Piracy Wars: Battlelines Intensify in Fight Against Net Piracy
The Motion Picture Association of America continues to fight piracy on all fronts as it pushes Internet service providers to filter copyright-infringing material and continues to pursue and shut down file-sharing services and Web sites.
At a recent technology policy conference Jim Williams, the MPAA's chief technology officer, urged ISPs to cut the cord on copyright-infringers. Williams made many bold statements including saying that "Much of the Internet is being clogged up with stolen goods... I believe they [ISPs] will find the incentive to make their networks for efficient for their paying customers and even went as far to call the copyright infringers as free riders who are not legitimate customers."
ISPs Throttle, Torrentspy Gives Up, and MPAA Looks for New Targets
The topic of ISP involvement has been a hot one for quite some time especially after Comcast began throttling, or controlling the traffic used from the peer-to-peer BitTorrent clients.
Many service providers like Verizon have always had the tendency to side with the customers in these matters, but with enough pressure and money from the MPAA, the service providers may begin to fold and give in to the wants of the MPAA.
Is the End of Online Piracy Near? Nah!
From the other end, the MPAA recently forced Torrentspy, one of the largest sites for BitTorrent files, to shut down by way of a court order. I wouldn't necessarily call it a victory because Torrentspy was forced to shut down because it violated court policies by destroying evidence and not because it legitimately lost the battle with the MPAA in the courts. Also, a lack of funding forced Torrentspy to discontinue the battle and no longer pursue the battle versus the MPAA.
The MPAA has said it will go after another file sharing site, ISOHUNT, next. It's obvious that the MPAA will pull out all of the stops to attack illegal file sharing on all fronts and even if it includes throwing around a lot of money. I don't think the MPAA will ever be able to completely eliminate illegal file sharing, but be prepared to watch the major sites dwindle away, one by one.
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I've decide to just to not go to movies in the theaters or buy DVDs.
The MPAA is funded by the movie industry so if they lose enough customers maybe they'll wake up to reality.
If enough people stay out of the theaters and refuse to buy DVDs the MPAA will have more important matters to address.
Money talks. Most of the piracy that the industry worries about amounts to "phantom sales (many people just don't have enough money to attend thousands of movies a month). Heck, I don't even have time to pirate them and watch them late at night- I'm trying to make enough money to cover my rising fuel and food costs!
If the MPAA is really worried about sales why don't they suggest that US citizens boycott the Olympics and not watch it on television; after all, China has taken "piracy" to a professional level.