I’ve said it 1000 times before, but let me preface this post by saying it again. I am 100% against piracy. Piracy is theft no matter how you try to justify it. Pure an simple. You are stealing the creative work of others that someone has invested small fortunes in and there is no excuse you can give that makes it “ok” to do it. That being said, the Motion Picture Association of America have made jackasses out of themselves by how they’ve chosen over the years to try to enforce anti-piracy laws. Prosecuting teenage kids, going after parents, treating everyone like they’re criminals without ever actually addressing the real core reasons for piracy.
One of the things I’ve really HATED is how the MPAA has been fighting for years to stop you and me… law abiding citizens and costumers… from legally making backups of the DVDs we LEGALLY PURCHASE. DVD are fragile things, and if I slap down money to buy your stupid product, I want to be able to safe keep it and back it up. I’m not a pirate!!! If I was I wouldn’t have bought your damn DVD in the first place.
Anyway, a court battle is raging right now in this fight between the Hollywood studios and RealNetworks, a company that has a piece of software to help you backup your DVDs to your computer. Yahoo News gives us this:
If RealNetworks wins, it could establish a beachhead for software that transfers movies from DVDs to hard drives, opening the door for many companies to sell devices that can store and organize movies from DVDs. RealNetworks began selling “RealDVD” for $30 at the end of September, but only a few thousand copies were out the door before it wound up in court. Judge Patel temporarily halted sales in October.
Now the judge is considering a preliminary injunction against the Seattle-based software company. RealNetworks lawyer Len Cunningham argued that the studios had their own products which provide for backups, called digitalcopy. “They have aggressively marketed it,” he said. “The threat (to Hollywood) is for legitimate competition.” The judge interjected: “They have the copyright.” Cunningham argued that DVD owners have a “fair use” right to make copies of their own DVDs. But Reginald Steer of the DVD group said the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 had overtaken that argument.
RealNetworks says the software can be used with one hard drive and only five devices, such as laptops or televisions. That would prevent it from getting on the Internet or being handed off from one friend to another, they say.
The last paragraph is the part I don’t get. If RealNetworks has made this software with built in protection to stop people from sharing the files with other people… what the hell is the problem here? This is frigging ridiculous.
If the MPAA want to fight piracy, then they should be working with companies like RealNetworks to make the software available… not fight against it. They should be making owning movies easier and easier rather than fighting to take away our rights to protect and back up the things we buy from them. Taking away that ability just makes it more tempting to pirate stuff. Frigging ignorant morons.
I have cloning software with built-in copyright security protocal smashers in it, and this is a legally sold piece of software that’s never been shut down or even threatened. I clone all of the DVDs I buy and my video games, my music, you name it. The real copies are in a fire-proof safe in my basement. I’m not stupid, I have tens-of-thousands of dollars invested in these things.
Hell, I even do this for my friends who show me the movie or music or whatever kind of software they have they want backed up.
And I don’t fall under the damned US bills, thank dog, screw this noise, I’m building a website with secured clones of movies. E-mail me, show me your receipt and proof of purchase, blah-blah-blah, pay for the disc to burn it on and I’ll ship you a backup right to your door.
Now I’m gonna go and relax with the new episode of Heroes i just downloaded, and you guys just chill a little. Is that piracy? Because i don’t want to wait a few months before it’s on Croatian TV? What did i steal? I still pay my TV bills. How’s that harming anyone?
It think the big difference between me and John is that, well, we live in completely different parts of the world and have different “country view” on piracy. In USA, you can go to jail for watching pirated movies. In Croatia, there’s not really a law against it. EVERYONE in Croatia is watching pirated movies, and i can’t imagine anyone has any regret. To us, it’s completely normal. My mom asked me to burn her some movies when I go to my home town to visit her. When someone buys an “original” DVD, we all go “whoa, an original, sweet”. That amazes us. Sure, we all know piracy is wrong, but no one really cares. Sure, we occasionally go to cinema. But unlike USA, Croatia’s economy is really messed up. Going to movies or buying a DVD is such a luxury. Imagine that in USA a movie on DVD costs 80 dollars. That’s how much it costs to us (comparing our economies). Viva la crappy economy, eh?
