BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping of Star Wars On Day of Opening

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Thomas Leavitt <thomas () thomasleavitt org>
Date: May 22, 2005 8:17:28 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: dewayne () warpspeed com
Subject: Re: BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping of Star  
Wars On Day of Opening


a) raise your hand if you think seeing a working print of "Revenge of  
the
Sith" in a small box in low resolution on a portion of your 17" computer
screen is an adequate substitute for seeing it in a modern first run  
movie
house?

No takers? I see.

I doubt the numbers would move much, even if the video was viewable
fullscreen in high resolution - a trip to the movies is about the
experience, not the content.

Personally, if someone handed me a professionally mastered DVD of the
thing, I wouldn't view it. At least not till after Friday, when I'm
scheduled to see it with my wife a friend or two. I'm doing my best to
avoid even commentary about it, to avoid running into a "spoiler"...  
I saw
the original when I was six years old, at the Orion Cinemadome in Los
Angeles.

b) I'd like to see the MPAA explain exactly who is "profiting" from the
distribution of Revenge of the Sith via BitTorrent?

c) I'd also like the MPAA to show me a single study showing that even  
one
movie has been rendered unprofitable by online filetrading

Regards,
Thomas Leavitt

From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping of Star Wars  
On Day
of Opening
Date: Sun, 22 May 2005 09:54:14 -0400



Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: May 21, 2005 8:24:07 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping
of Star Wars On Day of Opening
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com


[Note:  Here's my take on this.  There is a certain amount of spin
going on here by the MPAA.  The copy of SW that appeared on the
Darknet was an internal final working print.  Someone on the inside
of Lucasfilm or affiliated with the company had to have stolen this
copy in order for it to appear.  From that point on, the Darknet just
became a very efficient distribution mechanism.  Folks were using
other protocols besides BT to move the film around.  Tagging BT alone
here by the MPAA is a bit disingenuous.  DLH]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                     May 19, 2005


BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping of Star Wars On Day of
Opening

Statement by MPAA President Dan Glickman

Washington, D.C. - - Responding to news reports today that BitTorrent
is already facilitating the illegal file sharing of the final Star
Wars episode,  Revenge of the Sith which opens in theaters today,
Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) President and CEO
Dan Glickman made the following statement:

“There is no better example of how theft dims the magic of the movies
for everyone than this report today regarding BitTorrent providing
users with illegal copies of Revenge of the Sith.  The unfortunate
fact is this type of theft happens on a regular basis on peer to peer
networks all over the world.

“Fans have been lined up for days to see Revenge of the Sith.  To
preserve the quality of movies for fans like these and so many
others, we must stop these Internet thieves from illegally trading
valuable copyrighted materials on-line.

“If piracy and those who profit from it are allowed to flourish, they
will erode an engine of economic growth and job creation; undermine
legitimate businesses that strive to unite technology and content in
innovative and legal ways and limit quality and consumer choice.”

Glickman said that the average movie costs $98 million to make and
market.   Less than one in ten movies re-coup their original
investment from the domestic box office and six in ten never recoup
their investment .  The average BitTorrent network has up to 2.5
million users a day.  The movie industry is the only industry with a
positive balance of trade in countries with which it does business.
Copyrighted industries are responsible for an estimated $626 billion
of the total gross domestic product.

“My message to illegal file swappers everywhere is plain and simple:
You are stealing, it is wrong and you are not anonymous,” said
Glickman.  “In short, you can click, but you can't hide.  There are
lots of ways to legally download our products through companies like
CinemaNow, Movielink, Ruckus and others.”

The Motion Picture Association is engaged in an all out effort to
root out Internet movie thieves and make them pay the consequences of
illegally downloading and swapping movies on-line.  It has hundreds
of investigators looking into these kinds of cases worldwide and has
already been successful in shutting down several BitTorrent type
sites.  As part of its anti-piracy effort, the MPAA and its member
companies have brought lawsuits against many Internet movie thieves
across the United States and plan to continue such action.

About the MPAA:  The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.
(MPAA) serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion
picture, home video and television industries from its offices in Los
Angeles and Washington, D.C. These members include: Buena Vista
Pictures Distribution; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.; Paramount
Pictures; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox
Film Corporation; Universal Studios from Universal City Studios; and
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.


# # #

MPAA Los Angeles
Kori Bernards
Anne Caliguiri
(818) 995-6600

MPAA Washington, DC
John Feehery
Gayle Osterberg
(202) 293-1966
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>










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