The Motion Picture Association of America says [PDF] the movie industry had its biggest year ever last year. This, despite the fact that folks like the “US Copyright Group” have gone after people for ruining said industry. Down is up, black is white, and the New York Mets are a well-run organization.

The MPAA, which is rumored to be led by former Connecticut senator Chuck Dodd, pats itself on the back thus:

It was a strong year at the movies in 2010. Despite a weak economy, shifting business models, and the ongoing impact of digital theft, we had another record year at the global box office driven by growth outside the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S. and Canada 3D was the driving force. Higher value entertainment continues to make a significant contribution to box office revenues.

It’s a bit like WWE, with most of its new business coming from outside the U.S. So while domestic business is more or less stagnant, thanks to more and more international penetration it looks like everything is excellent.

It also sorta contrasts to what we saw partially through 2010, that 3D movies weren’t brining the same amount of revenue as movies like Avatar. Taking a few days to convert a movie into “3D” after the fact proved to not be an especially wise move.

In an offense called “Operation Payback,” members of the Internet collective Anonymous have organized what seems to be anti anti-piracy movement. Dubbed by Torrent Freak as the ”protest of the future” the group has been pretty busy over the past 36 hours launching DDoS attacks on the MPAA, Indian anti-piracy site AiPlex Software and today both RIAA.com and RIAA.org. The attacks are apparently in retaliation for comments the CEO of Aiplex software made about his firm being hired by the film industry to take down The Pirate Bay.

The original call to arms below:

How fast you are in such a short time! Aiplex, the bastard hired gun that DDoS’d TPB (The Pirate Bay), is already down! Rejoice, /b/rothers, even if it was at the hands of a single anon that it was done, even if ahead of schedule. now we have our lasers primed, but what do we target now?

We target the bastard group that has thus far led this charge against our websites, like The Pirate Bay. We target MPAA.ORG! The IP is designated at “216.20.162.10″, and our firing time remains THE SAME. All details are just as before, but we have reaimed our crosshairs on this much larger target. We have the manpower, we have the botnets, it’s time we do to them what they keep doing to us.

REPEAT: AIPLEX IS ALREADY DOWN THANKS TO A SINGLE ANON. WE ARE MIGRATING TARGETS.

From the Anonymous media kit:

Operation:Payback is a bitch.

DATE \September 19, 2010\

To whom it may concern,

This is to inform you that we, Anonymous, are organizing an Operation called “Payback is a bitch”. Anonymous will be attacking the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), the MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America), and their hired gun AIPLEX for attacks against the popular torrent and file sharing site, the Piratebay (www.thepiratebay.org). We will prevent users to access said enemy sites and we will keep them down for as long as we can. But why, you ask? Anonymous is tired of corporate interests controlling the internet and silencing the people’s rights to spread information, but more importantly, the right to SHARE with one another.The RIAA and the MPAA feign to aid the artists and their cause; yet they do no such thing. In their eyes is not hope, only dollar signs. Anonymous will not stand this any longer.We wish you the best of luck.

Sincerely,

Anonymous,

We are legion.

Both RIAA sites currently offline (they went down 5 minutes before schedule), as people continue to mobilize through the 4Chan message boards and Twitter, using the LOIC (Low Orbit Ion Cannon) DDoS tools to initiate independent attacks, and continuing to make what would seem unlikely for a group of people called Anonymous, celebratory tweets.

For all the “future of cyber protest” rhetoric, it remains to be seen how much effect a flood of traffic and a few hours of downtime will have on changing RIAA or MPAA piracy policy. After all, despite yesterday’s sustained attacks, the MPAA site is back up and running, snow owls and all.

Of course, people keep going to the movies because it remains a cheaper form of entertainment (for now). However some analysts are suggesting that theaters have pretty much maxed out what people are willing to pay, and anticipate a backlash. Part of the reason for such record increases has been the latest 3D craze (rather the film should be in 3D or not). In fact, income from 3D films has accounted for 11% of box office income last year. The bad news? There’s nothing stopping the theater owners from continuing to squeeze us for every dime they can get.