Piracy is just a way of life.
No, the difference between you and John is that you are comfortable stealing things because you have made up shallow excuses to do so. It has nothing to do with where you live. You took something without paying for it. I am certain even in Croatia that is still against the law.
Exactly your point. You know piracy is wrong, and you know it is against the law. But you dont care. You can make all the excuses you want, but you cannot say its right.
Guys, stop kissing John’s ass :) Stealing? Give me a break. I never stole anything in my life – except a pack of gum when i was a kid. Stealing that pack of gum was wrong. Watching some movie isn’t. And how can you be so blind to call all stealing the same? Is the armed robbery the same as me as a kid stealing a pack of gum? Is a car thief equally bad as a poor guy in india that steals a loaf of bread so he can survive? You have such one track mind. You would be an awful judge, so don’t go into law college. :) I bet you would imprison me this moment, because you value distribution rights more than human rights.
So if you fail in your argument, and someone else notices, then we are kissing John’s ass?
Now you are trying to equate piracy to your own human right??
As a matter of fact Huggybear I did go to law college… but that’s besides the point.
Stealing is stealing. If you bothered to read the responses I wrote to you, you’ll see I already said some stealing is worse than others… but stealing is stealing.
You steal. Period. Piracy is stealing. Period. So far you’ve failed to make any arguments that refute that except that “well it’s not as bad as staling a car”.
huggybear,
there is a difference between agreeing w/ john and “kissing his ass”
Ive learned now its better too read and not comment lol…I got nothing John nice response, keep up the good work!
Also, a lot of people can’t afford to go to cinema anyway, so if they watch a movie they never could afford to watch in cinema anyway, they harmed no-one.
You’re just making the same failed argument over and over again. Just because something is too expensive doesn’t mean it’s ok to steal it.
And I’m sorry, but if people own a computer and can afford high speed internet… they can afford $10 to pay for a movie they want to see. If they can’t, then they shouldn’t see it, just like other things they can’t afford and have to choose to not get.
Once again, the argument “if it’s expensive, that means it’s ok to steal it” doesn’t hold water. It’s still stealing.
huggybear,
if they cant afford to see movies in cinemas then they can always pay $5 dollars to rent the film when its on dvd, they dont have to steal the film, in fact this site has a great article on “how to save money on films”
$5 dollars(more or less)
John, stop comparing piracy with auto theft or killing people. Your’re oooooooooooooooooooverexagerating.
Has any production company went bankrupt on account of pirating? No, never, and none ever will. Did someone die because of pirated movies? No, never did and never will.
I’ll keep comparing it because the analogy is 100% accurate. It’s stealing. Period. Stealing movies is not “as bad” as stealing a car, but the principle is the exact same. You’re stealing something you didn’t pay for, and the fact that the thing is expensive doesn’t negate the fact that you’re stealing.
Has ANYONE gone bankrupt because something was stolen from them? So that makes it ok to steal from them?
Walmart makes tons of money, so they wouldn’t miss that game or movie you just tucked in your jacket. Try telling the cop its ok to take it because its not like it would bankrupt walmart.
I bet if someone stole something from YOU then you would completely be on John’s side. You keep putting your foot in your mouth with rationalizations that just don’t work.
Hollywood made a LOT of bad movies in the last 10 years. It was easier to make a awful, stupid movie and pay a critic for a decent review. Hell, I’ve recently seen reviews so fake that it hurts my brain.
Movie industry: too often false advertising, bad and far too expensive product. Obviously wants to screw the consumer on every step.
Consumers: pirating the (too often) bad product, to see if its any good. Yes its stealing, but not all stealing is bad. A truly good movie can get some decent reputation via pirated copies, and actually get some sales and perhaps even cult status = income for years to come.
So both sides are wrong. Movies should be CHEAPER, industry should play fair, and it should be convenient to buy/watch a movie over internet. Less awful movies, and buyers would perhaps have more confidence that the money they want to spend will not be thrown in vain.
