The Movie Pirates
November 1, 2009 5:00 PM
They are the bane of Hollywood: criminals who copy films and distribute them illegally on the Internet, costing Hollywood billions in lost revenue. Lesley Stahl reports.
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See all 111 CommentsMy very small software company was driven out of business by cyber theft. It was so bad we started to spend more time trying to protect our products from theft, than we did in development. In the end so many sites were giving our software away for free (which they purchased with stolen credit card numbers), that we just shut everything down. Our three employees...Yes, that's correct. THREE! are now out looking for work.
The idea that everything should be free is the philosophy of a morally bankrupt segment of society. They believe that if they can gain access to your home, then whats inside belongs to them... or if you leave your keys in your car, then its their car.... or if you didn't protect your software strongly enough, then it belongs to them.
In reality, this kind of theft ONLY benefits large corporations that can afford to chase and prosecute the pirates. Small businesses like mine are just robbed out of existence.
Enjoy your Chinese software! Pirates will make certain that's all you have when the stealing is over.
Honestly, I wish we had a mainstream news source that would go against this media giant.
Regarding:
60 Minutes, 11.01.09
November 1, 2009 5:00 PM
"Lesley Stahl on movie pirates, costing Hollywood billions in lost revenue."
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5486993n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.2
I am not going to join the ranks of the people that are posting their misinformed beliefs about why all media content and the intellectual property of all creations should be free, as I simply do not take their side.
In fact, I am diametrically opposed, and want to stop illegal media content theft dead in its tracks, spending the last two (2) years formulating Cerberus Media Security, a patent-pending, trademarked technology, which I invented and created specifically for this purpose.
Cerberus Media Security provides the following:
* Physical and digital protection that is certified as impenetrable
* Monthly reports to all clients, that provide specifics on current digital and physical piracy taking place, so they can prosecute violators to the fullest extent of the law, with the option of using myself and my company as expert witnesses against the offenders
* The capability to detect attempts at piracy inside theatres, etc. and provide triangulated coordinates of the offender(s), so that they may be apprehended by the local authorities
You can read more about my company here:
http://www.ehiinsm.com
I am in talks with both Walt Disney and Sony currently, and have reached out to the RIAA, MPAA, etc. as well, hoping to begin concrete discussions with them soon.
Thanks for your time and consideration, and hope to hear from you soon ~ feel free to contact me at your discretion at 818.802.0653, or the numbers below in my signature.
Whatever the case, I appreciate your bringing this tradgedy to light.
Stay Strong,
Michael "OpenView Mike" Stollaire
CEO and Senior Consultant
EHI-INSM Inc.
TEL: 818.358.3729
MOBILE: 818.802.0653
eFax: 267.501.7631
Skype: Michael.Stollaire
michael.stollaire@ehiinsm.com
http://www.ehiinsm.com
lets be honest.. who's really doing the stealing
Nice to see CBS whoring itself out to the Hollywood sewage industry.
Can anyone else getting their sources of revenue (aka jobs) shipped overseas get the gov't to start breaking down doors to recover losses? Of course not. But the music and movie industry pays all the right people.
Somehow Hollywood wants us to believe this phantom revenue would convert to actual dollars if piracy didn't exist. They also want us to believe they can put the money to better use then people not spending money on their crappy products.
If these worshipers of "the one" want to keep more of their money why can't they sympathize with taxpayers?
From Wikipedia
Fact 1 : CBS is owned by the same people that own several Hollywood movie studios.
Fact 2 : The owners of CBS also own a national theater chain.
Without digging any deeper, it's obvious that the 60 minutes report is completely biased and not news worthy.
I would like to see 60 Minutes report on why the movie studios have not offered a movie download service much like iTunes. Though Sumner Redstone would prefer we go to the theatre to watch films...
1. I don't condone piracy. I used to pirate music because 15$ for 2 good songs and 13 crappy ones was excessive. Since I can download a song for 1$ I am happy, 2$ for the good songs and so, more money to buy from more artists I appreciate. Spread the wealth!
