U.S. Ambassador To Australia Takes On #1 Issue Of The Day: Game Of Thrones Piracy
from the yeah!-wait,-what? dept
Cultural hit that it is, I suppose it’s not surprising that we’ve talked several times about the HBO series Game Of Thrones, including its status as the most pirated show on television. I can’t speak to the merits of the show, having given it up after the first episode, but it was encouraging to hear HBO talk about how wider distribution options could be used to combat piracy, even if their implementation was somewhat lacking. To the shock of no one, of course, these changes haven’t immediately eradicated piracy of the show’s episodes. To no one that is except the American ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, who is apparently willing to throw his official weight around in favor of this one particular show.
See, it was on Bleich’s Facebook page, the one that identifies him as Ambassador Bleich, where he posted a rant entitled “Stopping the Game of Clones.”
“As the Ambassador here in Australia, it was especially troubling to find out that Australian fans were some of the worst offenders with among the highest piracy rates of Game of Thrones in the world,” wrote Ambassador Bleich. “While some people here used to claim that they used pirate sites only because of a delay in getting new episodes here, the show is now available from legitimate sources within hours of its broadcast in the United States.”
Er, okay. Perhaps I’m in the minority here, but the post would have seemed ho-hum had he not decided to come out so strongly in favor of one particular show. This isn’t a screed against piracy in general, but against piracy of GoT in particular. Seems kind of strange, especially when he then explained how he understood why it was pirated in the first place.
“I realize that fans of Game of Thrones who have used illegal file-sharing sites have reasons,” continued Ambassador Bleich. “They will say it was much easier to access through these sites, or that they got frustrated by the delay in the first season, or their parents wouldn’t pay for a subscription, or they will complain about some other issue with copyright laws.” Continuing, he added, “But none of those reasons is an excuse—stealing is stealing.”
That’s true, stealing is stealing. And infringement is infringement, and strawberry yogurt is strawberry yogurt. Unfortunately, stealing isn’t infringement, and an American ambassador purporting to speak to Australians on our behalf should really know the difference. Add to that a misunderstanding, apparently, of how fans of the show who were initially spurned with delayed, inefficient, or non-existent legitimate ways to get the content aren’t going to give up the better methods they found for consumption now that HBO is kinda-sorta providing them with slightly less delayed, slightly more efficient, slightly more existing methods and we have the full-blown makings of a confused diatribe by a public official over a single cable network show. Kotaku sums things up nicely.
This is swell and all, but doesn’t he have more important things to worry about than Australians pirating Game of Thrones? He is a U.S. Ambassador. Like, a real one, nominated by the President of the United States. And he’s talking about Game of Thrones on the internet. Your tax dollars at work!
Or not at work, as the case may be.
Filed Under: australia, game of thrones
Companies: hbo
Comments on “U.S. Ambassador To Australia Takes On #1 Issue Of The Day: Game Of Thrones Piracy”
He is a U.S. Ambassador. Like, a real one, nominated by the President of the United States.
He forgot to say that he’s part of a Govt that’s heavily lobbied by corporations to act on their behalf. Makes things more understandable right?
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Don’t you mean a government run by employees of the corporations?
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Yeah, Ambassador Bleich can suck out my dog’s dirty Ass !
Screw The MAFIAA ! Boycott them from your Wallet.
Save your money to Purchase Non-MAFIAA Art and Non-MAFIAA Local Artists.
Ambassador Bleich is a stooge politician for the Corporations.We do not care what you say………Your word does not matter to us.
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“Yeah, Ambassador Bleich can suck out my dog’s dirty Ass ! “
With comments like this, I’m surprised PETA hasn’t attacked this site. Don’t you care about your dog at all? Think about what diseases your dog could catch from that!
“While some people here used to claim that they used pirate sites only because of a delay in getting new episodes here, the show is now available from legitimate sources within hours of its broadcast in the United States.”
If the Ambassador had spent any time of Techdirt he’d know what a self-serving lie this claim is. It’s about free first. Convenience is way down the line.
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The thousands of Australians that responded to the ambassador would disagree with you. “Legitimate sources within hours” means a big fat “fuck you” if you’re not in America. Saying the sources are legitimate is meaningless.
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It’s about free first. Convenience is way down the line.
My paid Spotify subscription says different. I could easily get all the music for free, yet I’m paying $120 a year for the convenience.