Hey Zhillord,
You said:
“but not all stealing is bad. A truly good movie can get some decent reputation via pirated copies, and actually get some sales and perhaps even cult status.”
That is nonsense dude. That’s like saying “Yes judge, I broke into his house and shot him in the chest… but when they were operating on him the doctors discovered he had another medical condition that would have killed him if they didn’t discover it. So really, it’s good that I shot him right”?
You also said:
“Movies should be CHEAPER, industry should play fair, and it should be convenient to buy/watch a movie over internet. “
I totally agree and have been saying the same thing for years now… BUT… You’re saying if something is too expensive, that means it’s ok to steal it??? Really??? That’s nonsense. If it’s too expensive, then just don’t buy it. Period. Go steal an over priced corvette and then tell the judge that you only did it because you thought the sticker price was too high. See what he says.
All these arguments are totally invalid and are just excuses people who steal movies use to try to justify to themselves what they’re doing. But it’s stealing. Period.
If you want to steal movies, fine. It’s none of my business, and I’m certainly not judging… but don’t insult your own intelligence or mine by trying to claim it’s anything other than theft. Call a spade a spade.
Quality of movies is subjective? Really? Tell that to poor people who paid to see Epic Movie :) I saw it on TV and still wanted my time back :)
Ok, tell me this. If on sunday there’s a movie on tv i want to watch, but i’ll be out of town. So i download it from pirate bay and watch it when I have time. So, is that piracy? I wouldn’t pay for it anyway because it’s on tv.
Hey Huggybear,
Like I said in an earlier comment… you’re now getting into “how man angels can dance on the head of a pin” questions that don’t apply to this this conversation at all.
Your question is a FAR DIFFERENT situation than someone who decides to download an movie that they didn’t pay for.
There are grey areas that I think the movie industry needs to be working on to make it EASIER for people like us to get content in situations like the one you just mentioned… but once again that situation is a completely different one than the one we’re talking about.
I understand your logic. I don’t completely disagree with you. However, you’re making everything so “black or white”, and nothing in life is that simple.
Answer me this;
if you went to a store and it said “fresh muffins”, and you bought them, and when you come home you realized they are not fresh, but stale. Would you want your money back?
The same way the movie makers advertise their movies. They find one critic that finds their movie watchable, and put his/hers quote all over the movie poster. You go and watch the film, and realize it’s not “fresh” as advertised, but it’s “stale”. Would you want your money back?
I would also like to hear your opinion on my previous question, the one about ads before the movies
As I already said… Movie are subjective. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not a good movie… and vice versa.
Stale or Fresh are OBJECTIVE terms. The quality of a movie is SUBJECTIVE. You can’t compare the two. If they advertise a movie, and they give you a movie, then you got what you paid for. If you enjoyed it or not is up to you.
The only way your example holds up is if they advertise they were going to show you the next Lord of the Rings movie, but instead show you the Hanna Montana movie. Otherwise, you got what you paid for.
And I did already give you my opinion about the ads before the movies. If you don’t like them, don’t go. Simple. Not liking the ads does not give you the right to steal the movie. It gives you the right to not go, that’s it.
That’s like saying “They mark up the prices on the new cars too much. Therefore it’s ok for me to steal one”.
If the movie sucks, than the studio stole my money. They sell crap for full price. Who’s the thief then?
No. Movies are art, and that means subjective. If you buy a ticket to see a movie, the only way they “stole” your money is if they fail to show you a movie. If they show you the movie, then you got what you paid for. A movie. If you like or dislike it is totally up to your individual tastes.
You can try to justify it all you like, but your logic fails. Piracy is theft. You took it without paying for it. Period. It is what it is.
“the only way they “stole” your money is if they fail to show you a movie”
Says the man who claims his time is being stolen by cinemas showing adverts.
If you skip the adverts at the start of a film, are you in effect stealing a movie? You could be accused of stealing from the theatre company who need the revenue from adverts to stay in business. If you take in your own snacks, are you stealing from the theatre company too?
