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MPAA: Let's Rush PIPA, SOPA Through Anyway
Because Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, and Jobs

SOPA effectively ran into a brick wall over the weekend after the White House came out with a statement urging SOPA backers to head back to the drawing board and draft legislation that doesn't involve censorship and breaking the Internet. As you might expect, SOPA supporters are still hoping to move forward with both bills, taking a number of tactics. One, folks like Rupert Murdoch are trying to vilify SOPA opponents like Google and OpenDNS, insisting they're secretly supporting foreign pirates. In reality, both companies simply highlighted how PIPA and SOPA are just awful pieces of legislation written by people with absolutely no technical understanding for the benefit of campaign contributors.

The second tactic of SOPA and PIPA supporters is to apparently pretend that the shelving of SOPA isn't a big deal, while repeatedly hammering the falsehood that their primary interest in passing these laws is saving and/or creating jobs. The MPAA has issued a statement downplaying White House opposition and the horrible weekend they had, going so far as to insist that "now it is time to stop the obstruction and move forward on legislation," while insisting the White House statement "clears the way for action on these important bills." Also, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs and did we mention jobs?
quote:
We applaud the continued leadership in the House and Senate for working to enact common-sense legislation to stop foreign websites from stealing American creativity and jobs. Misinformation simply can't be allowed to replace honest debate, and derail the critically important fight to protect American jobs. We hope the Administration’s role in this debate now will help steer the attention now to what can be accomplished and passed into law to protect American jobs.
The problem, as always, is that the MPAA's credibility when it comes to job and piracy statistics simply does not exist. "More jobs!" is also the rallying cry of Democrat Harry Reid, who ignores the fact that the bills could harm the one part of the American economy that is actually creating jobs, the smaller technology startup sector.
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bugabuga
join:2004-06-10
Austin, TX

bugabuga

Member

Sigh

SOPA is like allowing shooting people suspected in theft. By representatives of a movie studio. Without any proof necessary.
And if you're against it, you're supporting theft!

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: Sigh

if only copyright infringement were theft.

mod_wastrel
anonome
join:2008-03-28

mod_wastrel

Member

As usual,

the RIAA and the MPAA think they can lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, and lie their opponents into submission. Their motto: if the truth hurts, then ignore it. BAU

WHT
join:2010-03-26
Rosston, TX

WHT

Member

Re: As usual,

If the truth hurts, then ignore it say it's a lie.

mod_wastrel
anonome
join:2008-03-28

mod_wastrel

Member

Re: As usual,

There's an echo in here... but echos are just a pale imitation.

Rogue Wolf
An Easy Draw of a Sad Few
join:2003-08-12
Troy, NY

Rogue Wolf

Member

MPAA has their priorities in order....

1: Our profits
...
Last: Anything else

It's the mentality they have that they deserve to be profitable, quarter after quarter, no matter what mush they throw up on the screen, that irks me the most. They obviously believe themselves one of the gatekeepers of culture (along with their bosom buddies the RIAA) and that they deserve a piece of every pie they see. Anything that gets between them and more dollars to stuff in their pockets is inherently bad and must be done away with, no matter the collateral damage.

Safeguarding the rights of citizens? Where's the profit in that?
Wilsdom
join:2009-08-06

1 edit

Wilsdom

Member

Re: MPAA has their priorities in order....

They are a corporation, so that's understandable. The problem is when they are allowed to write laws. Might as well get a chump in Congress to sponsor a bill to require all property in the country to be turned over to them.

DataRiker
Premium Member
join:2002-05-19
00000

DataRiker

Premium Member

Lost Sales BS

ethics debate aside:

From overwhelming personal anecdotal evidence the vast majority of people who can afford to buy media buy it legally.

The vast majority of people who can't afford it pirate it.

