Illegal Movie Download Gets Town's Wi-Fi Service Shut Down by MPAA

With Google playing Santa Claus this year by providing free Wi-Fi service at U.S. airports for the holiday season, the story of Christmas would not be complete without a Scrooge. And I have found one; the MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America). What is the MPAA? In their own words from their web site at; http://www.mpaa.org/AboutUs.asp

"The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and its international counterpart, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries, domestically through the MPAA and internationally through the MPA. Today, these associations represent not only the world of theatrical film, but serve as leader and advocate for major producers and distributors of entertainment programming for television, cable, home video and future delivery systems not yet imagined."

And why is the MPAA Scrooge?

In Coshocton, Ohio the MPAA shuts down the entire town's free municipal Wi-Fi service because a single user downloaded a copyrighted movie. In existence for over five years, this short range Wi-Fi service was used by Coshocton County Sheriff's deputies, out-of-town business people, and up to 100 town residents daily. The free municipal Wi-Fi service was disabled last week after someone used the wireless local area network address to illegally download a movie.

One Community, the Internet Service Provider for the Wi-Fi service was contacted by Sony Pictures Entertainment about the illegal download and reminded of the laws concerning piracy. Illegal movie and music downloads can be prosecuted as a civil matter, and are subject to fines up to $150,000. One Community immediately contacted Coshocton's Information Technology Department regarding the breach. The illegal movie download originated at a single address which is used by many different people. It will be difficult to determine exactly who made the illegal download, although the county plans to investigate the matter.

The Motion Picture Association of America's gross example of collective punishment, which is a practice outlawed in the Geneva conventions did not seem to faze them. When contacted, Elizabeth Kaltman, vice president of corporate communications with the Motion Picture Association of America did not appear to have the slightest bit of remorse about their action. She said, "movie piracy is something the industry fights everyday. The MPAA focuses most of its efforts on catching the source of the movies. It's a very, very common occurrence all across the U.S. Part of it could be due to a generation that's grown up with computers and the Internet. They're used to instant access and instant gratification. They have the philosophy 'if it's there, I can take it."

Resource: Illegal movie download forces shutdown of free Wi-Fi - Coshocton Tribune - http://www.coshoctontribune.com/article/20091109/UPDATES01/91109015

Tags: free wi-fi, piracy, MPAA, illegal movie downloading, mp3 piracy