FWIW, another Hollywood content provider who understands the Internet explains very, very thoroughly why SOPA/PIPA are very, very bad pieces of legislation attempting to solve a very, very poorly defined problem.
It is worth noting that under SOPA, as written, this blog could be summarily shut down without notice or appeal. I've talked about Torrent software, and people in the Comments have linked to Fan Vids. The full story of this actually happening already -- no "hypothetical" -- under the far mor lenient DMCA is here.
Oh, and my flame bait for the day:
Any screenwriter who thinks he loses more money to piracy than to Hollywood studio accounting is a child.
(Yeah, somebody got a participation statement last week ...)
There. Go nuts.
39 comments:
SOPA is going to change the way we trade information & knowledge on the internet. It effects everyone, and we MUST be responsible for our own rights to freedom. Tell your congressman that WE can make a difference and stop this draconian move before it's too late!
What is Hollywood studio accounting?
Just curious. I'm totally with you on SOPA, I just didn't expect a mainstream screenwriter to have that sort of viewpoint.
The studios are VERY creative in how, what and who they pay, not even to mention why.
Incredibly well-written article, but unfortunately, she gets the definition of safe harbor wrong. In her Castle fanvid example, DMCA Safe Harbor is what protects Youtube from being sued because somebody posted the fanvid. It lays out a process for ABC filing a claim, the fan filing a counterclaim, and youtube restoring the video if ABC doesn't file a copyright infringement lawsuit within 2 weeks.
For more details, see chillingeffects' FAQ.
I'd like to point to an arstechnica article from 2008. Basically, the 750,000 unemployed and $200 Billion lost are slight exaggerations. link
The best explanation I've found of SOPA and PIPA was written by Cory Doctorow, but the link won't work until the 19th, for obvious reasons:
http://boingboing.net/2012/01/14/boing-boing-will-go-dark-on-ja.html
Both Acts are like trying to kill a hornets' nest with a tactical nuke. It may or may not stop a few hornets, but the rest of the neighborhood is toast.
I'm kind of disheartened because I wrote Feinstein and Boxer last week. Feinstein's reply makes it abundantly clear that she doesn't get it. I guess she gets more money from Hollywood than from Silicon Valley.
@darkrose - you pretty much have to call and talk to a human.
@John - Funny enough one of the first things I learned about the concept of money was that the Hollywood studios and Record Companies were running a rigged game.
That was over 20 years ago at this point and I don't see the situation changing any time soon.
That was an awesome post. I've shared it on FB and will now share it on Google+. And I'm someone who did not grow up with the internet, but not only do I understand it, mostly, I also can admit there are people who understand how it works better than I do.
Remember that SOPA is being spearheaded by a Republican Senator and a Democrat Senator-turned-lobbyist. If you're blaming the other tribe while giving your own tribe a pass, you're part of the problem. Remember which individuals - not parties - supported this come election time. Especially in the primaries.
Pirate Bay press release. Love it:
http://static.thepiratebay.org/legal/sopa.txt
@Theliel, oh, it's a-changing, which is why we're seeing increasingly draconic measures like this.
Hollywood and the RIAA are becoming increasingly irrelevant; while it'll take a bit longer for the movie industry to get eroded by it, you can see it kicking into high gear with the music industry already (and even more so when it comes to print publishing). The internet means that distribution costs are essentially flat for all parties; in effect there are no more locks on distribution anymore, so artists can go direct to consumer or direct to investor and still have a huge platform for their work without it costing any more for them to self publish than it'd cost a middleman to do it. Their core power is already gone.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that the loudest voices in the whole anti-piracy/hobble the internet push are industries with long histories of seriously abusing their creatives. And that's why the content industries are trying so hard to smash the internet, not because they're so concerned about piracy, but because the mere existence of the internet means that all those people that they rely on to create content for them can jump ship if they continue to give them crap terms. And that is going to kill them; maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.
What is truly appaling is that a LOT of this piracy problem could be solved by simply letting people pay for the content.
Not admitting to anything here, but many people use illegal content simply because there is no way to get it legal. I - ehm - know a person, who went to great lengths to pay for her favorite show, including providing a false U.S. address so that iTunes would accept her money. No such luck. So the person grudgingly uses the only option available to her - easy, no hassle, free downloads. She'd still prefer to pay, to support the show, but nobody is interested in taking her money.