Thus we have the "lost" sales that never were.
rmdir
join:2003-03-13
Chicago, IL

1 edit

rmdir

Member

Re: Lost Sales BS

the problem is they produce absolute s***. I'm not buying less because I'm stealing it, I'm buying less because it's garbage. Next they are going to blame the fact I don't go to the theater on pirates or something.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: Lost Sales BS

unless you are going into a store and stealing it off the shelves you are not stealing anything.
richardak
join:2001-07-08
South Texas

richardak

Member

Re: Lost Sales BS

Wow, how ignorant you are.

DataRiker
Premium Member
join:2002-05-19
00000

4 edits

DataRiker

Premium Member

Re: Lost Sales BS

Posing replication as the same thing as stealing opens all kinds of logical dilemmas.

If someone replicated your car could you call the police and tell them its stolen?

Of course not that's ridiculous.

Now introduce the idea of "intellectual" property. Now in this instance one could logically claim that someone stole their property. But how narrow should we define it? Should we include science at all? Mathematical research?

Since all research logically depends on that which is done before it, essentially all research uses previous intellectual property.

( in case your wondering this is not some hypo- theoretical example as academic research at universities has been stopped numerous times by private institutions [ Monsanto and others ] )

If one were to completely eliminate intellectual property all together would it harm business or spur competition in new ways?

There are good arguments both ways. But I think any reasonable person would agree that enforcement of IP by over criminalization is the wrong way.

It just serves to further pigeon hole the issue and marginalize people like the war on drugs.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList to richardak

Premium Member

to richardak
it's copyright infringement, not theft. the MPAA/RIAA coined the idea that it is theft. It isn't.

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

djrobx to DataRiker

Premium Member

to DataRiker
You're forgetting the group of people who download because it's more convenient than any legal equivalent. Not so much a problem with music these days now that DRM-free MP3s are available for a reasonable price, but video still has a long way to go.

Good luck playing a bluray on your Linux home media server, or even a Windows PC if your monitor or video card doesn't support HDCP.

Pirate515
Premium Member
join:2001-01-22
Brooklyn, NY

1 recommendation

Pirate515

Premium Member

Re: Lost Sales BS

said by djrobx:

Good luck playing a Blu-ray on your Linux home media server, or even a Windows PC if your monitor or video card doesn't support HDCP.

I'm actually able to play Blu-rays on my non-HDCP compliant Samsung SyncMaster 213T, purchased sometime in 2003, thanks to a little piece of software called AnyDVD by SlySoft. I guess this company would be one of MPAA targets if SOPA/PIPA were to pass. The company was originally based in Germany, but when their MPAA equivalent went after them, they moved to Switzerland. When MPAA went after them there, they sold themselves to someone in Antigua, from where they were safely operating for the past 8 years or so.

If SOPA/PIPA were to pass, they can easily "block" their web site and force credit card providers to stop doing business with this company.

P.S. I am using this software not to pirate Blu-rays, but because I do not see justification to replace a perfectly good working monitor just because Hollywood does not like me watching their movies on it.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

Re: Lost Sales BS

said by Pirate515:

said by djrobx:

Good luck playing a Blu-ray on your Linux home media server, or even a Windows PC if your monitor or video card doesn't support HDCP.

I'm actually able to play Blu-rays on my non-HDCP compliant Samsung SyncMaster 213T, purchased sometime in 2003, thanks to a little piece of software called AnyDVD by SlySoft.

I hope you got a lifetime license because if you're annual and visa/MC start blocking slysoft you'll have to either go with a cracked copy[not advisable due to nasties] or find another program or payment type

I had the same monitor and it doesn't have an HDMI input. i'm guessing you're using a hdmi to dvi adapter.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd

Premium Member

Re: Lost Sales BS

Not to mention that if SOPA gets passed you can bet the MPAA will get ICE to steal their domain. or at least break access to it.

carpetshark3
Premium Member
join:2004-02-12
Idledale, CO

carpetshark3 to DataRiker

Premium Member

to DataRiker
If those outfits are so hot to trot, why did Tom Petty have to tell Michelle Bachmann not to use his music? Wasn't that copyright infringement since she didn't have permission? Why didn't she get censored by the RIAA?

