MPAA finally admits piracy is not the same as stealing, kinda

The MPAA's CEO Chris Dodd has finally admitted that the group's tactics of comparing piracy to stealing is a bad choice.

Over the last decade (or longer), the media industry has used the word "theft" to describe piracy and "thieves" for those that engage in the copying or unauthorized sharing of movies.

As we have posted here on Afterdawn many times before, the following video has been a mainstay of the MPAA's video archives:

Dodd appears to have softened his stance in that regard, however, stating: "We're going to have to be more subtle and consumer-oriented. We're on the wrong track if we describe this as thievery."

As you can tell, the MPAA may still believe it is stealing to pirate a movie, but they just won't use that term anymore.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 May 2012 22:43

Clam_Up

It's a step forward, but how about we do away with the terms piracy and pirates all together and leave those for the pantaloon-clad wayfarers of the high seas?

Copying without permission is Copyright Infringement. Plain, simple, accurate and to the point.

21.5.2012 22:48 #1

scorpNZ

The term "pirate" is incorrect to begin with,it doesn't matter whether you bought whatever then downloaded the very same for a media device for whatever reason usually it'd because you need to jump thru a stack hoops just to get it too bloody work,when going to pirate bay & downloading it the dam thing just works quick & convenient on any device of your choice,yet doing so labels you a pirate,why should you re-buy it for whatever media device.There is always going to be a majority that will never pay for it period it's just business & should be treated as such it works for the mafia,however making it impossible or ridiculously hard for those legit users i just mentioned will force the very customers you need to grow the business from bothering to buy if you make it next to impossible to do what you want with it,granted a few dvd's now have the ability to drop to any device but not all can.What i don't get is why the industry itself doesn't start up it's own site like pirate bay or megaupload & provide perhaps low quality movies ,well 700mb sd dvd ain't exactly great quality & make money off of advertisers,i guess that would be to simple a solution

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21.5.2012 23:52 #2

mukhis

MPAA should ask the following questions:
# do movie companies make clean (video/audio quality) products like pirates do? many DVDrips look better than than the original disc.
# do movie companies make user friendly products like pirates do? BD playback is of so much headache now-a-days. 3D BDs make more fuss.
# do movie companies deserve the money they are asking for? i mean when a new blu-ray comes in, it costs you ~ $30. really?
# movie companies have started yet another joke, remastered DVD and BD. does a customer get the remastered version without any further investment? no! let's remember remastered version is not an upgrade (i understand upgrade may cost you) because remastering happens since they did not do something right while encoding. in fact, remastering is like an update.

you don't want to be entertained with a pain in the a*$.

that being said i am not supporting piracy, however, when they say piracy is stealing...people steal to make a living (typically, selling), how many downloaders make a living from downloaded contents?

22.5.2012 05:38 #3

Mrguss

Since MPAA is into a such positive trance spirit; They should just doom themselves and call it "The Greatest Goodbye"

+5000

22.5.2012 05:50 #4

Mysttic

Damage is already done. You ever go on a site/board/twitter even and get slammed for piracy being compared to thieves at best and up there with scum of the earth murderers/serial rapists and so forth?

I got slammed the other day for admitting that when Borderlands launched I pirated it, played it; thought it was ugly at first, fell in love with the game, bought it twice and pre-ordered Borderlands 2 Ultimate edition. Nobody cared that I bought the game twice and have the sequel pre-ordered, all of a sudden i was the bad guy for having ever pirated the game in the first place. Never mind that Gearbox, got my $ twice, got my $ twice for all the DLC as well. Nope I deserve to be in max pen for ever having pirated a game in the first place.

Is it wrong to say I miss the early days of the internet before all the mass idiots got on and piracy wasn't even known as piracy but instead as file sharing? Is it wrong to miss the days where I could copy my friends CD just to be like, hey this band is awesome give it a try?

22.5.2012 10:07 #5

Blessedon

Hmmm, must be a different Chris Dodd....
He looks a lot like that guy who at first denied, but then was forced to admit he got $800,000 is discount loans from Angelo Mozilo at Countrywide in exchange for special treatment from his Chair on the Senate Banking Committee.
You know, the one sponsored the Financial "Reform" bill (i.e. Dodd / Frank) that was actually written by Wall Street to prevent reform. A bill that makes no mention at all, much less "reforms" the main culprit behind the financial meltdown; Fannie and Freddie. Oh, well, can't blame them since Frank's boyfriend works there....
Dodd also directly got Clinton to pardon his partner-in-crime; Downe despite still owing millions to the SEC.
HE put the amendment into the so-called "stimulus" so that his co-thugs at AIG still got their bonuses. AIG donated more to Dodd than any other politician, and Dodd's wife served on AIG's board.
We needn't even bother with getting into the fraudulent and corrupt real estate dealings to admit that Dodd is the most corrupt elected official in history. Oh...or is that Maxine Waters', whose husband he helped out, or Barney Frank, or Chuck Schumer, or Rangel...Obama and Madelaine Talbot....
Sigh...there are too many!