I wish someone tried to estimate how much money the studios would make if just the "U.S. residents only" limitation was lifted. At least half of Europe watches their favorite shows either as download or via an anonymizing proxy. All for free. How many of them would prefer to pay? Many, I assure you.
As it is now, we are in an absurd world in which not-paying is far easier than paying (and that's when paying is even possible!). Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Agreeing with Anonymous on the issue of not being able to obtain favourite shows. Some people live in Canada, the other side of the border, about 15 minutes away from it to tell the truth, and are still not able to get the shows they want because of the stupid "US citizen" business. Some people get the show through other means, then buy the season disks when they come out because they don't want to wait years for their own country to play it on television. Some people are very honest people and would much rather do it another way - paying for the show. Some people pay quite a bit extra on their cable bill just so they can get the CW for another favourite show so they don't have to obtain it through other means... Some people are frustrated.
I do agree with comments made that the biggest thing that needs to change (on both sides of the pond) is the distribution. Waiting months or years to distribute content to other countries is no longer viable. Those people will find "other means" to get what they want.
The limited distribution model worked when countries were pretty much closed, the internet has changed that. I understand the desire for syndication rights and such, but the model is broken at this point. Get the product out faster and the piracy will diminish.
There's also the problem of content that is simply no longer available. I'm on a manga and anime kick at the moment, and I'm finding that in many cases, obtaining legal copies of English translations, dubs, or subtitled versions is impossible because the U.S. distributor has gone under. Even when I do purchase copies, they're usually from a re-seller, which might as well be pirated as far as the **AA are concerned, since they don't get any money.
The pro-SOPA arguments seem to be bassed on the assumption that most people are anxious to break the law.
Hi there, I'm the author of the post. Really glad y'all liked it. I wrote it as pushback against my union, IATSE, which has spent months trying whip up the membership in support of SOPA/PIPA.
Thouroughly confused, I decided to bite the bullet and do the research instead of relying on talking points from either side. It took me about a week of pounding my head against the wall to come up with the post, but I'm glad I did it.
The issues with piracy and the proposed fixes are far more complicated and nuanced than either side is letting on. I found that when I forwarded the post to my guild and crew lists, the response was overwhelmingly positive - most were just as confused as I was. And once they understood the issues, they agreed the proposed solutions weren't really solutions at all.
This is a case where the IA leadership is out of step with much of its membership.
well john i'm glad you said it. "it". that we work for a group of companies (or, as romney likes to call them "people") who consistently steal our money. the corporations for whom we work steal the money we are owed. they do so under several different guises, but none of them are ethical or moral. whether it is the decision that "it's too expensive for producer or writer x to fight a battle for Y amount of money" or "we can reinterperate what seems clear because we have a ton of lawyers" or "who gives a fuck. fuck that loser. i'm a mid-level functionary who has been told by his/her higher-ups to screw anyone who isn't important". the idea that the problem in our business is that we, the freelancers at the bottom of the food chain, MUST RISE UP TO PROTECT TEH VERY CORPORATIONS THAT FUCK US OVER AND OVER AND OVER is just...insane. i made no friends arguing with my guild buddies over the stupidity of the last strike, truly an execrable piece of strategic poo by every fucking writer. and the reasons were the same then as in this argument: we don't need to pick around the edges of the current system, or prop it up, or improve it. we need to blow it the fuck up. i work constantly with new companies and content creators and brands and individual investors who are all looking for better ways to do things. invest time and energy in those areas rather than making recidivist attempts to somehow make studios change their behavior seems like a better plan.
I'm with DarkRose and Anonymous in that I (ahem) know someone who subscribes to a number of curated blogs hosting audio files of material that is out of print and/or unavailable in the "free market", but perhaps still in copyright. A number of them lost their uploads when MegaUpload was yanked by the Feds.
Now, when I say "curated," I mean lovingly and enthusiastically shared by people of like mind, and when I say the material is unavailable by any other means, I mean that too. The copyright holders are "robbed" (to use the RIAA's jargon) of not one red cent by this kind of download activity.