[via Ars Technica]

More fallout from last week’s U.S. Government Accountability Office report on the entertainment industry’s piracy numbers. The gist of the report was that the government (and you and I) should never believe what the entertainment industry has to say again re: piracy because it was pulling data completely out of thin air. “Oh, 44 percent of all unauthorized file-sharing comes from universities, so you universities have to install filters to prevent students from downloading this and that, and we’ll need new laws passed to protect our dying business methods. Oh, wait, sorry, math error, that’s only 15 percent of unauthorized file-sharing. What, you want to know where we got these numbers from? Sorry, can’t tell you, trade secret, but please pass favorable legislation anyway, kthxbye.”

Somewhere in that rambling mess of dialogue is today’s story. The Motion Picture Association of America had refused to cooperate with the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s investigation into entertainment industry piracy figures. The GAO wanted to know how the movie industry came up with its doom-and-gloom numbers, but the MPAA said, “Nope, we’re not telling.”

What, the government is supposed to take the MPAA at its word? Ha!

Flickr’d

There really isn’t any particular point to the following story other than to get you riled up as your begin your weekend. The U.S. government is actively trying to figure out how best to handle intellectual property rights, so it has asked the concerned parties to submit all sorts of information in order to better understand what’s going no. The person in charge of this is the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, and what the RIAA and MPAA have submitted borders on the insane. Well, it would border on the insane if it weren’t totally their modus operandi. The most glaring “suggestion”? That computer users install software that would scan the contents of their hard drives, looking for examples of “infringement.” If the software discovers what it thinks it infringement, bam! Deleted! I’d be surprised if this were the year 2001, but after so many years of insane RIAA/MPAA stories it’s hard to be shocked anymore.

The exact verbiage of the suggestion reads:

There are several technologies and methods that can be used by network administrators and providers…these include [consumer] tools for managing copyright infringement from the home (based on tools used to protect consumers from viruses and malware).

So, the same technology that protects you from Internet nonsense—”hey, knucklehead, that 1MB DVD rip of “Avatar” you’ve got there is a trojan, delete it—would instead be used to spy on you. A sort of, “Well, look at that, the new LCD Soundsystem album before its official release date? Where did you get that from? No worries, we’ll just delete it right now… OK, as you were.”

That’s not a world I want to live in.

Then again, this is a world where volcanoes are exploding left, right, and center; meteorites are falling from the sky; and Manchester City might actually get fourth place, so who knows what’s going on anymore.

The funniest is that the RIAA/MPAA expects federal agencies, like the FBI, to keep an eye out for pirates on opening weekend.

Yes, because our nation’s law enforcement officials have nothing better to do than make sure people aren’t recording Kick Ass for later CAM distribution…

Again, it would be funny if weren’t utterly predictable.

via Tom’s Guide

Flickr’d

It’s getting harder and harder to be surprised about the MPAA‘s silly tactics. So, surprise! The MPAA has successfully shut down an Ohio town’s municipal Wi-Fi network because one person was caught illegally downloading a movie. You know, peers and seeders and all that.

The Wi-Fi network was set up around the Coshocton County Courthouse located in central-ish Ohio. The network has been up and running for about five yeas now, and serves up to 100 people on a busy day. (Not that I have any idea of what would cause such a commotion in the town!)

The town’s commissioner said: “It’s unfortunate that one person ruins it for those who use the service legitimately.” Yes, and when some maniac stabs another person we confiscate everyone’s kitchen knives. Or when a drunk driver kills an innocent motorist the government comes around and takes away everyone’s car.

Collective punishment, anyone?

The MPAA’s nonsense really isn’t going to be challenged until our elected officials have an understanding of basic technology, which I don’t think will happen any time soon.

