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more on MPAA drops Oscar screeners
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 13:55:21 -0400
Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 09:42:59 -0700 From: "Wong, Brian" <brianwong () dwt com> Subject: More on [IP] MPAA drops Oscar screeners To: "'dave () farber net'" <dave () farber net> Dave, this AT&T Labs study on sources of unauthorized motion picture copies may be of interest. It was covered in a September 15, 2003 New York Times article, and the issue of insider sources for pirated movies was a front page story in the March 3, 2003 Wall Street Journal (excerpts below). - Brian - Analysis of Security Vulnerabilities in the Movie Production and Distribution Process Abstract Unauthorized copying of movies is a major concern for the motion picture industry. While unauthorized copies of movies have been distributed via portable physical media for some time, low-cost, high-bandwidth Internet connections and peer-to-peer file sharing networks provide highly efficient distribution media. Many movies are showing up on file sharing networks shortly after, and in some cases prior to, theatrical release. It has been argued that the availability of unauthorized copies directly affects theater attendance and DVD sales, and hence represents a major financial threat to the movie industry. Our research attempts to determine the source of unauthorized copies by studying the availability and characteristics of recent popular movies in file sharing networks. We developed a data set of 312 popular movies and located one or more samples of 183 of these movies on file sharing networks, for a total of 285 movie samples. 77% of these samples appear to have been leaked by industry insiders. Most of our samples appeared on file sharing networks prior to their official consumer DVD release date. Indeed, of the movies that had been released on DVD as of the time of our study, only 5% first appeared after their DVD release date on a web site that indexes file sharing networks, indicating that consumer DVD copying currently represents a relatively minor factor compared with insider leaks. We perform a brief analysis of the movie production and distribution process and identify potential security vulnerabilities that may lead to unauthorized copies becoming available to those who may wish to redistribute them. Finally, we offer recommendations for reducing security vulnerabilities in the movie production and distribution process. Citation Simon Byers, Lorrie Cranor, Eric Cronin, Dave Kormann, and Patrick McDaniel. Analysis of Security Vulnerabilities in the Movie Production and Distribution Process. In Proceedings of the 2003 ACM Workshop on Digital Rights Management, October 27, 2003, Washington, DC. [Paper also presented at The 31st Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy, September 19-21, 2003, Arlington, VA.] Full Text * PDF (26 August 2003 technical report version, updated 13 September 2003) http://lorrie.cranor.org/pubs/drm03-tr.pdf * Final version to appear in ACM Digital Library, November 2003 http://lorrie.cranor.org/pubs/drm03.html New York Times September 15, 2003 Hollywood Faces Online Piracy, but It Looks Like an Inside Job By JOHN SCHWARTZ When "Hulk" hit the small screen early, Hollywood hit the roof. Two weeks before this summer's film adaptation of the angry green giant opened in theaters in June, copies started showing up on file-sharing networks around the world. The film cost Universal $150 million to make and distribute, but anyone with a fast Internet connection, a big hard drive and plenty of time could see it free. <SNIP> But the early debut of "Hulk" was not the work of the armies of KaZaA-loving college students or cinephile hackers. The copy that made its way to the Internet was an almost-complete working version of the film that had been circulated to an advertising agency as part of the run-up to theatrical release. And "Hulk" is not alone. According to a new study published by AT&T Labs, the prime source of unauthorized copies of new movies on file-sharing networks appears to be movie industry insiders, not consumers. The study is "the first publicly available assessment of the source of leaks of popular movies," according to its authors. Nearly 80 percent of some 300 copies of popular movies found by the researchers on online file sharing networks "appeared to have been leaked by industry insiders," and nearly all showed up online before their official consumer DVD release date, suggesting that consumer DVD copying represents a relatively minor factor compared with insider leaks. "Our conclusion is that the distributors really need to take a hard look at their own internal processes and look at how they can stop the insider leaks of their movies" before taking measures that might hamstring consumers' technologies and rights, said Lorrie Cranor, a researcher at AT&T Labs and lead author of the study. The production and distribution process provide a better choke point, Ms. Cranor said, than antipiracy measures that could hamstring consumer electronics devices and computer networks. "If you're not going to worry about the insiders, it's kind of pointless to worry about the outsiders," she said. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/15/technology/15MOVI.html (reqistration required) PAGE ONE In Pursuing Oscar Dreams, Studios Give Pirates a Hand DVD Copies Sent to Academy Yield Perfect Bootlegs From Asia to Illinois By ANNA WILDE MATHEWS, BRUCE ORWALL and KATHY CHEN Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL One day last week, Yungsheng Century Audio and Visual Center in Beijing provided a textbook example of the growing piracy that movie companies dread. For 25 yuan, or about $3, shoppers could buy a high-quality bootleg DVD of New Line Cinema's "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" -- months before authorized copies are set to be issued anywhere in the world. But the source of the pirated material was unexpected: New Line itself. In pursuit of Oscar nominations, the AOL Time Warner Inc. unit sent out thousands of pristine "Two Towers" DVDs to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Some of those discs, however, fell into the wrong hands and became the digital blueprint for bootleggers who have copied the film and distributed it both online and in shops abroad. <SNIP> The apparent triumph of Oscar fever over business sense is striking even to Hollywood insiders. "Let's face it," says movie producer Marc Abraham, "what other business would do this?" Updated March 3, 2003 12:55 a.m. EST http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1046645977763796000,00.html?mod=home%5Fpa ge%5Fone%5Fus (subscription required)
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