This Week In Techdirt History: December 25th – 31st
from the the-last-of-2022 dept
Five Years Ago
This week in 2017, people were still discovering that their dead loved ones had been used for fake comments supporting the death of net neutrality, while New York State was considering its own net neutrality law, and we wondered if Verizon would give back the taxpayer subsidies it got under Title II. We learned that the European Commission had hidden yet another report showing its assumptions about copyright were wrong, and took a closer look at Europe’s multi-pronged attack on free speech. Meanwhile, the FBI was celebrating its takedown of another manufactured terrorist threat, and Facebook’s latest transparency report revealed a whole lot of government surveillance and bad copyright takedown requests.
Ten Years Ago
This week in 2012, we wrote about how even though a new SOPA was not likely, there was still plenty of damage that could be done. The folks at TorrentFreak discovered that Hollywood studio IP addresses were sharing Hollywood movies on BitTorrent, and we also learned that EMI was actively giving away MP3s that it was accusing Michael Robertson of downloading illegally. We took a look at how the NYT’s paywall was going, and at how the EU’s data retention law could violate fundamental rights. Meanwhile, the USPTO was set to hit a new record in granting utility patents, while Carnegie Mellon won what might have been the largest patent verdict ever.
Fifteen Years Ago
This week in 2007, Hollywood was continuing its worldwide push to make ISPs block sites like the Pirate Bay, and was also wringing its hands about digital archives. Apple was seeking to patent some anti-piracy technology, the MPAA was realizing that proprietary DRM’d screener DVDs were a waste, and the EU was beginning to enforce fashion copyrights. We also saw a classic “try to copyright something really old” situation with a copyright fight over the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Meanwhile, we took a look back at the year in patent insanity, and wrote about how the stories of “great inventors” are often… misleading.
Comments on “This Week In Techdirt History: December 25th – 31st”
Ah, Hollywood’s IP addresses found infringing. Classic blunder, and just as classic is average_joe/antidirt desperately trying to make this a Masnick problem than hoisting copyright holders on the same petard they’ve tried to rake countless others over.
If this was in 2018, John Smith would be suddenly very quiet about the accuracy of IP address as evidence.
“This week in 2007, Hollywood was continuing its worldwide push to make ISPs block sites like the Pirate Bay”
It’s interesting to observe this in 2023 now. TPB is still around, but the Hollywood industry is very different. From physical media becoming a niche market, to the changes made by Netflix first offering an easy alternative to piracy and then becoming a studio themselves when they encountered pushback, to every major studio competing to offer their own streaming platform, and then the changes with COVID, there’s been a lot of changes.
What also didn’t happen was movies in the 15 years since being less profitable. The home market has changed significantly and is less open to investigation, but despite all the doom and gloom more movies are released than ever before, and there’s plenty of profit to go around. The main issues remain the actions of the studios – edging out medium budgeted adult movies in favour of expensive fairground rides, trying to dictate what people watch and where rather than meeting the needs of consumers – than piracy. Which still seems to be the last resort when people don’t get what they want reasonably elsewhere, and not something people use to replace legal activity.
Re:
It’s also the same with the recording industry: They’ve been making comebacks with pay-per-listen streaming services such as Spotify rather than pay-once physical media or downloads. While many of my colleagues (I hesitate to call them my peers because I am far beneath them) in the chiptune scene hate what they get from streaming services, for me, I love the “guaranteed” income streaming gets me, even if it’s mere pennies. That being said, I love bandcamp even more, as they are such a boon for independent artists like myself (as well as a few established ones like Peter Gabriel and Al Green).
Sure, there are few success stories in this new economy, but that’s how it’s always been. Most musicians usually have a second job with music as a passion earning them extra income. And as Glyn Moody points out, you can earn more money with fewer fans these days compared to the 20th century.
So I’m not complaining at all!
Re: Re:
“Sure, there are few success stories in this new economy, but that’s how it’s always been.”
There’s always been winners and losers. I could uncover a bunch of movie makers, musicians, authors, whatever, who not only lost money in the 90s but were prevented from doing things that would have made their losses back. The difference today is control.
I mean, Prince and George Michael were in major public battles with labels in the 90s despite being huge in the 80s. People involved with films like Return Of The Jedi and Forrest Gump were told they didn’t make money. A major contract was often a problem rather than a benefit. Apparently, some people who starred in MTV Cribs rented properties to show off instead of showing where they actually lived…
In the movie sector, there’s a real problem where nothing but low budget horror and big budget superhero movies see the inside of a theatre, but in there of realistic connection to an audience I’m not sure there’s that much difference sometimes.
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If you’ve been keeping tabs on Torrentfreak, there’s a few glimpses of good news if you’re on the side of Hollywood. There’s been a couple of successful pushes for site blocking, and BREIN just refuses to keel over. I’ll grant Tim Kuik props for not being thoroughly corrupt as tends to be the standard for such organizations.
On the other hand, a lot of these non-TPB initiatives would not have existed if Hollywood hadn’t decided to go all in on slaying the proverbial hydra.