AfterDawn: News

Congress allocates $30 million for anti-piracy

The MPAA has announced that the United States Congress has allocated $30 million in funding for anti-piracy measures, part of the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act.

"Congress took a major step forward by providing $30 million in funding for new FBI agents, federal prosecutors, and local and state law enforcement grants to protect American jobs and creativity by cracking down on the theft of movies and other intellectual property," added MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman.

$20 million will go to "new state and local economic, high technology and Internet crime prevention grants," says TheHollywoodReporter, while $8 million will go towards new FBI agents "targeting IP crimes." The final $2 million is for "new Department of Justice IP prosecutions."



Glickman also lauded the piracy crack-down operation dubbed Holiday Hoax which has so far led to the arrest of seven sellers of counterfiet software and movies, and the confiscation of 79,796 counterfeit CDs and 79,610 DVDs. "Copyright industries in the U.S. lose $25.6 billion a year in revenue to piracy, the U.S. economy loses nearly 375,000 jobs either directly or indirectly related to the copyright industry, and American workers lose more than $16 billion in annual earnings," he noted.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 16 Dec 2009 23:53

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• 33 comments

• WierdName

  You have got to be kidding me! We have no money right now and they give $30 million to sue people?! Maybe if the stupid lawsuits against grannies were cut, they would have money for going after real pirates that make a living from counterfeit sales. And that money could go to way better areas that actually would save some real jobs. Simple finances; when you don't have money, you don't have money for non-essentials.

  17.12.2009 00:18 #1

• stuntman_

  this is disgusting I *bleep* hate my country

  17.12.2009 00:33 #2

• pcrazy99

  Love my country, hate my government.

  17.12.2009 02:02 #3

• windsong

  USA = Prison Nation
  
  It really is all about the money folks. They get more federal funding the more arrests they make. Fed funds are really YOUR money..or taxes. They turn right around and stab you in the back and all the while say theyre doing you a favor.
  
  Repubs..Democrats..no difference really where this cash grab is concerned.

  17.12.2009 02:25 #4

• 51area

  For the people my ass!

  17.12.2009 03:00 #5

• tatsh

  go and get rich. that is the solution.

  17.12.2009 03:16 #6

• wiimatrix

  Police State.Say no to the NWO
  Mery Christmas

  17.12.2009 03:23 #7

• AfterDraw

  Hey MPAA, somebody on the internet stole my doodles! They're making money from my doodles.
  
  Come on MPAA, you can help this little guy out! It's all about protecting intellectual property rights. Right?
  
  Hey MPAA, come back! I need protecting! MY DOODLES!!
  
  WHY AREN'T YOU PROTECTING ME TOOO!!

  17.12.2009 08:50 #8

• Mysttic

  HAHAHA Protect my doodles. that's awesome...
  
  But seriously I had no idea in the states they have FBI investigation team just for Piracy, I mean I read it on like the warning post shit on every movie before it starts, but I never realized they took it that far... wow... Glad in Canada the RCMP are too lazy to bother with us civilians over that, as they seem to be too busy protecting themselves from being corrupt themselves....

  17.12.2009 10:22 #9

• Gnawnivek

  Originally posted by pcrazy99: Love my country, hate my government.What's the difference? But yeah, i feel the same... Can't we just spend the money on more urgent matters? Like create more jobs?

  17.12.2009 10:59 #10

• Mez

  I love their math. They assume that if you down loaded anything you would have paid full price if you couldn't.

  17.12.2009 11:46 #11

• bomber991

  Originally posted by Mez: I love their math. They assume that if you down loaded anything you would have paid full price if you couldn't.It's just as bad with drug busts. You always see the stories on the news "This crack house got busted. Police estimated they seized $15 million worth of crack in this single house"

  17.12.2009 13:06 #12

• WierdName

  One quick note; those that don't live in the US or are under US jurisdiction really don't have a place to comment on why this is stupid. We may have problems, but we can at least publicize this crap and the crap with the politicians. That's a lot more than a lot of other countries can say. As for this particular topic though, the problem is the retards in power, the retards giving them that power, and not the 'country' as a whole.

  17.12.2009 14:53 #13

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Originally posted by pcrazy99: Love my country, hate my government.What's the difference? But yeah, i feel the same... Can't we just spend the money on more urgent matters? Like create more jobs?A country is made up of the sum of ALL parts the government is just a part ...the one that tends to drag everything down :P
  ==================================
  
  Mmmmmm hopfully this money will be used more for real crime and less to get ICE to chase modchippers and archivers....