I’m waiting and hoping for a video service just as good, and willing to pay for it.
In other words: Shut up and take my money.
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I don’t know about taking your money, but if that jackass would shut up it’d be an improvement.
I’d draw the line at paying him to shut up though.
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You are an utter moron
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The usual trolling, as expected
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I have a particularly hard time seeing on what basis you draw that conclusion. As far as I know, piracy is both much more convenient and cheaper at the same time. How to separate these conflated effects is beyond me. At the same time, value for the price is not the same as wanting everything for free.
When people would rather live without piratable content than pay the current prices, it is just infuriating with no end for the content industry. When they start to accept that 1 pirated product is not equal to even a half lost sale on average, it is a sign that they have reached reality. Unfortunately, that is not even close to true yet given their extensive waste of money on lobbying politicians.
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Yup – the people against piracy are always saying that pirates want everything for ‘free’, but that’s not it at all.
I wouldn’t mind paying a reasonable price to get the same level of convenience I get from downloading TV shows (my shows download automatically as soon as they air and sit on my drive until I’m ready to watch them in full with no streaming delays, and without commercials or DRM.)
The only similar ‘legitimate’ service currently is the iTunes store which costs the same amount as if I were to purchase the entire set of DVDs. Bearing in mind that the DVDs and the cases cost money and the shipping and distributing and importing costs for the DVDs cost money – I really would expect digital distribution to cost much less.
So yes, currently piracy is more convenient, has better customer service (scary, right?), and is cheaper than ‘legitimate’ alternatives. That’s a HUGE market indicator that the industry is doing it wrong.
The music industry seems to be starting to get it by charging 99 cents per song – TV shows have to give in soon too.
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The only similar ‘legitimate’ service currently is the iTunes store which costs the same amount as if I were to purchase the entire set of DVDs. Bearing in mind that the DVDs and the cases cost money and the shipping and distributing and importing costs for the DVDs cost money – I really would expect digital distribution to cost much less.
You don’t understand all the overhead involved in digital distribution. For each purchase, they need to press the legitimate material onto the DVDs, pack the DVDs, print the covers for the cases, ship them from the distribution center to Australia (going through customs and import fees), then they have to pay someone to unpack the DVDs, transfer them to a Region 1 computer, pay fees to use the licensed “Region Conversion” software to transfer it to a Region 4 computer, and upload the file to a system calibrated to accept AUD for payment. And THEN you can download the copy.
Those fixed costs cost money.
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Not sure if joking, or serious.
Re: Re: Re:3 Re:
Sadly, I’m thinking he’s serious. One of the hallmarks of the AC trolls round here is that they act as if they have authority on an issue, but then come out with some of the least technically knowledgable ideas imaginable.
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No, it was a joke. I thought the region-coded comuters and system calibrated to accept AUD were ridiculous enough to leave off the /sarc.
Can’t decide if the fact that it was confused for a serious statement reflects poorly on IP practices, Techdirt trolls, the Techdirt community, or some combination thereof.
The overall point remains that iTunes pricing is inexcusable.
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“then they have to pay someone to unpack the DVDs, transfer them to a Region 1 computer, pay fees to use the licensed “Region Conversion” software to transfer it to a Region 4 computer”
If that it what they’re doing, they’re idiots and are doing things in the least efficient way possible. Why not use the original digital masters, which don’t have MP4 encoding applied to them, let alone the region coding – which is only there to block legitimate purchases in the first place. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, they can simply ask iTunes to use the same file for US and Australia if they wish, as long as there’s no local issues with censorship requiring a different copy.
I suspect, though, that you simply have no idea what you’re blabbering about.
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My Steam library says differently.
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By being so slow to provide a way to pay for the content they are teaching people the free way to get content. Then, when they finally provide a pay service for the content it is laden with DRM and time constraints and thus cannot compete with the convenience of the free way that people have already come accustomed to.
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Stop lying.
The levels of anger towards so-called “stealing” are never the same towards those who watch borrowed DVDs, or watch the show with others simultaneously from the same TV. They also take from the artists without paying. But no. Nobody dares to call them “thieves” for fear of looking ridiculous.
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Actually, I do hear a lot of that in regards to used games.
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And used DVDs
Used CDs and Vinyl
Used books
Really they piss and moan about anything used
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They would love to stop the whole Used Market ! They can suck a dirty dog’s Ass.
