Big Content outs piracy hotbeds: São Paulo, Beijing ... TORONTO? The Motion Picture Ass. of America (MPAA) is once again looking to rat out known piracy hotbeds to the US government, both online and in real life – and Canada's largest urban center remains high on its list. The MPAA said on Monday that it had provided the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) with a list of markets …
"Many of those named and shamed were hardly surprises. The list includes markets in Bangkok, Beijing, Dehli, Jakarta, Odessa, and São Paulo, for example. But one culprit most people don't usually consider when talking piracy made the roster, too: Toronto, Ontario."
They forgot to mention Australia, where they keep inisting we're piracy central of the fucking universe.
Or are we in fact nobodies compared to Toronto? Either way, either the MPAA are liars, or idiots. Or both.
I'll go with both.
@AC
There is this strange notion amongst some people (and evidently you are one of them) that complaining about bad practices or dishonesty is somehow 'whinging'.
What an odd idea.
Whinging is when you moan and complain without having a good reason so let me fill you in on what is actually going on here . . .
The MPAA, along with their friends the RIAA and the tendril organisations around the world and in concert with massive, insanely wealthy and powerful industries like the pharmaceutical, are trying to get laws changed around the world to benefit them and their business models.
They are using their vast wealth and influence to shape the discussions both in the various countries directly and through the US government, who end up pushing much of this.
The current effort is the TPP which has been intentionally hidden from public scrutiny in this country (Australia) but includes the extension of copyright and the criminalisation of copyright breaches for individual people - i.e. ones who aren't actually selling it.
Part of the ammunition being used by (e.g.) the MPAA and their associates, like AFACT* in Australia, is a slew of vastly inflated numbers that are a combination of overly-broad definitions, baseless assumptions, worst-case scenarios and un-warranted projections and extrapolations from un-representative samples.
Calling out the blatant exaggeration and - at times - outright lying that is being used by powerful, rich US companies as justification for changing the laws in OTHER COUNTRIES is not 'whinging'.
Whatever your view of 'Kim Dotcom', the facts that are coming out should give everyone pause. Earlier this year, the NZ courts found that, while the warrants to search were sustainable (despite some notable issues), the seizure and removal of evidence to the US was not. What you had was a government and police force actively breaking their laws that protect the people of their country (and Kim was covered by them as a resident) in order to bow to the wishes of an operation from another country carried out at the behest of and for the benefit of a collection of wealthy movie studios.
* - Now re-branded as the "Australian Screen Association", presumably after their much-publicised loss to iiNet in Roadshow Films v iiNet. You might note that the members of AFACT/ASA only includes one Australian company: Villiage/Roadshow, despite it making much of it's representation of Australian interests. Oh yes, it apparently works "with" and "in partnership with" local screen industries but the members are, excluding Roadshow, all overseas studios and distributors and includes, most notably, the MPAA. If you are familiar with the case above (iiNet), this was undertaken on behalf of the MPAA, who wanted it to look like an all-Aussie affair, using AFACT and Roadshow but in reality they were the instigators and chose this particular combination of players to best achieve their goals.
@AC
Oh, and fuck off.
We are a multicultural society and bloody proud of it. To reduce us to "a bunch of middle aged white guys" is offensive and to imply that only the "white" population of Australia engages in 'pirating' content is ignorant and offensive.
So, yeah, fuck off.
Jonesborough Market in Northern Ireland:
"Infamous within the UK and Ireland, this market sits in an isolated area on the border of Northern Ireland and Ireland and is monitored by illegal traders deploying counter-surveillance measures,"
This was written by the same man who writes the voice-overs for cheap action film trailers.
Given the market is probably run by one or other wing of the 'RA I'd be impressed if they made that stick where every criminal prosecution has failed (as witnesses disappear)
[I dislike the boys in question much more than I do the MPAA but have a higher regard for their effectiveness]
We were also pretty good in Australia but, with the election of the Right Honourable (and I do mean right) Tony Abbott*, PM, we have been trussed up in our finest vinyl and rubber and they're reaching for the ball gag.
