US to Join Forces in Piracy War

After two solid years of lobbying by anti-piracy groups like RIAA and MPAA, someone in the US Congress has decided to listen. The two groups have asked for US resources to help stop Internet Piracy in foreign lands. After their jovial announcement of "sinking The Pirate Bay", the RIAA and MPAA used their raid as ammunition to coax US law enforcement to aide in their campaign.

The organizations claim that the entertainment industry loses as much as $250 billion per year to Internet piracy due to downloads of movies, music and video games. Such hot titles as "The Da Vinci Code" and "Grand Theft Auto" were used as figures showing huge losses in their respectful genre. Revenue from the entertainment business is said to account for 6% of the United States Gross National Product, tipping the scales at $626 billion. The RIAA and MPAA claim that the losses they incur from Internet theft could eventually have a detrimental effect on the US economy.

In the aftermath of The Pirate Bay raid, Swedish politicians have been quoted as saying that the US should keep to matters that involve the US. With recent developments of The Pirate Bay's move to the Netherlands to regroup in an astounding 3 days and their impending lawsuit against Swedish officials, it remains to be seen what kind of effect the US may have on other file sharing entities.

Source:
The Washington Post

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 15 Jun 2006 18:54

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25 comments

cheezy_P

6% of the GNP?!? it what way does it help the economy when the rich people of the entertainment world get even more money???
I have never downloaded a movie off the internet before, but it was always my opinion that the people that are downloading them are doing it because they dont want to or cant go to the theatre. THe movie biz wouldnt be seeing that money anyway. If we, as a society are so lazy that we wont get off our computers to go see a movie, paying 10 bucks or more per person certainly isnt an incentive to stop downloading.. grrrr im so tired of this $h*t

15.6.2006 19:10 #1

gogochar

The Pirate Bay went back to Sweden!

15.6.2006 19:21 #2

llongtheD

The fact that the U.S. government would spend tax dollars to help out corporations making billions of dollars in profit each year, really tells you who's running the country. Its not the American people or their votes, thats for sure. We have been bought and paid for by corporate america.

15.6.2006 19:38 #3

sulaim

i qoute:

Revenue from the entertainment business is said to account for....$626 billion.

ain't these greedy corporations happy with $626 billion? wat do they want?

i qoute:

After two solid years of lobbying

IMHO, lobbying is the politically correct term for bribing. if the corporations had given us the millions they spent on congressmen to us, then we wud have been able to buy their stuff.

i always thought US was a free market economy, and that is wat ppl are doing, taking stuff from the market for free.

anyhow, i am just a disgruntled 17 year old. i am adding my 2 cents worth.

take care.

15.6.2006 23:02 #4

Cinnjerm

"The organizations claim that the entertainment industry loses as much as $250 billion per year to Internet piracy due to downloads of movies, music and video games."-

This is such a gross distortion taking into account the fact that most of those downloads don't directly translate to lost sales because if it cost money they never would downloaded it in the first place. I'm sure plenty of people download things theyve never had any intentions of buying. This whole situation is rediculous.

15.6.2006 23:51 #5

eiamhere

This is all to do with projected profits.

They estimated to make $xx,xxx,xxx from the da vinci code movie, due to the fact that has been such a popular and when publicised brand.

The truth is that the movie was rubbish and got bad reviews (although this movie is great compared to all the trash being developed/released now-a-days). This meant they still made a profit, just not as much as they greedy fat cats wanted.

Grand theft auto has always sold well, it Genuinely is a quality product/s. I remember reading an interview with a Rockstar executive or developer a while ago. In this interview they stated that the Grand theft auto brand would never release cash ins, only quality titles.

With Liberty City Stories on the PS2 this is not the case. This is a really out dated game, one converted to a handheld, then secondly converted back. Although better than a lot of games, it certainly is not a step forward.

With out detailed onformation we can't really discover what the real cause is (Rockstar were sued for the Hot coffee mod), did this affect their profit, or are the RIA/MPAA refering to sales?

Either way, if a product is not up to expectations, it will not sell.

I am not condoning piracy, but I'm sick of the industries, putting in no effort, but demanding billions in returns, then pointing the blame elsewhere.