And then she defies him?
Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL

Mr Matt

Member

The puppet masters are pulling lawmakers strings!

The MPAA is suffering from Betamax psychosis since they lost their case before the Supreme Court. The puppet masters were unsuccessful in getting lawmakers to pass laws prohibiting the manufacture and sale of consumer video recorders. The RIAA got on the bandwagon and demanded the same thing for audio recorders. As a result of those loses they went wacko!

The MPAA and RIAA declared war on consumers in the 1980's after the Betamax ruling and have continued their efforts to prevent their customers from using legally purchased recordings in ways that will enhance their usefulness. At the time people were recording their CD's on Cassettes to play in their vehicles because much music recorded on CD was not available on cassette and car stereos with CD players were very expensive.

The problem with these organizations is their perception is that consumers are marks that have unlimited resources to pay over and over again for the same music or movie. Their main objective is to suck as much money out of consumers as they can, in the digital age, by charging them for things they were never charged for before, because they can. On one hand true theft of performances must be stopped but their must to be a balance allowing consumers to make best use of the products that they purchase.

Pirate515
Premium Member
join:2001-01-22
Brooklyn, NY

Pirate515

Premium Member

They just don't give up, do they?

I was very surprised that Obama's administration actually came out against it as it is his own AG who came up with the idea of "blocking" and "blacklisting" websites. I think that RIAA/MPAA simply loved the idea and had their goons introduce SOPA/PIPA as an attempt to make this kind of thing legal and more widespread.

In any case, given that the White House spoke out against SOPA/PIPA so loudly and clearly, isn't it a waste of time for Congress to try to push it through now? Even if it were to pass, given that Obama is against it, he can veto it. Unless they have 2/3 of the votes, they cannot override him. And even if that were to happen, Obama can simply choose to ignore it and not enforce it. Don't get me wrong though, it's still dangerous to have a law like that on the books as the next POTUS can choose to enforce it.

anon6
@comcast.net

anon6

Anon

It is possible

That both may pass, just not right now, but given time it likely will. Instead of worrying about what people download and upload, maybe they should be worrying about how screwed up the economy is getting with businesses raising prices every chance they get.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

I'm against it

I don't steal movies or music but do get TV shows now and then[I pay for the channels but when 3 good things are on and we only got two tuners, i have to choose what most likely will be available online and miss that show]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
What i'm against is this will start out as a MAFIAA thing and end up like the great firewall of china!
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

short term? nope..

In this nasty election season anything even remotely controversial is off the table in congress... so guess again!

»www.thecmuwebsite.com/ar ··· ntinues/

BTW, the OIL industry is touting jobs, jobs, jobs too... however.. that doesn't mean that there will be lower gas prices.. typically if you give these industries everything they want, they just get greedier and greedier and greedier. hollywood/mpaa/riaa/sopa supporters are no different.
Charlie Thor
join:2011-12-28
Baltimore, MD

Charlie Thor

Member

Idea

Well if this passes, i say we just post copyrighted content to all the SOPA supporters websites and then get them shutdown. Lets see how they handle that one? (All tho i am sure the since the shutdown key is in there hands not much would happen.)

jap
Premium Member
join:2003-08-10
038xx

jap

Premium Member

Wikileaks is protesting

Twelve hours until Wikipedia goes black for a day. US congress is in session tomorrow and won't be able to get anything done.

GovSUCKS
@comcast.net

GovSUCKS

Anon

TRUTH

It all boils down to GREED...Number 1, they want to keep the middle class and everyone "underneath" exactly where they are...Someone said it right, when they said these big corporations think we just have an ENDLESS money supply...therefore, everything becomes "pirating" or "stealing"(if we don't buy more)...Number 2, remember when Egypt overthrew their government last year?...our government is growing more scared everyday of the facts we may find out on the "information superhighway"...shut down our contact with the outer world, and we can only listen to what they tell us...