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I love how this comment thread has turned into a Wesley Willis song!
Re: We need a simple, sane, rational solution
> those who watch borrowed DVDs, or watch the show with others
All things in good time. Passage of the DMCA was a long time ago. It was an outrageous travesty then. Now it is regarded as sane and normal compared to what they now want; which is a gigantic, private, off switch for the internet or the ability to selectively take down anything they don’t like without any kind of due process, judicial review, accountability, recourse or appeal. They’re surprisingly close to getting it.
Don’t worry. In time, it won’t look ridiculous to call people who watch TV together thieves. All we need is a camera device on top of the TV that identifies the viewers in the room and checks with the licensing server to ensure all viewers are licensed to watch. It won’t even sound that crazy after awhile. Think of the other good and wonderful things that would flow from this. The ability for private industry to be sure that nothing bad is happening in your home — to protect you. What could be better than that?
After that, I suppose, they’ll demand that Google should create for them a way to create artificial scarcity so that audio files are like bitcoins — but traceable. Maybe also Google should be compelled to create a time machine to turn back the clock. (Please don’t jump in here with any science mumbo jumbo. Just build the damn thing.) Oh, and brain implants at birth that automatically charge your account whenever you hear or see anything copyrighted. Oh, and they think the consumers should bear the cost of all this — after all, the consumers are the thieves that created the great need for these simple fixes.
Re: Re: We need a simple, sane, rational solution
“Don’t worry. In time, it won’t look ridiculous to call people who watch TV together thieves. All we need is a camera device on top of the TV that identifies the viewers in the room and checks with the licensing server to ensure all viewers are licensed to watch. It won’t even sound that crazy after awhile. Think of the other good and wonderful things that would flow from this. The ability for private industry to be sure that nothing bad is happening in your home — to protect you. What could be better than that?“
Microsoft is already most of the way there with Kinect and some of the not-yet-implemented Kinect-related patents that they’ve already been granted.
Did you know that the next Xbox won’t even turn on unless the Kinect unit is on, plugged in, and calibrated?
Did you know that Microsoft has already applied for a patent for having Kinect monitor the number of people watching the TV screen in order to prompt people to pay additional licensing fees if there are more people in the room watching?
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-11/07/microsoft-patent-snooping
Still interested in buying a next-gen Xbox?
Re: Re: Re: We need a simple, sane, rational solution
Most of those things are rumours, but I can tell you that if the next XBox either blocked used games or requires an internet connection to use it, I’m sure as hell not buying one.
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And SWAT teams haven’t been sent into local libraries, loading manacled librarians into paddy wagons for “conspiracy to [steal] infringe” for loaning DVD’s. Although I think that’s on MPAA’s to-do list.
Acting on bad information?
I just tried to use HBO Go’s new international service and guess what? It doesn’t allow me to view anything from series 3. That’s 4 weeks of episodes that I’m not allowed to buy while they’re fresh.
In fact the most recent episode I’m allowed to buy is from June of last year and is already available on DVD.
Frankly this is not good enough.
Re: Acting on bad information?
Legitimate services is paying $100 a month for pay TV & more if you want it in HD. And if you love in an apartment then you might not even be able to get pay TV
Re: Re: Acting on bad information?
Think you missed the word international…
Re: Re: Re: Acting on bad information?
although the bit about loving in an apartment was brilliant
Somebody’s dollars are at work.
The show is on at 4:20pm in the afternoon on a channel that costs $32 extra a month on top of the basic subscription charge of $55. If you want to record the show, as most people are at work at 4:20pm, it’s an extra $10 for the box that can record. It blocks the picture if plugged into another recording source. And that’s SD, another $10 a month to watch in HD after paying $150 set up.
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So? Watch Star Trek reruns instead.
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” If you want to record the show, as most people are at work at 4:20pm, it’s an extra $10 for the box that can record.”
I don’t have a TIVO.
I have DirecTv and use a dvd recorder (that replaced my VCR for thet purpose, though I still use the VCR to watch stuff unavailable on DVD), so I make my own DVDs that I loan out to friends who don’t have HBO.
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In Australia, if you have a TIVO you can’t use it to record Foxtel (the only pay TV provider with Showcase, the channel that shows Games of Thrones). You can use TIVO to record off other pay TV providers. If you want to record Foxtel, you must use their own box that costs $10 a month to rent.
