Use a Camcorder, Go to Jail! -- The Saga Continues

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> Date: November 6, 2009 1:17:30 PM EST
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Use a Camcorder, Go to Jail! -- The Saga Continues

>             Use a Camcorder, Go to Jail! -- The Saga Continues
>
>                http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000632.html
>
>
> Greetings.  Controversy rages on regarding the continuing (largely
> behind closed doors) efforts of the entertainment industry to elevate
> their products to the level of "Masters of the Internet" globally,
> complete with Internet cut off mandates and criminal provisions for
> activities such as holding up your Flip or cell phone in a movie
> theater ( http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4511/125/ ).
>
> As I've said many times, I'm basically sympathetic to the plight of
> the recording and film industries.  I've spent my whole life here in
> L.A. in the geographic heart of both sectors, have had many friends
> working in both, and have enjoyed numerous direct contacts of my own
> over the years with recording labels and film studios.
>
> However, what's going on with the current facet of negotiations
> involving the ACTA -- the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement -- is
> the classical closing of the barn door after the horse has left the
> planet.  The rise of digital recording and communications technologies
> has eviscerated the concept of "copyright control through scarcity" --
> and you don't have to like this state of affairs to admit that it's
> true.
>
> The extents to which the entertainment industry has seemed willing to
> go in efforts to "undo" history -- not just via the ACTA but in the
> past via proposals such as A/D converter restrictions, and currently
> with calls to allow shutting off video outputs on set top boxes,
> frankly are indicators of desperation and an unwillingness to accept
> technical realities.
>
> In fact, the industry has reacted in much the same way with every
> technological change -- starting back with sheet music, the
> gramophone, VCRs, and so on.  The march of technological progress is
> inevitable, short of global thermonuclear war or similar catastrophes.
>
> The old business models in the music and film industries cannot
> survive forever (though the latter still seems able to pay the big
> bucks to stars for "yet another remake" on an ongoing basis).  I won't
> even touch the question of quality in new music releases.
>
> One other point for now.  Draconian criminal "camcorder in theater"
> provisions suggest to the public that pirating of films is based on
> some guy with a camcorder leaning on his leg who then rushes off to
> monetize the result.
>
> In fact -- and this should be obvious since most commercially pirated
> films these days are of relatively high copy quality and often hit the
> Internet *before* the films' release -- most commercial film
> piracy is based on copies that are purloined from within the film
> production ecosystem, *not* from copies made after release by
> camcorders in theaters.
>
> And of course, all it takes is a single high quality copy of a
> song or film that "escapes" for it to be rapidly available illicitly
> around the world.  Such escapes are simply inevitable.
>
> That's just the reality.  Attempting to remake the Internet and
> associated laws in a desperate struggle to hold back the clock is
> about as likely to succeed as holding a bunch of sand in your clenched
> fist for very long.
>
> You end up with a pile of sand on your feet.  Or figuratively
> speaking, with mud on your face.
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren () vortex com
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> http://www.pfir.org/lauren
> Co-Founder, PFIR
>   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Co-Founder, NNSquad
>   - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
> Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
>   for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
> Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein



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