  17.12.2009 15:09 #14

• Mysttic

  Quote:One quick note; those that don't live in the US or are under US jurisdiction really don't have a place to comment on why this is stupid. We may have problems, but we can at least publicize this crap and the crap with the politicians. That's a lot more than a lot of other countries can say. As for this particular topic though, the problem is the retards in power, the retards giving them that power, and not the 'country' as a whole.Unfortunately for you, you are incorrect; we have every right to comment as it pertains to freedom of speech which is the right of nearly anyone in the world, especially on the net. Second point of thought is that the US being the super power leader of the world as they are, influence all other countries decisions on such things as piracy and nearly every other law out there. Why, because the US government believes that if we don't follow in their footsteps either similar or exact; then we do not deserve to be their trading partner or worse. So other countries follow doing similar stupid lawsuits and enforcement claiming just how criminal and unlawful piracy is.
  
  So just cause you don't like it, well guess what, you gonna like it even less when people ignore your ignorant comments such as you saying that we shouldn't be able to speak our minds on how stupid it is, because in the end it really is stupid just how far the US goes to label people as criminals all for the chance at a buck.

  17.12.2009 16:12 #15

• Bozobub

  Frankly, $30 million isn't gonna do squat anyway, so it's an even more egregious waste of funds.
  
  Think of it this way: That's what, $1.67 million per state? Of course, most of the money would really be spent on the coasts, where population - and data - density is highest, but still, does anyone really think a couple million is going to be noticeable AT ALL in today's state governments and/or state FBI offices..?
  
  What a laughable waste of money and the FBI's time.

  17.12.2009 16:36 #16

• Mysttic

  Bozobub has a point, it's not a lot, and the reason likely for it is because Congress wanted to shut the MPAA up. But the MPAA liking to brag about any victory no matter how small is no surprising that they would advertise this win.

  17.12.2009 16:44 #17

• dozerking

  Hmm... I can think of a million ways to spend this money in a more humane manor. For fuck sake, we have thousands and thousands of people dieing in this Country each year due to poor or complete lack of access to healthcare. For a Country that constantly talks about how fucking great we are, we leave our citizens to rot. Don't be poor or lower middle class in this Country, you're fucked. That goes for gettting A lawyer too when uncle Sam comes a knocking... for grabbing a song that you've bought already on tape and then cd all those years ago....

  17.12.2009 16:47 #18

• pippincp

  Originally posted by WierdName: As for this particular topic though, the problem is the retards in power, the retards giving them that power, and not the 'country' as a whole.Aren't the "retards giving them that power" the majority of the country?
  That's how a Democracy works isn't it?- The will of the country?

  17.12.2009 18:23 #19

• HUNCHBAK

  They have done a real job at making people who sell movies out to horrible people. I don't want to argue morality here but I will just point out a few things.
  
  1. They don't steal anything thats the wrong word. They record or download something and then make copies of it. It isn't a tangable object you can hold onto. You can't buy or trade anything using photons as currency.
  
  2. When was the last time you were gullible enough to believe the reason movies are so expensive to see is because of pirates. Please it's corporate greed and wouldn't change if pirates were gone. I would argue that it would cost more because like business everywhere works , competition= lower prices. If you had no alternate they could and would charge as much as they want. Anyone remember when the very first movie rental stores opened. 30 years ago I remember seeing movies for sale at $99.00 each. No hollywood actors or producers are in the foodstamp lines my friend. The only sacrifices they make is maybe they can't buy 1 Lamborghini in each color at once. boo hoo.
  
  3. Like it or not accept that they really pump a lot of money into the local economy. They are not out there robbing movies from your house. They are not sticking up blockbuster stores. They are out buying printable disks (not cheap) ink cart for the printer (def. not cheap)cases and whatever else they have to use. That 15 bucks people save gets spent on things locally because instead of 20 bucks its 5 per movie.
  
  4. Heres the other thing I kind of think of them as robbin hood in a sense. We need movies in this world because with the state of life these days ..we need to be able to escape from reality but at 100 dollors to go to the movies with a date you don't get to escape. The entire movie is spent thinking of the hundred bucks you just dropped on another p.o.s. hollywood movie.
  