You probably already hate, for whatever reason, the MPAA (and its music industry cousin, the RIAA), but here’s another reason to do so. The group is asking, for like the zillionth time, for the FCC to approve something called selectable output control. In essence, this allows a video signal to be sent to your TV from, say, a video on-demand service, that prevents the use of certain, non-approved audio/video outputs. In other words, if you want to watch Terrible Movie 2: Yes, It Has Contrived To Be Worse Than The First on Comcast On-Demand, you won’t be able to record it using an old TiVo that connects via component cables.

You see, the MPAA is scared to death that you’ll buy the On-Demand version of said woeful movie, then won’t buy the Blu-ray when it comes out. It’s also afraid that you’ll take your DVR recording, and start bootlegging it at your local bowling alley. (Because people have that kind of time!) If you don’t keep buying the same movie over and over again (at the theaters, on On-Demand, on Blu-ray, along with a HBO or Showtime subscription), it’ll be Hell on Earth. And to be fair to the MPAA… actually, I can’t. The MPAA could disappear and I wouldn’t mind one bit.

One group, Public Knowledge, produced a video last year that, while slightly overboard on the Internet humor, gets the message across:

Of course, the MPAA will call the video nonsense, and insist that it’s merely trying to help the elderly or those without a babysitter watch the latest Hollywood blockbusters more easily. Sorry, I don’t believe you.

Then again, I’m sure the MPAA could give a Flying F what I, or any of you, think.

(That’s a 50 DKP minus for the rubbish picture here, I know. I couldn’t think of a clever way to illustrate Internet angst against the MPAA.)

You wouldn’t want to be isoHunt founder Gary Fung these days. (Note: That’s the best story about BitTorrent I’ve read in some time. Take a few minutes to read all of it.) He’s currently facing an MPAA lawsuit that could well result in fines in the millions of dollars. (TorrentSpy was ordered to cough up $100 million last year.) And even if Mr. Fung doesn’t have that kind of money, and he doesn’t, the MPAA is prepared to pursue any judgement “for the rest of his life.” The MPAA sounds like it means business.

So here’s what’s going on. The MPAA, on a high after being award $100 million in a lawsuit against TorrentSpy, is going after isoHunt, one of the biggest torrent sites out there. The site, which is for-profit, is run by Mr. Fung and a small staff. It makes money with advertisements, not by “selling” movies or whatever. But try telling that to the MPAA, which is prepared, apparently, to follow Mr. Fung to the ends of the Earth to get its pound of flesh.

Stephen Fabrizio is an MPAA lawyer, and a former RIAA lawyer. (Need a job? Go to law school and get hitched with the RIAA/MPAA; they’re always hiring, it seems.) He says:

The isoHunt site was founded and exists almost exclusively to profit from copyright infringement. Statistical studies we did—which are likely as accurate as those that anyone has done—show that over 95% [of torrents], or almost everything, and several percent we couldn’t identify, are infringing. This site exists for one purpose: to allow people to steal. That is why he started the website, that’s why he operates it and that’s what he profits from.

Is it theft, or is it copyright infringement? They’re two different things.

But the worst is this. What happens if Mr. Fung doesn’t have millions of dollars to pay. Says the MPAA lawyer:

But the judgment doesn’t go away. If Gary Fung creates a legitimate website, we’ll be there. If he sells that company for $100 million, we’ll be there. For the rest of his life we’ll be able to pursue that judgment.

In other words, unless Mr. Fung is prepared to pull a Brooks, from The Shawshank Redemption, the MPAA will make Mr. Fung’s life a living Hell.

Mr. Fung is trying to pull the ol’ “but isoHunt is just a search engine” defense, but considering the technological knowledge of the political élite, I’m not too sure it will work.

via TorrentFreak

What’s another phrase for, “meh, who cares?” That’s what I’m thinking when I read that the MPAA tried to argue in court that making a personal copy of a DVD is illegal under the DMCA. Is it shocking to people that the MPAA would argue in favor of its own interests, possibly at the expense of the your ability to make rip a DVD? No. No it’s not.

