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As the MPAA tells it, piracy is really killing the movie industry. It's been whining about piracy for basically my entire lifetime, and constantly predicting its own demise if "something" is not done. And, despite the fact that Congress has repeatedly obliged Hollywood in ratcheting up copyright anti-piracy laws and despite the fact that the MPAA has been clearly wrong repeatedly (such that the new technologies it feared actually helped expand Hollywood's business), the studios continue to push for awful changes to copyright law, citing the horrors of piracy.
And yet... now it's coming out that Disney not only had a good year last year, it had the best year ever for a movie studio. Not surprisingly, Disney put out its own glowing press release over this:
[Also Covered By]: Disney made more money in a single year than any other movie studio—ever
(Score: 0, Troll) by idiot_king on Saturday May 27 2017, @03:24AM (10 children)
...just because Disney has billions upon billions, that makes dishonesty honorable?
Is that the implication, here?
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @03:35AM
What you wrote is so vague that it is meaningless.
You mention dishonesty but you leave out a reference regarding WHO is dishonest.
As such what you wrote is just meaningless drivel.
But you DO live up to your nickname : IdiotKing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @03:48AM (3 children)
Not at all. But the movie industry insists pirates are worse than murderers and lobbies for ever-increasing penalties against them. If you steal something that costs $20 from the store, you're guilty of misdemeanor theft at most. If you download one $20 movie, they want to fine you $10,000 and/or put you in prison for years. That's what people object to - the disproportionate punishment for a minor crime, only possible because every politician has their hand in the movie industry's pockets.
(Score: 5, Informative) by NotSanguine on Saturday May 27 2017, @04:20AM (2 children)
There. FTFY.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday May 27 2017, @08:35AM (1 child)
Mmm, torte...
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @09:56AM
nomnomnomnomnom...et gateau!
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Saturday May 27 2017, @03:55AM
Money always make dishonesty honourable, just look in how much respect the Wall Street guys and property developers are hold.
Some of their sort even got elected/appointed in govt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @07:40AM
Since disney has made its billions upon billions in part by waging war on the public domain, then:
(1) yes, we're at war;
(2) is taking back something stolen from you dishonest (as opposed to illegal)?
(3) they declared war on us and we're responding in a way that minimises "collateral damage".
The only implication here is point (2) above - the implied answer is "no".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @12:30PM
No, moron, it says that content doesn't need to be locked-up behind copyright for a hundred years. That's wasn't it's original intent, and is still unnecessary now.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 27 2017, @02:21PM
Sorry, but I've not been able to find the original page - this quote will have to do.
https://crotchetybookman.blogspot.com/2010/10/baen-publishings-free-ebooks.html [blogspot.com]
Introducing the Baen Free Library
by Eric Flint
Baen Books is now making available — for free — a number of its titles in electronic format. We're calling it the Baen Free Library. Anyone who wishes can read these titles online — no conditions, no strings attached. (Later we may ask for an extremely simple, name & email only, registration. ) Or, if you prefer, you can download the books in one of several formats. Again, with no conditions or strings attached. (URLs to sites which offer the readers for these format are also listed. )
Why are we doing this? Well, for two reasons.
The first is what you might call a "matter of principle." This all started as a byproduct of an online "virtual brawl" I got into with a number of people, some of them professional SF authors, over the issue of online piracy of copyrighted works and what to do about it.
There was a school of thought, which seemed to be picking up steam, that the way to handle the problem was with handcuffs and brass knucks. Enforcement! Regulation! New regulations! Tighter regulations! All out for the campaign against piracy! No quarter! Build more prisons! Harsher sentences! Alles in ordnung!
I, ah, disagreed. Rather vociferously and belligerently, in fact. And I can be a vociferous and belligerent fellow. My own opinion, summarized briefly, is as follows:
1. Online piracy — while it is definitely illegal and immoral — is, as a practical problem, nothing more than (at most) a nuisance. We're talking brats stealing chewing gum, here, not the Barbary Pirates.
2. Losses any author suffers from piracy are almost certainly offset by the additional publicity which, in practice, any kind of free copies of a book usually engender. Whatever the moral difference, which certainly exists, the practical effect of online piracy is no different from that of any existing method by which readers may obtain books for free or at reduced cost: public libraries, friends borrowing and loaning each other books, used book stores, promotional copies, etc.
3. Any cure which relies on tighter regulation of the market — especially the kind of extreme measures being advocated by some people — is far worse than the disease. As a widespread phenomenon rather than a nuisance, piracy occurs when artificial restrictions in the market jack up prices beyond what people think are reasonable. The "regulation-enforcement-more regulation" strategy is a bottomless pit which continually recreates (on a larger scale) the problem it supposedly solves. And that commercial effect is often compounded by the more general damage done to social and political freedom.
__________________
tl/dr: fuck the fascist sons of bitches
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Saturday May 27 2017, @11:14PM
The murder rate has been dropping since the 1990s. This means it is OK to be a murderer.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Saturday May 27 2017, @03:37AM (2 children)
Speaks like racketeering, acts like a mob. And profits like a mob. What could it be?
Seems the difference between USA and Russia is how obvious this scheming is.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday May 27 2017, @03:57AM (1 child)
Its self-evident, no? They're the Disney studios.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 27 2017, @06:12AM
I think more of a corpomob. Legal like a corporation. Behavior like a mob.