That’s an idiotic comparison Ian9outof10.
I paid for the movie. I paid to be in the seat. I paid admission. I am getting no compensation for watching their ads.
Why is it idiotic?
The fact is, any cinema chain will tell you, they struggle to make money out of movies, especially early in the run.
If you skip the ads or take your own food in, you’re depriving them of money.
In the first weeks of a movie release, a MASSIVE percentage of the ticket sale goes to the Studio, leaving the cinema with no way to make money apart from with other products.
It’s idiotic because I PAID TO BE THERE. This isn’t TV where I’m essentially getting a free TV show and thus have to sit through commercials.
I BOUGHT A TICKET. I PAID for the movie.
The theater’s financial arrangements with the studios is none of my business, nor is it my problem. I paid for a movie. If you want to show me ads, then you have to compensate me for it.
I paid for the movie.
I paid for the movie.
I paid for the movie.
I did not pay to watch 20 minutes of commercials.
If you don’t know the difference, I just don’t know how to help you.
I do know the difference, and you know I do!
My argument is that your ticket price is subsidised by the adverts and food. If you don’t watch the adverts and take your own food, perhaps you should pay more to see the film.
No Ian9outof10,
Ticket prices are not subsidized by ads in movies. Do the math. I’ve written articles about this.
When you buy something, you have to agree what the price is.
When I buy my movie ticket, no where did it say the price was $10 PLUS 20 minutes of commercials.
There are many theaters that do not show commercials.
I paid to be in the movie theater. I bought my seat. I paid for a movie. Not commercials.
Plus i have to say, i did watch Wolverine movie, that unfinished version. And you know what? I’m gonna go to cinema to see it, because i liked the movie in general and would now like to see it with special effects and 10 minutes that weren’t in the work copy.
Consider that like a demo version :) If you like it, come and buy it. :)
Except the studio didn’t offer you a demo version. You stole it.
Hey John, why should i buy the ticket so they can rape me with commercials for 20 minutes before the movie begins? If i have to sit through so much commercials, the ticket should be free. If they didn’t show the ads, i would GLADLY pay for the ticket.
I’m from Croatia btw, i don’t know do you have to endure countless ads in US too.
Hey Huggybear,
You only gave a reason why you shouldn’t go… not a reason why you should be allowed to steal it.
If a car is too expensive, does that give you the right to steal it? No. It just means you shouldn’t give them your business by buying it.
John,
Four questions for you on piracy:
If you bought a movie, and it got wrecked, and I offered to make a copy of my disc and send it to you, would you accept it?
I once had a CD box set, 6 discs. One of the CD’s got damaged in a car wreck. Two songs, one only available as part of the box set, were unplayable. Was I morally wrong to download MP3s of those two songs instead of buying another box set?
I DVR a movie from HBO. I can keep it on my DVR indefinitely. The movie studio got my money through my HBO subscription. I can watch it as often as I want. Would it be wrong to get an electronic copy so I could watch it on my computer in the den instead of on the TV?
I watch a serial TV show every week. The cable goes out so I can’t see it one week. Is it wrong to get a copy of the episode to watch so I can resume watching the weekly broadcast (with ads) and not miss part of the story?
Hey LordThyBob,
These are all “How many Angles can fit on the ead of a Pin” questions.
Questions like these are ones that the studios need to address. And address them seriously to make it easier for us, the audience, to legally and properly “consume” their content. Moral grey areas like the ones you ask in your questions (totally legit questions by the way) aren’t what I’m talking about when it comes to Piracy.
People who decide they want to see a movie without paying for it… in essence enjoying the work of other people without compensating them for it, is theft. The ones who search out Torrents of newly released movies and so forth.