22.5.2012 10:10 #6

SmaryJerry (unverified)

Originally posted by Clam_Up: It's a step forward, but how about we do away with the terms piracy and pirates all together and leave those for the pantaloon-clad wayfarers of the high seas?

Copying without permission is Copyright Infringement. Plain, simple, accurate and to the point. You could call them infringers.. but calling anyone a negative term ending in "ger" may not go well.

22.5.2012 13:16 #7

Jeffrey_P

Read through the lines....

The MPAA will just invent new tactics since they are now losing court cases and their coveted bills have failed. Stuffing money into politicians pockets also have so far not worked the way MPAA had hoped.

It seems we sleepy Americans needed a wake-up call to get the ball rolling.

Chris Dodd needs an enema.

Jeff

22.5.2012 15:07 #8

hearme0

I for one say simply "GOD granted me the knowledge and know how to freely engage in anything I choose via the internet, gaming, etc so if you have a problem with me grabbing something then take it up with him."

I mean.........really..........there are so many techno illiterates out there that can't even drag the mouse to group a bunch of icons and therefore buy EVERYTHING on the web because they don't know better, I can assure anyone that very little if any harm is coming from all the illicit downloading of movies, music, software, etc by us "pirates".

22.5.2012 21:56 #9

Jeffrey_P

Originally posted by hearme0: I for one say simply "GOD granted me the knowledge and know how to freely engage in anything I choose via the internet, gaming, etc so if you have a problem with me grabbing something then take it up with him."

I mean.........really..........there are so many techno illiterates out there that can't even drag the mouse to group a bunch of icons and therefore buy EVERYTHING on the web because they don't know better, I can assure anyone that very little if any harm is coming from all the illicit downloading of movies, music, software, etc by us "pirates". Good Orderly Direction is good.

Jeff

22.5.2012 23:32 #10

mukhis

Originally posted by Mysttic: all of a sudden i was the bad guy for having ever pirated the game in the first place.
+1
similar thing happens when you buy a VCD/VHS and then DVD copy of it, and one day you find some BD comes in and then its remastered version, and you wonder, "what the heck?" and, you are being called a pirate because you are downloading a BDrip now.

22.5.2012 23:50 #11

xboxdvl2

i dont see whats wrong with piracy for personal use.I think its wrong if someones making money copying someone elses work.As for being a bad guy for piracy thats a joke....bad guys are the ones that beat people up (for no reason) or rob houses or rapist. or murders or theives.

R.I.P. mr 1990 ford falcon.got myself a 1993 toyota corolla seems to run good.computers still going good.

23.5.2012 04:32 #12

Mysttic

Quote:similar thing happens when you buy a VCD/VHS and then DVD copy of it, and one day you find some BD comes in and then its remastered version, and you wonder, "what the heck?" and, you are being called a pirate because you are downloading a BDrip now.
+1 back at you. very fair point, as the laws in some countries states you can have multiple copies of your media, but don't have exemptions for the rule. Meaning I should be allowed to have a bluray rip of something I own.

Dah well, soon the internet will be so constricted, that I'll likely just cease to have it, except for my smart phones, as what will be the point?

23.5.2012 09:25 #13

chrialex

I just have to say, if someone buys a DVD/Bluray/etc, and watches it, they can then go and take it to a consignment store to resell, or sell on a garage sale, Craigslist, etc...but they can't copy/convert it into a different format to watch on their smartphone or tablet or something along those lines? How can that be illegal? They paid for it, they are the ones going to watch it. They are not making money off of it like they would if they were to sell the original or, dare I say, copies? You used to be able to make copies of anything for personal backups, remember it was called Fair Use? You can still do that, but to do so, you have to break the law to get past the DRM the producers put on. That should be illegal, they are the ones Infringing on the Fair Use Act.

Section 3: Quote:In United States, it is legal for an individual in the United States to make a copy of media he/she owns for his/her own personal use. Fair Use grants you the right to make a backup copy of your media for your own personal use. But in the case where media contents are protected using some effective copy protection scheme, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes it illegal to circumvent that copy protection scheme. This law makes it illegal to rip most commercial DVDs as they are typically protected by CSS encryption.

Do what you can while its still questionably Legal, before it becomes UNQuestionably ILLegal.
chrialex

26.5.2012 03:19 #14

Interestx

They can dress it up however they like but mere copyright infringement in most of the (sane) world is not a criminal offense.
Hence their attachment to describing it as 'theft' etc etc.

What this is really all about is milking profits from copyrighting forever.

It's not about the little guy (and never was, except back in the 19th century when copyright began) it's about the studios being insane enough to genuinely believe that every download is a lost sale & that if they just approach this tough enough they can realise those 'lost sales'.

We're in a situation where the courts are imposing several thousand $/� ruinous vindictive fines over the material on CDs or DVDs that can be bought for pennies (sometimes literally).
It's utterly evil.

.........and it's not as if 'the entertainment industry' isn't already one of the most profitable enterprises on the planet as it is.

26.5.2012 07:43 #15

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