They don't kill people, instead they condemn them to debt slavery. And the rest is bullied by their hired guns, the lawyers and the media. No need to break any law, just pay for them to be adjusted or created.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by black6host on Saturday May 27 2017, @03:56AM (19 children)
I'm really am very tired of hearing how Hollywood suffers so. And all the artists that have proven that they've been robbed of quadrillions of dollars (US) of wealth.
I play for free. And there are a lot better than me that do so as well. Same thing with acting or any other art. There will always be those that make it for the love of it and those that support it for the love of it.
So, fuck the MPAA and the rest of 'em. They've been making more money than ever and anyone that thinks otherwise should take a close look. Do you see any of those assholes without a coke line under their nose? No, they're doing fine, trust me.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Saturday May 27 2017, @04:07AM (5 children)
I went yesterday to watch the new Alien.
Not a single character sketched/defined enough so I can sympathize with and feel their fear. Not even the aliens.
By its mediocrity, one of the worst movie I watched - not even so bad to laugh at the stupidity of the director or the second grade skill of the actors. It's even worse than Alien3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @08:13AM (3 children)
I have to ask, why? What moral defense do you have for supporting that industry?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @11:17AM (1 child)
He wanted to have the experience of passing through a
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoralEventHorizon [tvtropes.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday May 28 2017, @06:13AM
Or that, indeed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday May 28 2017, @06:10AM
Has been the first movie I watched in the theatre in the last 5 years.
> I have to ask, why?
Throw Ridley Scott a pittance once in a while.
Maybe to recall the taste of giant popcorn with a huge soda sugary drink and hear the noisy slurp at the end.
The last video rental store in the area is closing down; Netflix effect, I'm not keen to join yet.
Take your pick from above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 27 2017, @02:26PM
I'm accustomed to feeling no empathy for the actors. But, when they can't even generate empathy for the alien, that's really sad. I like the movies where the alien eats several vestal virgins, before starting on the Earthling army. Poor alien has to survive somehow, right?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @04:30AM (12 children)
What the fuck are you talking about? Just because you play for free everyone should offer their services for free? I'm guessing you make money some other way. Why don't you do that for free? I made more money last year than I ever made. Does that mean there is something wrong with me when I put better locks on my doors? Even better, all you dipshits should be allowed to steal my stuff?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @04:59AM (5 children)
No, people shouldn't be allowed to steal your stuff. People should be allowed to copy your stuff, however. Anything else is an intolerable restriction on freedom of speech and anti-free market.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @05:19AM (3 children)
i want a copy of his wife and mom. I'm entitled.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @06:49AM (1 child)
The least you can do is buy them a coffee and swipe their DNA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @11:21AM
Sounds like he wants to donate his DNA... for free!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @02:30PM
His wife was a dog before she reached puberty, and puberty did her no favors. But, his mom is pretty hot!! If you can make a copy of her before she reached 30, it will be worth it!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 29 2017, @07:50PM
Bullshit. just because the stuff I make can he copied, like a book, music or artwork, doesn't mean anyone can have their own copy of it for free.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Whoever on Saturday May 27 2017, @05:45AM (2 children)
Yes, it's not like Disney made billions of dollars on the basis of a few old stories (or not so old stories [wikipedia.org]) without paying for them, is it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @05:09PM (1 child)
That's a good point! By that rationale, Arthur Laurents shouldn't be paid for his book, Leonard Bernstein shouldn't be paid for the music he wrote, Stephen Sondheim shouldn't be paid for the lyrics he wrote, Jerome Robbins shouldn't be paid for his choreography, and of course, none of the actors or crew should be paid since West Side Story is just a rip off of Romeo and Juliet. And of course, anyone should be able to copy any or all of that work without paying one cent to those who created it. Does anyone actually think before they write?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 28 2017, @04:18AM
How much did THEY pay Shakespeare's estate? 'Cause that's the way things are headed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @07:44AM
I think they meant hollyweird should just get a day job like the rest of the world.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @02:28PM
"all you dipshits should be allowed to steal my stuff?"
Of course not. Hire me for security, and I'll keep all the other dipshits out of your stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @05:23PM
> Just because you play for free everyone should offer their services for free?
Hell with his Mom, now anyone can have Joni Mitchell "For Free" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bSgoNNQ0m8 [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Saturday May 27 2017, @06:29AM
Makes sense to me - if people download ("or netflix") the movies they want to see then they have more cash available to watch the stuff they're being told to see.
Not sure if I'm joking or being serious...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @03:39PM
Hollywood screaming against piracy is so that piracy can be called bad, wrong, immoral, illegal, ...
So that people will be reminded not to go to websites that might have pirated material in addition to the material the viewer wants to access.
Hollywoood is being used as bait in order to illegalize and ban any websites that have material hollywood's owners, the filthy jews want to control.
It is they who have wronged the world, giving us world wars, death, destruction, disease and whatnot. The jews must go.
Come on, think about it. Hollywood is making more money because of piracy and they know it. They know statistics and numbers don't lie. And they scream "we're dying here because of piracy. Ban piracy with minimum mandatory sentences so we can breathe" etc. It is pathetic that the public is unable to see the jew for what he really is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 28 2017, @04:30AM
Yawning is something. Therefore, we must yawn.