Jeffrey Bleich is formerly a partner at the firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson (Entertainment lawyers), who represent Warner Home Video ,the studio behind Game of Thrones. Should this be considered a serious case of abuse of power ?
World economy in the toilet.
People in developed nations (never mind undeveloped) using food banks to feed their families.
Individual freedoms and privacy being eroded a little more every day.
Overpopulation of the world.
Resources becoming more and more scarce.
Corporate and individual tax avoidance rife everywhere.
And this moron is focusing on piracy of one TV show? Take your head out of your arse and tackle the real issues facing the world.
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what you fail to see is, that to him and his ilk, these are real issues, because they all have at least 6 figure salaries and full benefit packages for life, they do not see or suffer the real world like the rest of us.
infact, many of them think your only poor if your lazy….
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I suspect his head isn’t in his ass, it’s in the big bag of money from lobbyists telling him he stands to make more if he makes this his priority…
The biggest shock
I can’t speak to the merits of the show, having given it up after the first episode…
WTH Tim?
Re: The biggest shock
The series changed the story in pretty annoying ways. If you read the books first, you may be compelled to give up. ( I didn’t but that’s thank to me perceiving it as a completely new story instead of GoT)
Re: Re: The biggest shock
“The series changed the story in pretty annoying ways. If you read the books first, you may be compelled to give up. ( I didn’t but that’s thank to me perceiving it as a completely new story instead of GoT)”
Like most literary properties adapted to tv/movies, there are some changes.
Some are minor (like Harry Potter)
Some are major (Like James Bond)
Some are half-and-half (like Walking Dead)
The changes in Game of Thrones are midway between minor and half-and-half.
Re: The biggest shock
Meh, believe it or not, I generally hate all things that fall in the “fantasy” genre. The first episode was decent all the way up to the end. I can’t remember the details, but there was some magical element or something that pissed me off and I vowed never to watch the show again….
Re: Re: The biggest shock
Funnily (or unfunnily) enough, average_jackass will still insist that you do like the show and you pirate it and you’re a filthy thief.
Re: Re: The biggest shock
Not trying to be a jerk, but maybe you were the wrong person to report this. Your feelings about the show really have no place in the story — but any story you write is defacto about you.
Re: Re: Re: The biggest shock
Er? I have no feelings about the show. I haven’t watched the vast majority of it. How can I have feelings about something I haven’t watched?
Re: Re: Re:2 The biggest shock
I think your statement here is a bit contradictory and inaccurate (which is to say that you meant something other than what you said.) You obviously have feelings about the show as you clearly stated them in your comment about why you stopped watching it after the first episode. However, I think what you really meant was that those feelings have such a limited basis that their importance is minimal. And after all the article really wasn’t about the show but rather the absurd, misguided statements made by a representative of the government.
Re: Re: Re: The biggest shock
“Your feelings about the show really have no place in the story…”
I fail to see how one throwaway line completely unrelated to the main topic of the article makes any difference at all.
Re: Re: Re: The biggest shock
Go read a site that’s not comprised of peoples’ opinions if you don’t want to read them. Every story here is written from the POV of the author.
Besides, why doesn’t his opinion on the show have any place? I suspect the AC troll brigade would instantly attack him as just being a fanboy whining if he didn’t mention his opinion of the show first.
Legitimate Sources
“the show is now available from legitimate sources within hours of its broadcast in the United States.”
Would this be the same “sources” that actually paid every other legitimate source to remove it, so they could have exclusivity, thus making the legitimate market… smaller?
killing is good business
This is the same government that pimps for an industry that’s selling death to it’s own citizens, the gun manufactures.
I’m really afraid my country has a dead-ender, apocolyptic mentality, and the head rats are going to make sure they fill their pockets before the end.
The fact that while everyone was watching coverage of the drama in Boston last few weeks, Congress decided to repeal the law that makes it illegal for lawmakers to engage in insider trading on the bills that are about to be passed is a good example of our elite trying to “get while the getting’s good”. At the same time that Fed policy is goosing the stock market so those trades are more lucrative.
It’s amazing how thick the important people are.
Let’s see, denial is first, right?
This must be bargaining…
We have a ways to go.
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You don’t have to be intelligent to be in government, just rich.
Mr. Bleich is a Torrentfreak reader LoL
Quote:
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/04/ambassador-game-thrones-piracy/
What would Salladhor Saan do?