16.6.2006 01:12 #6

guyrus

Quote:With recent developments of The Pirate Bay's move to the Netherlands to regroup in an astounding 3 days and their impending lawsuit against Swedish officials, it remains to be seen what kind of effect the US may have on other file sharing entitieswonder if the RIAA is still being so jovial

16.6.2006 01:55 #7

mystic

WOW they are accually useing Grand Theift Auto to show a sales drop, (talk about name dropping) who are they kidding it was the same government who had a head fit about the hiden files in the game that killed those sales... lets get real and say that most of the trouble with video game sales has been the fact that summer is here and that most kids go outside this time of the year and that with all the rating changes on some games like GTA parrents are now watching what they buy for their little ones. as far as the Da Vinci Code goes the Church got in the way of the movie and caused so much issues at theaters why would any one want to get their fellow church goers to find out they bought it... hey how about asking how many copies of Halo got sold or check out the amount of xbox systems have been sold the cost alone for the new gen consel systems keep people from buying games thats why the sales have slumped and they will rise again buy christmas time because new games will be out and so will the PS3 .....the US government wants to be the sex police and the terriost polce, and the moral compus for the world .. maybe they need to clean their own house, wasnt it a 53 year old male homeland security officail who was caught triing to make time with a 14 year old girl ... they shouldn't throw stones if they live in that glass house......As an Americain I say to my government keep your nose out of other peoples issues, thats why the world hates us do the world a favor and find out why the president is allowed to keep lieing to us, about everything you hipacrites.( oh yeah hes your boss so thats ok ,right..) this is why your numbers mean nothing...

16.6.2006 05:00 #8

GrayArea

"the entertainment industry loses as much as $250 billion per year to Internet piracy due to downloads of movies, music and video games."

This is based on the totally fictitious industry propaganda that every download resulted in a lost sale. I'm sure glad that my tax dollars are being used to further inflate the already obscene profit margins of these poor struggling movie studios and record lables. Protecting failing business models who's time has long passed is very important to the US economy.

16.6.2006 08:18 #9

hot_ice

I've had enough of this rhetoric.

Lobbyists should not dictate policy in the United States, or anywhere else for that matter.

I think it is the people's responsibility to realize that there is a huge problem with these multinationals, corporations, etc, which effectively undermine the rest of the population when they in return, sway their law to be biased in their favor.

These numbers are obviously fictional. Oh! Dear me! We've lost a centillion dollars last year, due to the internet piracy! Oh! My! Oh! My! Oh! My!

However, if we've been losing this much every year, howcome we aren't bankrupt this time around!

Ya right.

16.6.2006 08:29 #10

nonoitall

Why are the RIAA and MPAA making a fuss about piracy and file-sharing now? I thought it was "contained".

16.6.2006 13:11 #11

GrayArea

hot_ice

Have you seen a film called "The Corporation"? If not try to track down a copy. It's fascinating.

http://www.thecorporation.com/

16.6.2006 14:23 #12

ZippyDSM

Uummm hasnt the US headed the "Piracy War" sicne forever? 0-o

or at least instagated them.....

16.6.2006 18:10 #13

hot_ice

@Gray Area

Yes, I have, I've also seen a documentary called Unconstitutional, which is equally as good.

17.6.2006 12:09 #14

iPirate

US Gov't(BUSH) doesnt know what a PC is let alone piracy

17.6.2006 19:05 #15

Rob1026

maybe if they get that 250 billion a year back after they stop internet piracy in america is gas going to go back down to .88 cents a gallon?

18.6.2006 02:34 #16

flyingv

This is exactly what the USA needs, another war to get involved in. Weather it involves troops or just FBI agents, it's costing the tax-payers money which should go back to the people and not spent on this "War" against piracy. Just like 'Nam, it's a battle that can't be won, they'll dump billions of dollars into it and the people that they are fighting will not just lay down and give it up!!! And as for the so called "6%" of the GNP, how much have they dumped into Iraq already and still don't have any idea how much longer that our boys will be there. This whole concept of piracy is BS and they need to get their priorities straight.

18.6.2006 09:37 #17

hot_ice

@flyingv

Hmm, the war in Iraq I believe cost approximately somewhere between the half a trillion dollars range.

The cost to terminate Al Zarquawi was 500 million or 1/2 a billion dollars, so you can just imagine what the general cost of the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the pursuit of terrorists is really costing. I wouldn't be surprised if it actually cost the American people around a trillion dollars +...

As for the alleged piracy war, well, lobbyists are systematically ruining the U.S. (Canada as well) by paying off our politicians who were elected to serve the people and not these self-interested companies which want to dictate what our energy laws, insurance, etc are...

I think the real solution here is awareness and protest. Imagine 1/5 of America's population would protest and write their local politicians, that would amount to give or take 50 million + people. That is a lot of pressure to deal with, and besides, the second amendment was enacted in the U.S. just in case the government would become tyrannical and it needed to be overthrown. The American Constitution was wonderfully well written...