2. Movie industry needs to do the same as the music industry. With the internet their business model is dying and they do what they can to keep it alive, but unless they find a way to sell a product that will make it worth it instead of pirating, people will look to other avenues (like digital copy is a good step forward).
3. You forgot to tell that 6$ billion losses because of piracy was IF everyone that downloaded a movie bought it instead. In reality, how many of those people would have bought the movie if they could not download it? On the contrary I think that would not have bought it and now if they like the crappy version downloaded they may buy it.
4. Putting piracy in the same category as drug dealing is making sure people don't listen to the rest of your arguments! I agree it's the same as stealing and should be treated the same.
TWO CENTS
The reality is that many use P2P programs for perfectly legal purposes, including downloading software upgrades and moving large files. The MPAA is not a reputable source of information regarding the Internet.
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/editorial-60-minutes-mpaa,review-1449.html
I have many friends in the non-glamorous side of the movie biz (writers, lighting technicians, PAs) and I understand that movie piracy is making it tough for those folks who really do depend on this industry for jobs. However, this report did itself no favors by interviewing Steven Soderbergh, whose QQing/wah-wahing depicted the workers of the film industry as another group of whiny overpaid elitists and served to elicit no sympathy for those who are actually losing their jobs. Sometimes it doesn't work to just grab the biggest name available and allow that person to drool all over your "investigation," 60 Minutes.
Also, "gee-whiz" technology? Why, those young whippersnappers! Look at them with their little pieces of movie moving across the screen! Gadzooks! Them and their brand-new, circa 2001 technology!
In the future, consider reporting on issues you're willing to investigate. Otherwise, the "I'm Old What Is Dis Technologies??" approach is not going to fly with the millions of people who know better.
- Film (with the exception of very old misused film) is higher quality than DVD. Your bootlegged movie avi files are, let's face it, lower quality than DVD, even if they don't have people snoring in them. Steven Soderberg's claim that the people who bootleg movies are not looking for quality is reasonable.
- Nowhere in this story does anyone claim that pirating movies is as bad as the other activities that organized crime is involved with. The fact that movie piracy is now conducted by organized crime instead of just small-timers is relevant and interesting.
- The fact that the bootlegger brought his family to the theater is also worth reporting, because (a) he was able to better blend in, being there with a family and (b) his family acted as accomplices in his crime. The fact that his crime was not as bad as selling heroin does not make this detail irrelevant.
- Nowhere in this story does anyone say that people who download movies illegally in the US should be sued. In fact, just the opposite is said, by Steven Soderberg.
- Lesley Stahl is consistently great on this show.
- Overly strong copyright laws (which require permissions for derivative works and which last for too many years) do stifle creativity, but a lack of copyright laws would stifle creativity just as badly. Just because our copyright laws are a bit too strong it doesn't mean you should pirate copyrighted works.
- Nowhere in this story does anyone imply that bootleggers make money from BitTorrent downloads. In fact, it's made pretty clear that its a separate issue, by the wording, ?Even more THAN organized crime, it's the internet that has Hollywood's hair on fire.? (emphasis mine) The only reason that point was confusing at all was that one of the bootleggers, Herardo Ariano, had in fact been both selling DVDs and uploading the movies to the internet. I don't know why he was doing that, but I can't blame ?60 Minutes? for reporting that confusing detail.
- lol at you railing against Hollywood's ?blasphemes?
- Steven Soderberg's claim that it's the non-A-listers who are being hurt by bootlegging is entirely reasonable. If the entire industry is hurt by it, then that includes those who are not making enough money that they can afford to make less or to not work. Like gaffers.
- Steven Soderberg's claim that if movie studios are making less money they'd be less likely to fund risky projects like ?The Matrix? seems pretty reasonable too.
- Nowhere in this story does anyone say that BitTorrent or filesharing should be illegal.
Did I miss anything?
THERE IS HOPE FOR YOU ARTISTS STILL. YOU CAN MAKE MONEY WITHOUT GOVERNMENT PROTECTION. MANUFACTURING AND DISTRIBUTION WILL REPLACE COPYRIGHT AND PROBABLY MAKE YOU MORE MONEY.
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