This all “went down” at the Real DVD court hearing. Remember Real DVD? It is (was?) a piece of software that made copies of DVDs that would then only play within Real’s software; you couldn’t, say, burn a disc then play it on your stand-alone Sony or Samsung (or whatever) DVD or Blu-ray player. That wasn’t good enough for the MPAA, you’ll recall.

But back to the issue at hand—the MPAA hates each and every one of you.

Isn’t it strange that Real, a company so teased and mocked by the Internet community for years now (see: buffering jokes, etc.), is now in a position to argue for our rights as consumers to copy our legally purchased DVDs.

Photo: Flickr

Remember RealDVD, Real Networks’ attempt to legitimize DVD copying, only the movie studios freaked out because they didn’t understand what the software was all about? Well, Real still thinks it has a good chance of winning the lawsuit it faces. Lawsuit out of the way, it’ll go on selling RealDVD like nothing ever happened.

Should Real win the lawsuit—it’s prepared to alter the software in order to placate the judge and/or MPAA—it will resume sales, which have been frozen since October.

You will recall that Real thinks it should be allowed to sell RealDVD because it doesn’t destroy a DVD’s CSS encryption. The studios don’t give a hoot; all they see is, “Oh man, J6P will be able to copy DVDs now.” Hence lawsuit, freaking, etc. It’s very tiring, really.

No, this story has nothing to do with Homer; it just makes me laugh.

How much does it cost to monitor college students’ anti-American P2P activities? A whole lot, and that’s money colleges could be spending on, I don’t know, education.

This chart breaks down the cost of complying with, specifically, the new provisions of the Higher Education Act of 2008. That law, which the RIAA and MPAA were able to lobby their way into, requires colleges try to stem the spread of illegal P2P downloads on campus. The tools to police what students are up to exist—ipaudit is one that comes to mind—but is it really the business of colleges, realm of higher learning, to snoop on what their students are up to? Why not live and let live, punishing violations as they occur rather than spending all day playing cyber nanny?

One comment at Inside Higher Ed goes into the issue of government-sponsored censorship and prior restraint (in a sense), since the law applies to state schools as while as private schools. That’s an issue for another day, I think.

Like Achilles, it looks like RealDVD has lived a short but glorious life. Its name will echo for eternity. And so on, and so forth.

Right, so that judge that RealNetworks was so confident would rule in its favor did the exact opposite, ruling in favor of the movie studios. The temporary injunction on the sales of RealDVD will go on indefinitely; the odds of RealDVD coming back, especially before Christmastime, now look pretty gosh darn slim.

With this sentence, the judge seems to have sealed RealDVD’s fate:

I’m not satisfied that in fact this technology is not in violation of the DMCA.

That’s quite the innovative statement coming from the judge. Now all we have to do is wait for the record labels to work this line of thinking to their favor. You know, “If the judge says you can’t copy a video discs, why should you be able to copy an audio disc?”

Hooray for America.

The RealDVD saga continues, quickly becoming one of the more interesting tech stories of the past few months.

As we already know, both RealNetworks and the MPAA have been suing each other left, right and center over the past two weeks. Well now Real has issued an official statement, one sure to send shivers up the spines of the MPAA’s lawyers.

We are confident that the Court will determine that RealDVD complies with
the DVD CCA license agreement, and that it is not in violation of any
copyright laws.

From this, it does look like RealNetworks is prepared to fight this out, at least initially. Should the judge rule in the studios’ favor, who knows if RealNetworks will deem it worth all the time, money and energy to fight.

I dare ask: maybe RealNetworks created RealDVD with the knowledge that the MPAA would sue, giving it the chance to play damsel in distress. Then, we’d all feel sorry for the company, yada yada yada.

You just knew this was going to happen. Sales of RealNetworks’ RealDVD have been suspended while Real fights Hollywood in court, forever.