However, to many of us, it's an outrage that these performances, works of notable quality and/or historical interest, aren't otherwise available.
I would like to see copyright law rewritten to set forth not only the rights of copyright holders, but also their RESPONSIBILITIES: namely, if you can't be bothered to make your material available, charge what price the market will bear, you should lose copyright protection for that work.
Too much rare and unique material is being sat-on by "dogs in the manger," who are stupid, AND greedy, AND ignorant of the true value of the material they theoretically "own." In a just society, this should not be.
Funny thing is while whole world is looking at SOPA and PIPA, ACTA(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement) silently signed two days ago.
I'd say we had been duped by a massive bait and switch.
I like this article. Here is my opinion, which is not worth much these days.
It is possible, since this didn't work the first time, Congress will simply attach SOPA to another bill as a "piggy back". And while we may never hear about it again, the bill will get passed anyway.
And as an added bonus, the only thing they may change is the name of the bill itself, so you won't notice.
Interesting post on SOPA.
I like to read this.
Exam Notes
That ACTA thing is really important educate yourselves people. For those who don't like to read:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=citzRjwk-sQ
I second DarkRose and Anonymous in that I have a... friend, yes let's call it a friend, that lives in a country far, far away. This friend really loves Leverage and a bunch of other US shows. Her problem is not only that she has to wait for shows to air for a year or more but that a lot of shows never air in her country at all, on account of it being such a small country. Well, actually a rather large country when it comes to European standards, but with a very small population for it's size.
She has tried and tried to get the tv-series in some way so that she can pay for them (she absolutely loves Spotify, btw) but there just isn't any conceivable way to do it. So she downloads. And feels bad about.
The answer to this problem is not banning downloading, it's making sure people are able to pay for what they want and will get anyway (ie. Spotify). You can't stop progress, no matter how many fancy Hollywood-lawyers or Washington-lobbyists you have on your payroll.
BTW - If you want to know what Hollywood Accounting means, just think of 'The Matrix'.
It was a massive hit. Multiple sequels.
But, according to the studio, it never made a profit so the small investors in Australia (often professionals like Dentists and Accountants) who pooled their money to fund the film don't need to get paid back a cent.
The studio stated that the formula which showed why it could be a blockbuster success and yet not make a cent in profit was so complicated that it would take 3 days to explain.
The little guys who financed the film never saw a cent of the profits.
That's just wrong.
Mac
Oh! I like this published, christian louboutin will pay attention to it.
Best thing written ever on file-sharing by Janis Ian -
http://www.janisian.com/reading/internet.php
http://www.janisian.com/reading/fallout.php
Put her in charge of something, fer chrissakes!
I will share it with my friends.Interesting!
Good post, thanks for sharing. It is said that gucci bags and gucci men shoes are highly recommended for men and women, so I concern on gucci outlet.
I realize those are forsbobet doggies but I would be hard pressed not to eat one ;)
I hate this stupid law i wanna be free and get information and share to others..
The full story of this actually happening already.
Absolutely fantastic!
This is a very good post.
A very nice informational blog.Keep on making such important blog post.
@Anonymous: Hollywood accounting example. To find this whole article search for Monkey Points on this blog.
"You will also, theoretical libertarian free agent, have given up most of the protections afforded by the Guild, including the protection of making sure you actually get whatever deal you may have negotiated. As John Bowman noted, we are one of the only industries in which corrupt accounting is so common, we actually have the term "monkey points."
I've seen a bunch of people arguing "well, that's what litigation is for." Yes, what a spiffy world that would be. Each individual writer against the legal departments of billion dollar multinational corporations. Enjoy waiting ten years for your check, assuming you win. Even with the Guilds in place, people still have to litigate all the time. Peter Jackson had to sue for his share of the back end, because New Line tried to stiff him on FELLOWSHIP OF THE FRIKKIN' RING"
I love cheap monster beats headphones very much! Music lover especially love beats by dre solo, and Monster beats solo hd black over-the-ear online is one of the bestseller.
I love cheap monster beats headphones very much! Music lover especially love beats by dre solo, and Monster beats solo hd black over-the-ear online is one of the bestseller.
Post a Comment