So upset about the MU takedown.
Jan. 20th, 2012 12:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusI'm furious at the timing of the Megaupload take down.
It's obviously intended to bolster SOPA and PIPA.
Megaupload is in serious trouble. Whenever MU was told of a copyright violation, they just killed the individual link rather than taking the copyrighted material down. That makes it clear they weren't acting in good faith.
But Megaupload isn't the problem. What's driving illegal downloading is not "criminals" but ordinary people trying to gain access to their shows in a modern format.
The television and movie industry is behind the times and still seems to think that they are putting out shows to a national market. They believe in the fallacy of regions.
Regions are old and dead. They've been dead since the late 90s. The internet killed them ten years ago. But the television and movie industry has yet to catch up.
American audiences are gobbling up British TV shows, and gabbing over the internet about those shows with their fellow fans in the UK. Movies released first in the US are being watched and discussed in Malta, the very day they come out in America. Because consumers are connected to each other globally, regions have become meaningless.
Ignoring this, Syfy shows the British series Merlin six months later than it's shown in jolly old England -- as if the English fans and American fans have no way to communicate with each other!
Theatrical companies do the same, releasing movies first in the US and only later overseas -- as if those foreigners have no access to Rottentomatoes.com and no chat buddies in NYC!
Cable companies and rental businesses like Netflix are doing better with TV shows and movies On Demand. They're starting to realize the quick, easy, and instantaneous access to shows on the internet is luring away their customers (especially the young, tech-savvy ones). Networks like ABC have episodes of popular shows on their website, so they're getting it, albeit slowly.
Strengthening the laws isn't going to make the illegal downloading go away. The horse has left the barn. Making it illegal for the horse to leave is stupid. So is trying to force the world of media back to 1999.
MPAA: don't repeat RIAA's mistake with Napster. Take over the Megaupload distribution model. Profit.
The real problem is that Megaupload is being used as a straw man in the debate over SOPA and PIPA. The Department of Justice of course wants SOPA, and this is a move to counter the protests and blackout of yesterday.
Here's my statement:
It's obviously intended to bolster SOPA and PIPA.
Megaupload is in serious trouble. Whenever MU was told of a copyright violation, they just killed the individual link rather than taking the copyrighted material down. That makes it clear they weren't acting in good faith.
But Megaupload isn't the problem. What's driving illegal downloading is not "criminals" but ordinary people trying to gain access to their shows in a modern format.
The television and movie industry is behind the times and still seems to think that they are putting out shows to a national market. They believe in the fallacy of regions.
Regions are old and dead. They've been dead since the late 90s. The internet killed them ten years ago. But the television and movie industry has yet to catch up.
American audiences are gobbling up British TV shows, and gabbing over the internet about those shows with their fellow fans in the UK. Movies released first in the US are being watched and discussed in Malta, the very day they come out in America. Because consumers are connected to each other globally, regions have become meaningless.
Ignoring this, Syfy shows the British series Merlin six months later than it's shown in jolly old England -- as if the English fans and American fans have no way to communicate with each other!
Theatrical companies do the same, releasing movies first in the US and only later overseas -- as if those foreigners have no access to Rottentomatoes.com and no chat buddies in NYC!
Cable companies and rental businesses like Netflix are doing better with TV shows and movies On Demand. They're starting to realize the quick, easy, and instantaneous access to shows on the internet is luring away their customers (especially the young, tech-savvy ones). Networks like ABC have episodes of popular shows on their website, so they're getting it, albeit slowly.
Strengthening the laws isn't going to make the illegal downloading go away. The horse has left the barn. Making it illegal for the horse to leave is stupid. So is trying to force the world of media back to 1999.
MPAA: don't repeat RIAA's mistake with Napster. Take over the Megaupload distribution model. Profit.
The real problem is that Megaupload is being used as a straw man in the debate over SOPA and PIPA. The Department of Justice of course wants SOPA, and this is a move to counter the protests and blackout of yesterday.
Here's my statement:
According to allegations, Megaupload, when informed of illegal copyright information, didn't take it down like other websites, such as YouTube and elsewhere, do.
The Department of Justice has taken a sledgehammer to the problem and taken down everyone's uploaded content, whether they violated the law or not. I tend to upload mp3s of interviews I've conducted -- and legal content like mine was destroyed in the take down of Megaupload.
If the DOJ can destroy legal content, then the laws are already too broad. SOPA must be opposed.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 07:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 09:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 11:45 am (UTC)You know, I was so shocked by the news, I forgot to mention that you've written a really good article. *blush*
no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 07:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 09:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 07:31 am (UTC)Your example is far better from a legal pov, good point.
Related: every time I tell someone about an awesome show or something I'd like to rewatch, at least one person pops up to say it's on Netflix. I'm seriously considering it.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 09:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 01:51 pm (UTC)The very first impulse I had when I realized that a show I loved had more episodes already out there in English was to search for somewhere where I could BUY THEM!!! But I wasn't allowed, because of REGIONS/countries. THEN I looked at where else I might be able to watch stuff.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-20 02:36 pm (UTC)This is the new reality. Those who do not get it are
going to beare being left behind, and not in a biblical sense.no subject
Date: 2012-01-27 07:58 am (UTC)http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Help_sign_the_Written_Declaration_12/2010_about_ACTA