Hold the lube - we're used to it by now.
Sorry, it's just the way it feels sometimes - that our politicians are submissive little pets.
* - To be fair, the previous government were not a great deal better but it does feel like Captain Speedos has a particular verve for selling out the ordinary people to pander to the interests of the business world and the wealthy.
The MPAA makes up it's "facts" to suit whatever they are whinging about this week. The reason that Canada is on their list has more to do with they want the copyright laws rewritten along American lines. They use their "list of pirates" to try to lobby the US government to put trade pressure on Canada.
Here's a hint: It's not up to the police to address civil matters, and if the police put a higher priority on investigating murder, rape, and robbery than they do on inspecting flea markets, then that is up to the taxpayers of that city to decide. The police in Canada will and do make raids on flee markets if the copyright holders do make specific complaints against specific traders. They won't however go spending the taxpayer's money on fishing expeditions if the copyright holder can't be bothered to do it themselves.
In the US, internet piracy is a criminal matter. Has been since the NET act.
In the US, walking across the road is a criminal matter. No-one wants to give a fuck what laws you pass in your fascist land of the free, but we have to because you also all believe that your laws are rightly exported throughout the world.
Just fuck off, mkay?
"In the US, internet piracy is a criminal matter. Has been since the NET act. Don't know about Canada."
Civil matter in Canda. With the maximum combined fine an individual can pay for copyright infringement being $5000.
It's the proper balance. If you are caught committing copyright infringement you get a fine that hurts - and hurts a lot, for the poor - but not so much that it ruins your life.
But there is no "$150k per infringement" crap. And you don't pile infringement upon infringement to achieve millions of dollars worth of monies due. You cough up $5k, the artists at least get something out of the deal and the life of the copyright infringer isn't ruined.
And the content MAFIAA hate this. Thus the TPP demands.
Let's load a plane with all the MPAA people (ok... several planes or more as needed) and fly them to the hotspots. Don't land but kick them out of the plane at 40,000 feet see if they make an impression on the local populace. I forgot.. no parachutes as that might be infringing on someone.
"Lack of police enforcement due to limited resources has contributed to the continuation of the illegal sale of counterfeit discs in several [Greater Toronto Area] flea markets," the MPAA claims.
Perhaps MPAA should read between the lines of this - the cops have far more important things to do than investigate flea markets for dodgy DVDs.
If the cops are in the flea markets or china town I hope they are looking for dangerous electrical goods, not the crappy $2 discs in a zip-lock bag being sold there.
It seems the sure fire way to get raided is to sell "out of print" 50 year old Disney cartoons. That copy of Bambi is taking food right out of the original creators mouth!
I don't buy them because the quality is crap, but I did buy a copy of Song of the South just to spite Disney (it's a rip of the Japanese LD) .
Want to stop piracy? Firstly, make your content available worldwide, to everyone, simultaneously. And secondly, make the content reasonably priced.
Nothing makes people want to pirate more than visiting a legal site like Netflix or Hulu only to be told that the content isn't available in their country.
I have been impressed with the MPAA ever since the days that it tried to impose a royalty on video tape, back about 1982. But the name "Notorious Markets List" suggests that they're drawing on the screen writing talent in Hollywood, not just the bankrolls. Does anyone else envision Marlene Dietrich, Peter Lorre, and Orson Welles behind the counters of the Notorious Markets?
Worked around the corner from Pacific Mall for years.
Good Prices, Good Selection. Subtitles included where needed.
@ Trevor_Pott -> you and I might not accept the TPP without a fight, but it sure as shit looks like Stephen Harper is buying it, lock, stock, barrel *and* ball gag. Including (it seems) thanks to events earlier this month, a copy of the Patriot Act and the basis for TSA MKII in Ca.
Damn shame he got hidden in a closet.
(no point in being anonymous, they already know who I am and I'm too old and cranky to care any more)
"you and I might not accept the TPP without a fight, but it sure as shit looks like Stephen Harper is buying it, lock, stock, barrel *and* ball gag."
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