@ John,
I understand where your coming from, but I have to say I disagree. If I worked for said “auto factory” and someone found a way to clone what it is that I am making and theyre doing it for free, well props to them and boo on us for making a model that was cloneable. Now I know were talking about movies and cloning dvds but if the MPAA and studios dont want people backing up their dvds then like previously stated make a better DVD. I dont think that this is considered piracy what so ever, and I think the whole idea of piracy is completely blown out of porportion, and I know were gonna butt heads on this one so Im not going to argue lol. I totally agree with backing up dvd’s too your hard drive, and if they want that too stop then they need to quit pulling Special Editions and 2-3 Disc DVD’s off of the shelves so quickly. I do it I’ll admit it, and if that makes me a pirate then I am proud to say I AM A PIRATE!
Sirchuggz, when you can make a movie that cannot be copied then you can make millions selling it to the recording and movie industry.
They DO have encryption on movies and someone makes a program that will circumvent it. Someone makes a lock on the door, and the thief gets around it.
Your logic is that they DESERVE to have it stolen for not making something that cannot be copied.
I guess you deserve to have all your stuff stolen because you cannot be home all the time to guard it??
Hey Sirchuggz,
You said:
“If I worked for said “auto factory” and someone found a way to clone what it is that I am making and theyre doing it for free, well props to them and boo on us for making a model that was cloneable.”
Sooooo… like Rodney said… if I found a way to break into your house and take all your stuff… and the police ask if you wanna press charges or not… you’ll just say “no officer. Props to him for finding a way to take my things. It’s my fault for not having an impenetrable force field around my house”? No… I didn’t think so.
Piracy isn’t a theft. Theft removes the original. Piracy makes a copy and leaves the original. :)
Hey Huggybear,
No disrespect intended man, but that’s total bullshit and just something people who pirate stuff tell themselves to try to justify it.
People invest time, energy, creativity and loads of money into producing movies so that they can be sold as an intellectual consumable. So when you take it without paying for it, you’re stealing. Period.
Let’s say you worked at the auto factory building cars. You work your ass off… but someone figures out how to sneak onto the lot and just “clone” the cars you built and never have to buy one. How long before the auto maker goes broke and you lose your job? Will you still agree with the pirate when he tells you to your unemployed face he never stole anything?
piracy isnt theft, theft is the removal for a product and that product cannot be bought after it has been stolen and the company cannot ever make money of that one item, making the object a loss.
copying a movie allows to original to be bought with money still going back to the producers. piracy in no way can end the movie industry, because theaters still run the movie after it is copied and then it goes to dvd.
torrent and movie download sites often offer a subpar version of the original movie, thats why the wolverine thing isnt going to be as huge as a hit as they thought.
Yes blackbeard, it is theft. It’s easy to make up a definition that conveniently excludes your actions.
The filmmakers make the movies for you to PAY to see. When you pirate the movie, you are enjoying the benefits of their work and investment, without paying for it. YOU ARE STEALING.
There is no way around it. It’s clear cut. Piracy is theft.
“Sooooo… like Rodney said… if I found a way to break into your house and take all your stuff… and the police ask if you wanna press charges or not… you’ll just say “no officer. Props to him for finding a way to take my things. It’s my fault for not having an impenetrable force field around my house”? No… I didn’t think so.”
With respect, that’s an idiotic analogy. Someone stealing all your stuff is taking away the original. If, however, someone found a way to break into my house and clone all my stuff without taking or depriving me of the original then fair play, they’re welcome to their copy.
If you can copy something, and leave the original intact, then the originator of the content needs to make sure there are as many ways as possible to make it easy to legitimately enjoy their content.
The fact is, movie studios go out of their way to make it hard to see their movies. Cinemas are an unpleasant experience, movie rentals are so old fashioned and legal downloads are ruined by crappy quality and DRM.
What people want is DRM free, low-cost downloads. When the industry realises that, then it will see even more profit.
Oh, and last year, as every year recently, box office takings went up. Not down. Despite all this theft I keep reading about.
Hey Ian9outof10
With respect, it’s a perfect analogy.
Your comaprison of “If, however, someone found a way to break into my house and clone all my stuff without taking or depriving me of the original then fair play, they’re welcome to their copy.” is ridiculous… because you don’t earn your living from the stuff in your apartment or the sale of it.