  5. And finally here it is ..look around at the unemployment rate ...the despair...the poverty...hopelessness of the world we are in. Anyone who can survive and feed their family today without robbing me selling dope to our kids or swindling old people out of their retirement is cool with me. And while they are doing it they are sticking it just a little to those fat cats who make 30 million dollars for a cameo in some P.O.S ?!?!They symbolize exactly what is wrong in this world. The CEO's have no problem milking hard working people out of everything they own without so much as a second thought. They are all the same and I say screw em. They through out those meaningless numbers like it was said before they are owed full price for every copy dl'd because they would have bought that if not for pirates. Anyone who knows anything about torrents can see how ridiculous this theory is. The amazing thing is just how many people trully believe what the hollywood elite say about piracy. Sorry but I will pat every last one of them on the back ,anyone who sticks it to them is ok in my book.
  
  I look at it like this.Look at the movie public enemies.The mindset in the movie is right on. The people really did not care when they robbed these banks because they saw the banks for what they are. They were greedy thieving criminals who sold houses to people they knew would default so they could foreclose and keep the land and what ever money they already had. WAKE UP PEOPLE..These people are ruining this world we live in and they have brainwashed most of us into supporting them.

  17.12.2009 18:41 #20

• WierdName

  Quote:Unfortunately for you, you are incorrect; we have every right to comment as it pertains to freedom of speech which is the right of nearly anyone in the world, especially on the net. Second point of thought is that the US being the super power leader of the world as they are, influence all other countries decisions on such things as piracy and nearly every other law out there. Why, because the US government believes that if we don't follow in their footsteps either similar or exact; then we do not deserve to be their trading partner or worse. So other countries follow doing similar stupid lawsuits and enforcement claiming just how criminal and unlawful piracy is.
  
  So just cause you don't like it, well guess what, you gonna like it even less when people ignore your ignorant comments such as you saying that we shouldn't be able to speak our minds on how stupid it is, because in the end it really is stupid just how far the US goes to label people as criminals all for the chance at a buck.I'm kind of in a bad mood right now so I probably shouldn't be making comments but here goes. I'm not saying people can't comment, but when people start going off against the government and basically lashing out at it have no place when they don't even reside within the country. Apparently you don't understand the point of my 'ignorant' comment. I can go off on each countries' problems but it's not really my place to start going off on rants when I don't have any personal experience on them. This isn't freedom of speech. I'm getting sick of hearing people trash my country without even having any real experience, just whatever headlines they read.
  
  Quote:Aren't the "retards giving them that power" the majority of the country?
  That's how a Democracy works isn't it?- The will of the country?No. When you have huge companies filling the right pockets, the mainstream media saturating their viewers with heavy bias towards their party, and the viewers not taking responsibility to educate theirselves rather than just taking face value, 'the majority of the country' doesn't really matter much.

  17.12.2009 18:48 #21

• pippincp

  Quote:No. When you have huge companies filling the right pockets, the mainstream media saturating their viewers with heavy bias towards their party, and the viewers not taking responsibility to educate theirselves rather than just taking face value, 'the majority of the country' doesn't really matter much.Wasn't trashing any country, just the statement. The above is good reason for revolution, not that I would agree or condone that either.

  17.12.2009 18:57 #22

• Run4two

  Zippy,
  
  You made my day. This is one of the most clear, accurate, and simple statements, A country is made up of the sum of ALL parts the government is just a part ...the one that tends to drag everything down
  
  Thank you

  17.12.2009 19:18 #23

• borhan9

  $30 Million should be going towards creating a health system for the american people not this nonsense. Put the money into education and health.
  Stupid investment.

  17.12.2009 21:27 #24

• KillerBug

  Quote:Quote:No. When you have huge companies filling the right pockets, the mainstream media saturating their viewers with heavy bias towards their party, and the viewers not taking responsibility to educate theirselves rather than just taking face value, 'the majority of the country' doesn't really matter much.Wasn't trashing any country, just the statement. The above is good reason for revolution, not that I would agree or condone that either.There are far too many brainwashed sheep for a revolution. They see a "change of power" every 4-8 years, and they seem to think that this is just as good as a revoltion. They don't seem to notice that the differences between the partys is less than the differences between candidates in the same party...nor do they notice that the candidates are all puppets being controlled by (mostly) the same group of people. They don't even care when voting machines show negative votes for a candidate and the victory was of a tiny margin...because they know we don't have a democracy, or even a republic...so who cares what puppets are on the strings?

