Studios Moving to Block Piracy of Films Online

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=68&ncid=68&e=1&u=/nyt/20030925/ts_nyt/studiosmovingtoblockpiracyoffilmsonline

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24 — If Hollywood executives have learned anything watching their peers in the music business grapple with online file sharing, it is how not to handle a technological revolution.
This summer, night-vision goggles became a familiar fashion accessory for security guards at movie premieres as they searched for people in the audience carrying banned video recorders.
Also, as early as next month the industry will begin promoting a "stealing is bad" message in schools, teaming up with Junior Achievement on an hourlong class for fifth through ninth graders on the history of copyright law and the evils of online file sharing. The effort includes games like Starving Artist, in which students pretend to be musicians whose work is downloaded free from the Internet, and a crossword puzzle called Surfing for Trouble.
Already industry analysts suggest there could be as many as 500,000 copies of movies swapped daily.
Movielink recently rolled out an improved version of its product, and is backing it with an ad campaign aimed mostly at college students. Entertainment executives said the industry's fate would be decided more by the success of services like Movielink than a public relations campaign. "Movie executives have to be aggressive in their business strategy right off the bat," Ms. Rosen said. "Frankly if they don't take that view given what has happened in the music business, they should all be fired."

It's certainly pissing them off a lot. :D

How...stupid. You know, they should block the sites giving them away. 16 year olds are not going to swayed by this. They are taking the piss. And I mean that. I would do a better job of running the studios than the idiots are at the moment (with the possible exception of New Line because it is doing a good job).

Blocking what sites? UsetNet? IRC?

Technically, it would be impossible to prevent piracy. Because once you close a service, another solution will come out.

Only services like Apple's and Movie-Link could actually stop piracy. It's high time studios realize that sooner or later, people won't go to the theatre anymore, it's too far!

Originally posted by I Got Trailers
How...stupid. You know, they should block the sites giving them away. 16 year olds are not going to swayed by this. They are taking the piss. And I mean that. I would do a better job of running the studios than the idiots are at the moment (with the possible exception of New Line because it is doing a good job). You, erm, do kind of realize that they do that, but any site that's hosted on a computer in a country that doesn't share the US copyright laws, and if the owners of the site live their too, then they can't be touched.;)

I would say they should find movie pirates and prosecute them for 10 times what the RIAA is doing. Seriously. It's one thing to distribute a song that you can hear on the radio anytime, it's another to distribute product that can only be purchased.

Originally posted by blugh
I would say they should find movie pirates and prosecute them for 10 times what the RIAA is doing. Seriously. It's one thing to distribute a song that you can hear on the radio anytime, it's another to distribute product that can only be purchased.
You can watch a movie anytime on TV, much as you can hear any song in the radio.

But practically, you only hear or watch what the network offers. And purchase comes in when you want to hear/listen what you wantever at whenever you like..

yes, but the movies on TV are already old, and the rights to them are purchased by tv stations. The RIAA forces songs on the radio. Regardless, I don't think there's trouble with trading older movies as much as the real problem, which is stupid little shithead punks trading new movies, or worse, creating bad word of mouth by slamming the effects in pirated workprints.

Good point. Then time is a major element here. Maybe if TV Networks started broadcasting movies earlier. And studios could release movies all over the world in the same time, they could decrease piracy.

Here the UK movie premiring laws:
PPV: 6 months after video
Digital/Cable/Satilite: 1 year after video (Bond movies skip this)
Terrestrial: 2 years after video (Bond movies: a year and a half after video)

Originally posted by I Got Trailers
Here the UK movie premiring laws:
PPV: 6 months after video
Digital/Cable/Satilite: 1 year after video (Bond movies skip this)
Terrestrial: 2 years after video (Bond movies: a year and a half after video) That's the old laws obviously. I seen movies that have shown on Sky Box Office the week before the video release. At most is usually one month after. Sky about 3 months after that, and TV is a few months after Sky finishes with it. So probably a year after video. The setting you're speaking of are when Video's would come out like 6 months after the cinema showings finished. That's mostly not the case any more.

Step 1 - lower DVD prices
2 - make DVD players that don't run VCDs
3 - require registration of DVD burners
4 - give rewards to people who call the cops about people selling stuff on the street

Originally posted by Jake
2 - make DVD players that don't run VCDs
DVD Players' specifications were already made. And changing them will add nothing but confusion. Originally, they must have added the support due to the Asian market, which was already based on VCD.

Originally posted by Jake
3 - require registration of DVD burners
What do you mean by registration? Like Guns you mean? Or technically? Nothing technical would stop crackers from doing what they please!

If the movie industry has one chance of ruining itself completely then it will be by releasing Dual Layered DVD-Burners. It will be like "pirated dvds for every home".

Carl trust me on this, but if you were right, The Tuxedo would be on Sky Box Office and The Rules Of Attraction would be on already as well, even though it's VHS and DVD is Monday.

what i find interesting is where the movie industry is targeting: america. (outside of the fact that that is where their jurisdiction is)
all the movies i have downloaded from the internet have never stopped me from buying the DVD when it comes out. i just use them like placeholders so that i can still watch it until i can buy it.

i see the pirated dvds coming from asia, those are the ones they need to worry about instead of the 16 year old kid sharing a cam version of "Finding Nemo".

dvds are overpriced.. but i think that downloading a movie that is still in the cinema is wrong!

however music is a different thing... music cd's cost a lot of money compared to taping it off radio.. apparently when digital tv is broadcast the audio will be cd qaulity! well since my stereo has aux out.. that will be connected straight to my computer where i will make my own mp3s straight off channel [v], or any other music program.... tough luck guys.. ill never buy a shitty album to get one song! but i will buy the occasional cd just to keep my concience clean!

ill never buy a shitty album to get one song! but i will buy the occasional cd just to keep my concience clean!


How do you think of this then...
"I will never buy a shitty movie to waste my money! but i will buy only blockbuster ones to keep my conciesnes clean!"

Stealing IS Stealing.