If you worked and invested in and created the stuff in your apartment for sale… and someone just broke in and cloned it for nothing… then you’d be singing a very different song.
I do no disagree that the movie industry needs to make the film more accessible, but for you to say “hard to see their movies” is just plain silly.
Also, if it’s hard to see something, or too expensive… THEN JUST DON’T SEE IT. It doesn’t justify stealing it.
So now I have an apartment, the stuff is all intact, but I can’t make a living out of it because someone has cloned it? Sounds like an incredibly long-winded and irrelevant analogy to me.
Movie piracy isn’t LIKE anything else (except perhaps music piracy). But, as we’ve seen from the music industry, you can make illegal downloads significantly less of a problem by being flexible.
When the film industry gets to grips with this, then perhaps we’ll see cheap, high-quality downloads, and much less piracy.
There will always be piracy. The point being missed here is that many of the people who pirate films would NEVER have paid to see it in the first place. Hollywood always assumes that every pirated copy is a lost sale, and that just isn’t the case.
Iam9outof10
You’re arguing against things I haven’t said.
I’ve argued for years that the best way to fight piracy is to make content acquisition easier.
My point here, my only point that I’ve been making this whole time that you can’t refute, is that piracy is theft. Period.
I agree that some people how pirate weren’t going to see the movie anyway… but that doesn’t stop it from being theft. If you take something, without paying for it, it’s theft. Period.
I know we agree John. And I don’t even agree with movie piracy, but I also don’t think it’s theft.
I look at it this way. If a movie is made, everyone gets paid and it makes a profit then whatever happens, it’s all good.
Of course, you can argue that the industry deserves “more” money. But the fact is, most movies these days make a profit – including the ones that utterly suck.
Ian9outof10
That’s just ridiculous. So by your logic, if I make $500 bucks profit on a project, and you steal $20 of it… then it’s not really stealing because I still made a profit?
Say this with me: “When I take something without paying for it, it’s stealing”.
A 5 year old knows this. Everything else is just a failed attempt at trying to justify it.
I don’t see a problem with it. I look at my DVD collection. I ask, should I have a backup of anything there…
Well, it wouldn’t hurt to have a backup of the Criterion Collection Edition of Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, which is the two discer with three audio commentaries, the film processing and editing demonstrations among other sweet features.
A version that is right now, as I write this, out of print.
I could find a “regular” version of Traffic on DVD or Blu-Ray, this is true. But for now, that loaded second disc does not come with the current DVD/Blu Ray prints of the film.
In fact, (and I don’t know why they do this) some studios re-issue DVDs combining them with “another” film, dropping the extras and/or the widescreen editions. Now I do have a slight smile on my face, knowing my purchased DVD of, say, Bloodsport is in a widescreen format. However, let’s say I want to have a backup of my widescreen edition of Bloodsport just so I have it because if something happened to the disc I bought, I would not have to buy one with less features/inferior quality. (I consider the triple dipped ‘double feature’ discs with less features and/or 1:33 inferior)
Maybe ‘Batman’ is on to something up there.
In either case, both “backups” are done for my own personal use/enjoyment. I am not pirating. I am not breaking the law.
*** Is there another unsung problem?***
How many of us have home movies on DVD? We took our camcorders and filmed the family member showing Spot the dog how to fetch the stick. Or your wedding day. Something special that is personal to you. We put our films on DVD, or transferred our VHS home movies to DVD.
With this device, we have backups of these things. While there are some businesses that could provide such services- if we can do it ourselves…
maybe the studios don’t want us to make backups. instead, they want us to shell out for another copy of their dvd… MPAA sucks at fighting piracy!
This is what happens when we agree to not own anything. You don’t buy movies. You buy a license to watch movies. Also I have a hard time being against piracy when I have quadruple dipped on certain movies.