  17.12.2009 23:34 #25

• 51area

  That's my 30 Million Dammit!

  18.12.2009 01:59 #26

• beanos66

  "Copyright industries in the U.S. lose $25.6 billion a year in revenue to piracy, the U.S. economy loses nearly 375,000 jobs either directly or indirectly related to the copyright industry, and American workers lose more than $16 billion in annual earnings,"
  
  more made up statistics

  18.12.2009 06:30 #27

• kyo28

  Guys, before going on a rant, let's see how they use those funds.
  I agree if it targets some causal downloaders, that this isn't money well spent.
  
  However, if this money is used to target hardened criminals who make illegal copies by the 1.000's and sell them at a profit (as mentioned in the article, with operation Holiday Hoax), then yes I agree it's good they crack down on them. These are the real criminals who effectively steal revenue from the creators of the original intellectual property and have a negative impact on the gaming, movie and music industry.

  18.12.2009 07:54 #28

• emugamer

  Originally posted by kyo28: Guys, before going on a rant, let's see how they use those funds.
  I agree if it targets some causal downloaders, that this isn't money well spent.
  
  However, if this money is used to target hardened criminals who make illegal copies by the 1.000's and sell them at a profit (as mentioned in the article, with operation Holiday Hoax), then yes I agree it's good they crack down on them. These are the real criminals who effectively steal revenue from the creators of the original intellectual property and have a negative impact on the gaming, movie and music industry.Local and State "Internet Crime Prention" and "IP Crimes." The way I read it, that stinks of criminalizing the casual downloader. Blu ray movies are available weeks before release in full 1080p and HD audio, through all forms of file sharing. The MPAA wants to snuff out this flame ASAP. I feel that is is their first strike. They might be using light artillery, but it will hit a handful of locals hard.

  18.12.2009 08:07 #29

• Mysttic

  Weirdname,
  
  You are correct I misunderstood your point, but that's all the more reason we all need to be careful with our words especially a txt on a public access website where so many things get construed. I for one think what the gov't spending $30 mil for that could be retarded, but at the same time the point of its used to find and convict criminals that make rips of these media for profit, I think they should be found.
  
  Now just cause someone comments on how stupid something is in the States, keep in mind it doesn't necessarily mean someone feels the States as a whole is retarded. Half my relatives are Americans residing in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. I for one have a lot to love about the states; I love how most citizens are patriotic something I don't see as much in my country. I love how people seem to stand up and fight more for their rights there, something I wish I'd see happen more in my country. And I love your food, Applebee's anyone? But that's way off the topic of MPAA getting more funding, I just hope in the future you realize not everyone hates the states when they make stupid moves like this one, tho I will admit there are people out there who are like that. Especially when one gets on the topic of the Afghan/Iraqi war.

  18.12.2009 10:56 #30

• danjaman

  HUNCHBAK,
  
  99% of my DVDS / Tunes are legit; but I still think you hit the nail on the head with that summary...

  18.12.2009 11:18 #31

• kscogg

  i bet that money gets sucked up faster than a dust bunny by a vacuum and never seen again.
  
  i guess this news is bad for libraries everywhere. you can check out cds, take them home and rip them. i work with a guy and his collection is almost entirely ripped from the library. so who is the criminal there? the library couldn't honestly think he wouldn't rip it or copy it. i guess the thinking here is that if you listen to it and like it you'll go buy it? this is why everyone involved with anti-piracy is stupid. all of the technology is there for the common man to pirate something and instead of focusing on limiting the tech they bring down the man.
  
  it doesn't really matter though, piracy is and always will be alive and well. its a lot like the never-ending drug war that will never be won.

  21.12.2009 15:00 #32

• LSDodgers (unverified)

  Originally posted by windsong: USA = Prison Nation
  
  It really is all about the money folks. They get more federal funding the more arrests they make. Fed funds are really YOUR money..or taxes. They turn right around and stab you in the back and all the while say theyre doing you a favor.
  
  Repubs..Democrats..no difference really where this cash grab is concerned. This is very true. What happened to "LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL" Have you ever thought of that? USA is slowly becoming a country that wants to control its people in every aspect.
  
  Just remember one thing. 'THE BULLY IS A BULLY UNTIL YOU LET HIM' [LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION BROTHERS]
  
  
  

  15.7.2010 04:15 #33