Bit Torrenting and a 60 Minutes puff piece
by WaltTags: Arrrrrr, Idiots on Parade, Movies, Piracy
History enjoys repeating itself. When helped along by industry types, news media shows will go down faster than Lindsey Lohan on a cocaine covered mirror:
31 years ago, in 1978, the television program 60 Minutes put on an episode about the awful threat of "video piracy" to the movie industry. Featuring the MPAA's Jack Valenti, the episode focused on how the VCR was going to destroy the movie business because anyone could copy and watch a movie in the privacy of their own home.
I wonder how that VCR piracy allegations and... er, stuff... worked out for the movie industry. Oh yeah. I remember now. They came out okay. Ah, good times. It sometimes takes a while for the silliness of dire predictions to be shown to be mostly worthless, but hey, they have commercials to show you, and they have to fill the time with hard hitting journalistic... crap.
Not learning their lesson, 60 Minutes went out and did it again.
If you missed last Sunday's 60 Minutes episode about video piracy, it was a hoot.
Apparently, if you don't go to the movie theater, you're supporting the Mexican drug cartel. And here I was thinking I was supporting the Midwest Popcorn Cartel. Silly me...
There's a nice piece at Techdirt pointing out the funny falsehoods that are peddled and while you should read the whole thing at the link, here's a tidbit:
The report opens with the claim that counterfeit movies is where organized crime is making its money these days. Fascinating. Except they don't show any proof whatsoever that organized crime has anything to do with movie piracy at all. They just claim it, talk about Mexican gangs, and then assume it must be true. But, of course, most of the report actually focuses on the internet and file sharing of movies -- which completely goes against the claim that organized crime is "making its money" off of video piracy. After all, reports have shown that online file sharing has actually been putting DVD counterfeiters out of business. You would think that the "journalists" at 60 Minutes might have noticed this contradiction.
But I like this one the best, from famous director Steven Soderbergh:
Most of the rest of the program is Soderbergh making a bunch of totally unsubstantiated statements, such as saying that no one would make The Matrix today. Why? No explanation. It's just that Sodergbergh says.
Yeah. You pretty much have to watch the show episode to do a true "WTF?" when that part spews forth.
Just a reminder that Netflix and Redbox might be forced to delay getting newly released movies so the movie folks can sell more DVDs for those not wanting to wait the (30? days?) of the delay forced on them by the movie studios.
Yeah, good luck stopping that piracy thing.