dictate others to “change” their business model, why don’t you be/start the change you want to see

somonesomeday says:

Will, thanks for your work and thank you very much for not being too possessive about it. Your industry view has some depth that others might consider.

In short… piracy (as popularly defined these days) makes jobs. And basically limiting prohibiting or otherwise making unobtainable (by whatever method) anything (particularly information) that can help another has moral and class implications… arrrrghg. must not go there… but these are the silly laws being discussed around town.

The numbers offered by any promoter is always suspect to inflation and its a bad laugh that its not more obvious. There is no way one would expect that any such proposition would unfold in that way, it was profitable to you, without you actually forcing the matter in specific contractual writing. It is sad that many congressional leaders do not have some ability or incentive to recognize sham promoters of bad industry generated legislation.

everyone’s time is worth something period (ask an advertising exec how hard they work to get it) even if someone has downloaded something does not mean it was ultimately worth using. in the same way that we only have spendable income we only have so much spendable time.

anytime you or one of your fans do whatever you want money is spent/made no matter what.
anytime even a small step taken towards a goal/dream/desire money is invested/transacted. What was that goal and whether you have anything to interest that fan is the interrelationship between you. Since some of your work is considered enlightening (stng) this is important.

anytime knowledge/entertainment is dispersed more can be done than before. u can either build more or do something better or at least have a more entertaining party (likely spending more money both ways)

piracy is nice and that (just hearing that phrase sounds cool) but for a true entertainer/educator the corollary is that nothing happened and no money was spent because nobody knew you/that existed or anything important to learn was going on (tree in forest that nobody heard)

hexalm says:

video sales at theater

I like this idea, but if you consider that film distributors of have rendered all but high volume theaters not very profitable, it’d probably seem like a big risk even to the point of sale, the movie theater.

So not only would the film production industry have countless reasons to dig their heels in and preserve the status quo (the way they sell DVDs hinges on box office success), but theater operators would probably be skeptical.

Off course, since half of what makes them their money is concessions, they might be eager to have more retail items to sell, and that might even be more profitable than selling movie tickets..

somonesomeday says:

PaulT

Lets work on that controversial definition of piracy.

Already its obvious that whatever laws passed have a different definition of what is publicly known as piracy which is bad because who knows whats considered copyright violations or not. Making normal everyday activities life-damaging-finable or worse illegal is only to benefit an already politically poisoned industry(s?)

Lets face it. The average person dose not even know or want to believe that their daily life activities are threatened at all let alone whatever the stupid details of some 50.000 page document that defined part of their lives as piracy.

An average family these days needs all the advantages it can get not some industry telling them how to behave by paying them amounts that rival national debt (their own numbers) and prostrate our private lives to do it.

It seems that all definitions and words spoken by many parties are just wrong. Flat out wong in such a way that undermines the reason the people who pretend or at least say they know whats good or not

It also seems that most people who learn of the ACTA, SOPA PIPA entertainment industry legislation scandal are so shocked into a coma they cant change their habits fast enough. Change to what political atmosphere who knows what and how to behave these days of economic-intolerance can make people unnerved

It does not matter that the knights wear shinning armor they will still gut anyone not following the corporate fiefdom carved out by the various industries

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New Market Research: Music Streaming Services Halve Illegal Downloads
Do Pirate Sites Really Make That Much Money? Um… No
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