Pirate of course, most of those fictional characters would pirate the darn thing.
Oh almost forgot, if Game of Thrones is the best America can offer to the world and it is so important to the American economy, should Americans start to get scared?
It doesn’t look good when all you have are stories to tell and nothing else to show for.
Oh by the way, China is gearing up to shove and push on the intellectual front, Apple just got punished for allowing pirates to get Chinese authors books uploaded by users on their Apple Store.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/26/apple_loses_copyright_case_china_again/
Politicians and media
The conventional wisdom used to be, “Don’t get in arguments with people who buy their ink by the barrel.” Now I guess it is, “Always suck up to people who publish pixels by the terabyte.”
http://blog.bittorrent.com/2013/04/23/bittorrent-sync-alpha-now-open-to-all/
P2P filer lockers are the next best thing.
You know who should be really mad about all this Game of Thrones piracy? The Top Gear guys.
Goddamnit, they were the #1 most pirated show and now their piracy throne has been usurped by a bunch of medieval yahoos who wouldn’t know a Veyron from a Huayra!
Hey guys! Don’t eat the strawberry Froyo! It’s theft!
?First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” — Gandi
Your tax dollars at work! No thats all wrong, Hollywoods PayOff Money at work, is the correct answer.
and HBO paid him exactly how much to come out with this shit? has he nothing serious to do to earn the fantastic salary he gets? is there no other subject that he can try to sort out, given the position he holds? prat!
Shouldn’t he be doing ambassadorial sorts of things, like representing the govt? This doesn’t seem to fall into that category, unless this is the govt main focus now for aussie relations..
Australia = Piracy
As I understand it, Australia is so use to being left behind media-wise that the country has become quite adept at using the Internet to download shows that will not be available for some time, or shows that will never make it to their shores. For example, the country embraced the Chinese VCD format so Australians could watch bootleg movies from Asia. This is just an evolution from those days. If anyone knows how to get US TV shows, Australians and New Zealanders certainly do.
The bottom line is HBO is only interested in getting people to sign up for HBO, so the only place you can watch it is HBO. Although HBO could probably make a lot of money charging for access to the show, it makes a whole lot MORE money by signing up subscribers. So that creates a scarcity condition that makes it ripe for “sharing.” But whether HBO is actually losing money from piracy is another issue. I’m sure most of the people watching the show for free either don’t have enough money to subscribe to HBO, would watch it at a friend’s house, or wouldn’t subscribe anyway for various reasons. HBO will still make plenty of money on BluRay and DVD sales and eventual syndication sales.
But the ultimate issue is control. It’s “our” show and you have to watch the way “we” tell you to. I think there has to be some kind of balance there. But some entities don’t see it that way.
Re: Australia = Piracy
Ultimately the copy they wish to control and charge for is the one a brain makes consuming their content, and the control includes when it is consumed.
Most pirated-show to date.
The Ambassador probably specified Game of Thrones (which I’ve never seen myself) for his “infringement = stealing” rant/mantra is because it’s the single-most pirated show to date, so he decided to hold it up as a prime example of his tired, horse-carcass of an argument.
It should be noted though that there are two types of infringement, a civil and a criminal version. I think the arguments trying to equate the criminal version with stealing, but it still fails because even then it’s still two different crimes.
Oh, and this just makes the Ambassador look like more of a fool:
[Quote courtesy of the TF article on the same topic]
Yeah, sounds like the ambassador apparently didn’t do any independent research to me.
How will this affect Aussie-US relations?
The Zen Master says, “We’ll see.”
This is an example of what’s wrong with the world today, our so-called politicians, and bought, sorry supposedly elected officials are too busy doing Hollywood’s bidding to really solve any problems in the world.
I guess it would be okay for drugs, illegal weapons or terrorists to enter the country as long as we can stop that copy of Game of Thrones from getting in.
I take bribes
Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich has only one reason for making this statement. He’s been bought and paid for by Hollywood. Another corrupt US politician bribed and now spewing out the words of his corporate master.
Uh...
Infringement does is not theft either. (The statement is much more effective that way.)
there is allays a hidden agenda with the Americans, they are in the process of hash out the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) on May 15-24 this year, please read the impact,
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/05/tpp-the-biggest-global-threat-to-the-internet-since-acta/
cheers