Movie Piracy: The Feds, the Pirates, and the Movie Industry
Who Will Be the Victor?
The motion picture industry claims piracy is taking the food off their plates. However, I cannot visualize that for now. Well -- I may not be able to invoke that image ever.
Fee or Free
What I do see is both parties continuing to build a reckless defense for and against, the monster that is movie piracy. Neither movie pirates nor the movie magnates appear justified in their actions. One wants to pay zilch for entertainment. The other seems to know no boundaries when it comes to greed. Who gets to decide if a happy medium is in order or logically, out of the question?
Government Gets Proactive
The government recognizes the issue of piracy in the overall entertainment industry. To the delight of the movie business, the government got aggressive with piracy in 2010. Unfortunately, it turns out that the stepped-up government mission in part, fell short of proving dependable statistics of piracy fallout.
For what seems forever, to me anyway, the movie industry has tossed around 20-plus billion-dollar figures relating to financial loss due to movie piracy. As well, job loss (or the potential for job creation) figures while imprecise, are estimated in the hundreds of thousands. Dramatic figures to be sure.
Nevertheless, the government was unsuccessful in substantiating those spectacular numbers.
Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report
As I follow the ongoing chronicles of movie piracy, I meet with no surprises. Naturally, those who already loathe the significant wealth that envelops the movie business, dance in the streets over the GAO report.
Essentially, what does the government report reveal?
It revealed there is no true way, due to the lack of steadfast data, to quantify impacts of counterfeiting and piracy.
The report, released in April of 2010, indeed rallies behind piracy being a "sizeable" issue in particular industries: yet on page 15 of the report, the GAO uses the words "difficult" and "impossible" to describe trying to measure the net consequences of piracy on the economy as a whole. Read the entire GAO report, which is a pdf file.
Big Brother is Still Watching You
I would not be too hasty in clinking glasses to celebrate the GAO findings. The report does not mean the battle against movie piracy is over -- or that the industry is waving a white flag in surrender. In case, you missed it: Last June, Hollywood collaborated with the government.
A government agent-infused sting seized the domain names of seven Internet sites that streamed movies and TV shows against ads. As I pointed out earlier, the government is stepping up its actions to stop piracy, not giving up on the unsavory practice.
What could be better movie material than Hollywood itself helping the fed get back all the tax revenue they are likely losing to pirating. Hmm!
Nope - I Am Not Paying For Movies
Scores of people that steal movies, admit to committing thievery. They manage to justify it, if only in their minds. The reasons they provide for stealing are as diverse as the very movies they pilfer -- good pirates that they are.
I have read more comments on the Internet that say I am not paying for movies because the movie companies make plenty of money. Um -- OK, then: I do not want to pay for food, gas, or my mortgage for that matter.
"Golly, I think my bank and local grocery store already have enough money anyway." My statement is preposterous. So is stealing.
I want it now!
How much of movie piracy are we willing to blame on the movie industry's demand for high prices? Can we place some of the blame on the current state of the economy? Not really, when you consider the many, many years that piracy has been taking place.
Perhaps a good portion of the blame rests with the instant gratification world we live in today. I want it, and I want it now. Oh, and I have no money to pay for it, so let me just help myself.
Blatant disregard for what belongs to others is out of control. Movie piracy may cost those who steal nothing. In the end, it costs all of us who do pay, more and more money. I am tired of paying their share. Are you?
Sources:
"Releasing the Joint Strategic Plan to Combat Intellectual Property Theft," White House Blog
GAO Report to Congressional Committees
"US Government Finally Admits Most Piracy Estimates Are Bogus," ars technica
"Feds, Hollywood Seize Domains of Movie Pirates," pcmag.com
Published by Cathy A Montville - Featured Contributor in Business & Finance
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34 Comments
Post a CommentI'm sorry, but your article lost me from the start, as your very first statement is incorrect.
"Super old news flash: Movie piracy is theft."
Theft is walking into a DVD store and grabbing a DVD, then walking out without paying for it. It's a physical object that costs money to produce, so the corporation suffers a loss. Piracy is what's called 'file-sharing'. You create a copy of the original, then download it free. The production of your copy costs literally nothing, and the hard copy remains intact.
On top of that, most pirates pirate movies, music, or software simply because the prices are too steep for them. If they didn't pirate the movie, then they wouldn't have bought it either, meaning, once again, the corporation loses no money.
I am not defending piracy whatsoever. It is hurting the digital media industry and bringing the legal hammer of the media moguls down on the heads of innocents, but your article puts forward a grave misrepresentation of a complex issue.
good job:)
Good article. Similar problems occur within the music industry but that's a whole 'nother topic! People see the millions that the popular actor and actresses make and the box office postings and think the industry can survive a little bit of free streaming online. But unfortunately it is not the top tier that gets affected by the piracy, but the lower level "peons" if you will, that will be affected - loss of jobs, less pay etc. The people you DON"T see are the ones most harmed by the piracy.
Very interesting!
great article and I agree...it is stealing no matter what the excuses are...
I use Netflix for my movies, and still trying to work out a way to stream them from my computer to my TV as we don't have any of those devices that let you do that, but someday soon maybe :)
Yeah, piracy...that's not right. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Loved this one! For some reason, I haven't been getting your updates on new articles. I just resubscribed. You were already on my fav's but evidently you don't get emails for that.
Interesting stuff.
To me, it's stealing..
Very informative article. We are trying Netflix for our movie rentals for now.