The MPAA are just stupid. They can’t see the forest through the trees. The issue is NOT about “Piracy”. It is about how you can regulate your product to the consumers. These retards are holding on to a old business model tighter only than their own assholes. They are thinking only of ways to block their product from reaching their costumers. This is not the age of limited media outlets. there is a huge amount of choices out there. A person like me has to decide what is worth my time or not. I don’t HAVE to see the wolverine movie. The choices of things to do disregarding all other activity and just on media based entertainment alone is overwhelming. There are enough movies and games out there to last me 100 years. Hollywood can no long hold on to their movies like they are the last drop of water in the desert. Greater access of product by the consumer will increase quality of the product and generate better, more effective profit margins for the entire movie business.
Don’t forget that they keep reselling us the SAME product in different packaging. I used to own over 400 VHS tapes, and it hit me in about 1999 that I didn’t really own anything, and I would have to replace my movie collection with DVDs and then the next generation, and the next, and so on and so on…We’re all headed toward true digital on demand, where we won’t “own” anything. (not to mention, that I’m sure the studios will add minimal content and sell 20th anniversary editions of, directors cuts, remastered blah blah blah….I’m not against them making money, it is a business after all, but it’s the after box office release that I chafe at. Not to mention having to watch commercials while I wait for the movie to start at the BO.
Once the film companies seriously look at competing in a market where piracy exists maybe we’ll see piracy decline. Right now it seems that overcharging for a DVD/Film is acceptable and that’s why piracy is prevalent.
I think this clip from The IT Crowd sums things up nicely:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wRxfz_6E7o
Yes, lol. Just love the IT Crowd, the family went zonkers over that clip. BBC tele at its best IMO.
The RIAA are extremely contradictory when it comes to this issue…
– On one hand they remind us we don’t “own” anything but instead we’re just licensing a copy from them.
– On the other hand they tell us we cannot make a backup because that is piracy. Even though we own a license.
They can’t have it both ways. Seems to me that since this piracy thing got popular the only people who have suffered are the legal consumers court in the crossfire.
We wind up with these unskippable “stop piracy” adverts on our DVDs just before the unskippable ten minutes of trailers that will be out of date within a week of you buying the disk.
While they add a bunch of software to music CDs to break those too and make online services so expensive or cumbersome they aren’t worth using.
Agreed, we’re paying for a slice and now they are trying to tell us how to eat it? Most of the piracy I see are the people recording it in the theater and later selling it on the streets or posting it online themselves. Though I doubt movie theaters will be putting metal detectors towards their entrances from now on.
If I paid for it I have the right to do whatever I want with it! I just recently transferred my dvd collection to my computer so I can stream them to my xbox 360 saves me physical space and time, and if I want I can put them on my Zune. That digitalcopy thing is a joke! It has so much copy protection on it you cant watch the damn thing. Cant put it on my Zune cant stream to the xbox, come on its easier for me to do it my self.
This happened already with DVDXCopy. The company was shut down for giving you the ability to back up your dvds.
I make backups of my kids movies so that WHEN they trash them (I gave up on thinking “if”) I don’t have to spill another $30 because it was a Disney flick. I already bought Mulan and Toy Story twice.. I learned my lesson.
The real issue here isn’t if they win or lose. There is already free software online that will let you back stuff up. They can sue these guys into oblivion, it won’t solve the problem.
Funny that the government will take the tools of this illegal action away, but still allow people to own guns.
Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
Backups dont cause piracy, people cause piracy.
It’s my right to protect the product that I pay for, if that means backing it up then I’ll do so if I damn well please.
And it’s not like they are going to stop anything if they win, which I doubt. There are countless of programs out there that make this doable for free.
The logic that the MPAA is using is that this leads to piracy, which it does but at the same time, why not outlaw scanners and photocopiers because they can copy books. What about VCR’s and DVD players with hard drives? What about Tivo?
Indeed, until DVD’s are made of near indestructible material instead of flimsy plastic that renders them useless with but a simple scratch I will choose to make backups of my personal DVD’s as well. If I am to be labeled a pirate for such transgressions….. then argh matey, send me to the gallows!
Hey, don’t give them any ideas.
i agree on that last part about it making it more tempting to pirate films