You already know what Hollywood’s beef is, that RealDVD allows people to illegally copy DVDs blah bah who cares. Rent, rip and retun all you want, I say.

Take this line from the MPAA’s lawsuit:

Motion pictures and television programs require substantial investments
of money, time, effort and creativity by hundreds or often thousands of
people…

Oh, please. It’s a bunch of overpaid people pretending to be other people in front of a camera, acting. No lives are saved and America’s position in the world is not enhanced. Boo hoo, Hollywood.

What are they going to accomplish here? They’re telling consumers that they can’t back up their own DVDs — because that’s all RealDVD can do. It’s designed to respect DRM and restrict the DVDs’ usage, and whatever your position is on that, there can be no question that the MPAA’s position should have at the very least been one of grudging acquiescence. But these dinosaurs seem hell-bent on dragging the world kicking and screaming into the last century. If it’s any consolation, in a few years they’ll be fossils.

The full press release:

Motion Picture Studios File Lawsuit Against Realnetworks

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The nation’s top movie
companies filed a lawsuit today asking a federal court to stop RealNetworks
Inc. from distributing the company’s RealDVD software which allows movies
to be copied illegally. In their complaint and motion for a temporary
restraining order, the studios said that RealNetworks’ RealDVD violates the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) because its software illegally
bypasses the copyright protection built into DVDs that protect movies
against theft.

“RealNetworks’ RealDVD should be called StealDVD,” explained Greg
Goeckner, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the Motion
Picture Association of America (MPAA). “RealNetworks knows its product
violates the law and undermines the hard-won trust that has been growing
between America’s movie makers and the technology community. The major
motion picture studios have been making major investments in technologies
that allow people to access entertainment in a variety of new and legal
ways. This includes online video-on-demand, download-to-own, as well as
legitimate digital copies for storage and use on computers and portable
devices that are increasingly being made available on or with DVDs. Our
industry will continue on this path because it gives consumers greater
choices than ever. However, we will vigorously defend our right to stop
companies from bringing products to market that mislead consumers and
clearly violate the law.”

The Content Scramble System (CSS) built into DVDs prevents the
unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted material released
in DVD format. The RealDVD software illegally circumvents this copyright
protection system. Among other things, the RealDVD software enables users
to engage in an illegal practice known as “rent, rip and return,” whereby a
person rents a DVD from a legitimate business like Blockbuster or Netflix,
uses the RealDVD software to make multiple permanent illegal copies of the
movie, and returns the DVD, only to rent another popular title and make
permanent copies of it, repeating the cycle of theft over and over again
without ever making a purchase. On its own Web site, RealNetworks
acknowledges that this behavior is illegal and that its software could be
used in that manner.

Motion pictures and television programs require substantial investments
of money, time, effort and creativity by hundreds or often thousands of
people, which must be recouped through many individual exhibitions, sales
and broadcasts of the works. DVD sales are a major source of revenues that
enable the studios to invest in and develop the wide range of entertainment
options available to consumers. The RealDVD software would enable massive
theft of creative content that would have a direct, negative impact on the
delivery of movies, television shows and other entertainment to consumers
through the home entertainment and digital distribution markets.

The lawsuit, filed today in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles asks for
damages and injunctive relief against RealNetworks Inc. for violations of
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) circumvention provisions. The
DMCA prohibits the manufacturing or trafficking of any technology or
product, service or device that is designed for the purpose of
circumventing measures that effectively protect copyrighted titles. In
manufacturing and selling RealDVD, RealNetworks Inc., a CSS licensee, has
attempted to leverage its license improperly by making a product that
permits users to circumvent the protections of CSS. Such a product was
never intended to be authorized by the CSS license.

The worldwide motion picture industry, including foreign and domestic
producers, distributors, theaters, video stores and pay-per-view operators
lose more than $18 billion annually as a result of movie theft. More than
$7 billion in losses are attributed to illegal Internet distributions,
while $11 billion is the result of illegal copying and bootlegging.

Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s running mate, is not your friend when it comes to technology. Well, he could well be your friend, if you’re the RIAA or MPAA.

The vice presidential nominee has sponsored bills over the year that were championed by both the music and movie industry. He was one of the main forces behind the Perform Act, which is what the RIAA used to sue XM Satellite Radio for giving its customers the ability to record songs over-the-air.

One of Biden’s bills that would have made encrypting your data much more difficult, which encouraged Phil Zimmermann to create PGP.

If this type of thing revs your engine, be sure to read CNET’s full breakdown. I know many of you couldn’t give a damn who’s president, much less vice president, (good on you, by the way), but I know that TechCrunch endorsed Obama for his views on technology, so maybe a handful of you care. If not, carry on.

If the MPAA had its way, your DVR would be nothing more than a hunk of useless metal and plastic, unable to record and pause live television. Steps are being taken to ensure that it gets its way.

The fun-loving association is pushing hard for a technology called selectable output control, or SOC, which allows content providers—movie studios and the like—to prevent material from being recorded. It does this by blocking the so-called analog hole, making it impossible for you to, say, plug in standard 3.5mm audio jack and record sound to your computer.

I know that sounds evil and all that, but the idea behind this isn’t exactly unreasonable. Movie studios want to be able to let cable companies get an earlier crack at showing movies on-demand (for example), but are worried that folks will simply exploit the analog hole and record the movie long before the studio ever releases the DVD or Blu-ray version. If consumers could copy and record movies long before their DVD date, why should the movie studios even bother to produce a DVD?

Now, that’s completely not my problem, how the movie studios make money, but at least there’s a proper reason for their policy this time around.

Note that the FCC has so far said no to SOC, so there’s still some legs in this story.

More often than not, it’s the simple explanation that makes the most sense. Commenting on a recent LA Times woe-for-the-movie-industry piece, Techdirt arrives at the stunning conclusion that people will pay to go see a good movie.

The LA Times article describes in detail the efforts that the industry took to delay The Dark Knight including shipping the movie reels in separate shipments to discourage a complete copy being lost or stolen. From production to post on through movie theater delivery, the movie was under tight security.

All of this sounded a little over-vigilant to Mike Masnick who simplifies the equation down to the bare facts. Make a good movie and people will pay for the experience. The Dark Knight, most say, is a good movie. That is where the success came from, not by the cloak and dagger routine staged by the MPAA.

This may come as a bit of a shock to y’all, but the MPAA actually has a idea to “save” the movie industry that doesn’t involve sending out John Doe letters to dumb teens. The association is launching a Web site (no release date yet, ‘fraid) that will help folks find legitimate sources of movies. You know, iTunes, Xbox Marketplace, Netflix, etc.

It’s 2008. Good to see the MPAA get with the program.

That the MPAA assumes that folks don’t know the difference between going to the Pirate Bay and going to iTunes should just be ignored.

Good luck to the MPAA and its newfangled “Web site.” About time these guys get their act together.

via Ars Technica

The MPAA may have some explaining to do following remarks of one of its lawyers in the Jammie Thomas trial. The remark in question, as written by Marie. L. van Uitert:

It is often very difficult, and in some cases, impossible, to provide such direct proof when confronting modern forms of copyright infringement, whether over P2P networks or otherwise; understandably, copyright infringers typically do not keep records of infringement

In other words, the MPAA shouldn’t have to provide “direct proof”—it’s pesky!—when suing old ladies, dopey college kids and John and Jane Does for as much as $150,000 per copyright violation.

How does that make sense, in human terms? Never mind the $150,000 per copyright violation—movie tickets are, what, $10 these days?—but the MPAA believes it should be able to extract such funds merely because, you know, it’s “difficult” to prove any wrongdoing? Stunning.

How old and unreasonably rigid is our legal system that this type of thing can be taken seriously?

Oh now I’m all worked up again.

via TorrentFreak