Therefore, coming back to the topic at hand, the Piracy War is actually a war on the people's interests, when these companies pressure or either coax or sway our politicians, by either monetary means and etc, to enact policies that favour only them.

Hence, P2P for that reason must thrive and ensure that these companies stay on the tip of their toes, and leveled at all times.

18.6.2006 12:03 #18

ZippyDSM

cheezy_P
its called palying the money game if your rich your in if you are not you get turned away.

I have a brain...I think......

Windows Vister
I dub thee vister untill thee can prove thyself.

I aint the brightest bulb around but I can feel my way in the dark...

I fuzzy braind mew =0_o=

FIGHT THE M.A.F.I.A.A.
"Music And Film Industry Association of America.."

18.6.2006 13:55 #19

flyingv

hot_ice:

Thank you for the info. Hopefully everyone will understand what I'm trying to get at. This is a crock and we, the People, need to stand up for our rights, as you stated. Thank-you!!!

"...Just another brick in the wall" -Pink Floyd.
Please, don't become another "Brick!!!"

19.6.2006 17:10 #20

hot_ice

The potential for people power is there, and lobbyism, which is another word for bribery, should become an illegal practice.

These lobbyists should go to jail, and the whole of the law be rewritten and revised.

Let's face it, the new trend, are corporations superseding government, in effect, they control the government and their laws. It has to stop.

19.6.2006 19:58 #21

ZippyDSM

hot_ice

pretty much,I sitll cant beleive they had the balls to make illiage the 25$ dinner date with operations yet coperations can still fly them anywhere and do other thigns for them this BS has to stop also thier salerys need to be halved and then tied into the minuim wage..these elists bastards have to be grounded and soon!!

19.6.2006 20:16 #22

hot_ice

This is capitalism, and the price we have to pay for it.

20.6.2006 06:05 #23

rude2

The reason this nonsense continues, is because most people are all talk. We need to do a COMPLETE boycott of all their media and products.

Not just a simple, "I won't buy it, but I'll download it for free."

This does nothing but fuel their cause. If you really want prices to drop and better quality products from them, we must completely BOYCOTT them. Don't even download it! Its crap anyway right, so why are you downloading it?

I can already hear the cries, "But some of it, is good, and I must have my entertainment!"

Talk is cheap my friends, you must find and search out alternative and independent entertainment methods. There are tons of websites out there offering free media under creative commons licenses and such.

Archive.org comes to mind...

Support the open media people, there is even an affiliate of Afterdawn called mp3lizard, that I am sure most people haven't even downloaded ten songs from.

Its not easy taking a this stance, but it is the only one to take.

By doing this and getting more people doing it, they WILL get the message.

By downloading it, you are saying to them. "I really like your product, I am just too cheap to buy it, and probably won't because I can get it for free!" Whether you think this or not is irrelevant. People need to wake up and realize when you download you ARE defrauding them money. Where the price is too high DOESN'T MATTER!

This is a war people, and its not going to be won by everybody stealing. This solves absolutely nothing. They have already shown that they have the resolve (and the money) to sue anyone they want.

Think back to the Boston Tea Party, the people boycotted the British tea, instead of buying the overpriced and overtaxed tea, they either went without or sought other means of satisfying their tea needs. They didn't just go out and steal the tea for their own use.

Yes later they did destroy several crates of tea, which Benjamin Franklin reportedly offered to repay out of his own pocket, but that sort of response isn't warranted from us, yet!

So in order to win this war on DRM and overpriced media (they are related), we must be willing to sacrifice and give up some conveniences. Unfortunately most people, it seems, won't give up the convenience of their perceived "free" media, because they're not paying for it.

As long as people continue to support the MPAAs/RIAAs/Corporations of the world, whether directing by purchasing their products, or indirecting by downloading it or purchasing from a unauthorized street vendor, prices will continue to skyrocket, people will continue to get sued, and more crappy productions/products will keep coming.

Support independent media and software in all its forms and don't concede to anything. None of this, "Well that is a really good CD or Movie, I must have it!" Once you do that, they have won. Its all or nothing.

Hopefully this will open some peoples eyes, and provoke some much needed action.

If not it will only go to show that most people are in fact, all talk and don't care as long as they don't have to pay for it.

Thank You for your time, and thank you for reading this post.

Justin Bailey

25.6.2006 14:14 #24

hot_ice

Or to keep it simple, just don't buy anything, just rent.

25.6.2006 21:15 #25

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