Blu Ray Already Meets Piracy

[zero]

From IGN:

Blu-Ray Already Ripped on PS3

The troubles with Linux begin.

by Hilary Goldstein

December 1, 2006 - As soon as we installed Linux on our office PS3, it was clear that trouble would be brewing quickly. We began taking bets on how soon someone would hack the PS3. While we haven't heard of anyone truly cracking the PS3 software yet, thanks to Linux, Blu-Ray movies are now being ripped onto the PS3 hard drive.

Multiple sites, including PVRWire, are reporting on gamers illegally copying movies to the PS3 hard drive. Once the large file is on the hard drive, it's possible that someone could figure out a way to burn them.

It only took a few days, but already the Linux PS3 has enabled piracy. As the months continue, users are certain to find other ways to exploit Sony's new console. The fault lies with those committing the crime as the majority of those who download Terra Soft's Yellow Dog Linux v5.0 are likely doing so legitimately.

I wasn't sure if I should put this here or in the Arcade, but I opted for here since I'm sure we'll be discussing Blu-Ray more than the PS3 itself.

Anyway, my reason for posting this is when will the entertainment industry in general just give up on piracy? The PS3 has been out for two weeks, and they've already exploited it; it's only a matter of time before HDDVD is as well. We live in a world where any 15 year old with a computer and spare time can pirate movies, CDs, video games, etc. You're not going to stop it, because whatever system you put in place to do so, they'll be around it in a day or two. Take a look at countries like China, that put filters on what internet sites people can look at, that's been defeated. When a group of college kids can get around a government, it kind of makes you wonder how Hollywood or the RIAA think they have a chance in this.

I don't condone piracy, what I'm asking though, is there a reason to keep fighting it? It's only going to keep happening, and these lame-ass PSAs on a DVD that say shit like "you wouldn't steal a car, why are you stealing a movie?" just glorify it and keep it in the public eye. The news is constantly talking about "internet piracy," "file-sharing," etc. Do you think it would help them more if they just didn't mention it at all?

[Kaney]

Personally I don't think the "ignore it and it'll go away" policy is an option here. I think it's different for things like smoking marijuana and such, because those things are done because youngsters think it's cool to break the law and that, for the most part, it probably wouldn't be as popular if it was legalised. If the government or whoever ignorie the pirates then they'd be able to ply their trade in peace. In my opinion, a more pro-active approach should be taken, in a lot more serious a way. I've seen those ads you're talking about a million times and they look stupid since stealing a car is really nothing like downloading a film. Make sure that people realise it's an actual legitimate crime instead of making flashy dramatic ads would help, but how they'd do it I don't know.

[gunnar hendershow]

Instead of challenging piracy you should look at a way to lower the prices of your said medium. Shit it way too expensive these days.

[-A-]

I can't really envisage a time when the content providers will be doing anything other than attacking all kinds of piracy, but I do agree it's already a lost battle. Within a decade, perhaps, there will be fast enough internet available to the average user that almost TV quality rips of TV shows will be on people's hard-drives minutes after the programme ends. Then we'll have real-time streaming of programmes in the same quality. I'm sure the move to HD and the awareness of image quality will slow this process, but it's inevitable.

What will this mean? I'd imagine that there will be massive profit in those providing bandwidth, especially when legitimate content downloading is popularised. It's entirely possible that the entire medium of TV will suffer, and almost inevitable that advertising revenue will.

[Vilge Duin]

Instead of challenging piracy you should look at a way to lower the prices of your said medium. Shit it way too expensive these days.

[zero]

If the government or whoever ignorie the pirates then they'd be able to ply their trade in peace.

To clarify, I didn't mean the government should ignore it, I meant the entertainment industry. I certainly don't think piracy should be legal, but I also have a problem with piracy laws. Turn on a DVD, hell go back twenty years and pop in an old VHS tape, there's the FBI warning which talks about penalties "Up to five years in jail or a $250,000 fine." That's insane, especially considering the average prison term for a rapist is seven years. Imagine that jail cell:

Inmate 1: What are you in for?

Inmate 2: I pirated movies, you?

Inmate 1: Bend over.

Of course, these fines and penalties are so strong because the entertainment industry has plenty of lobbyists and money that the government is interested in. I realize I'm going off on a rant here [/Dennis Miller], but what I'm saying is maybe Hollywood should worry about making movies and let law enforcement agencies quietly worry about who's downloading them.

I'm of the mind, you can't afford it don't have it. I'm not driving a couple hundred thousand dollar Porsche.

But, if you were able to obtain one for free and you know there's likely no chance of you getting busted, would you be saying the same thing? Human greed is one thing, but if someone was actually hurt by it, I doubt as many people would be doing it. I realize the entertainment industry tries to put a human face on it all the time, but in reality, that's just not the case. When you download a movie, it's not like the head of MGM sacrifices a kitten, I'm sure he does that anyway though. When people download, they think they're only hurting the big, evil corporation who just keeps on pumping out the same crappy movies or music.

damshow brought up a good point, people are just so burned by higher CD and movie ticket prices with dropping quality. Why pay $20 for Britney Spears latest two hit album when the song will be rammed up your ass on the radio and you can just download the rest of it? It's definitely morally questionable, but that's the world we live in.

[lari]

I think a more effective way to fight piracy is to authorise international police to catch those who infringe copyrights on a large scale, no matter where they are located. I don't really like all these anti-copying gizmos inserted in today's electronic devices - often times it hurts the functionality of the product and people who have paid for it would mostly just copy products for their own use anyway. Problem is online file-sharing, fake video games sold on streets in Asia (and poor countries) and things like that that are massive enough to hurt the industry.

It's not hard to find out who is doing something illegal - you can just browse the internet and different file-sharing programs and see who is sharing what and where and if it's legal or not. With the co-operation of ISP's, it's also not a problem to find out who is behind these activities. Problem is, there's a lot of third world countries where people upload copyrighted material with no fear of getting caught. And they also have servers located in these countries. But if the authorities had the right to check out all these online forums and sites and sharing communities and catch everyone who uploads illegal stuff, it'd be easy to tone down piracy. Just like the international police now has the right to go after pedophiles based on their internet activity.

It's not hard to locate and arrest people who are involved in these kind of activities. Problem is the bureacracy that makes it hard to touch them. I wouldn't mind seeing a change in the future. No-one downloads or uploads copyrighted material by accident.

[zero]

I don't like the idea of living in a world where we use an authority given to fight child molestors to catch a 22-year-old kid who burned a copy of Hitch. That's a slippery slope and I don't feel comfortable giving any government that kind of power.

[Rashid]

I don't think piracy is something you should be arrested for. Well to an extent. If you download the occasional movie or album, so be it.

But if the authorities log into your computer history and discover that you've downloaded 50 movies in just 3 weeks, then I say take 'em away.

Piracy is done by too many people to have charges given to EVERYONE who does it.

[zero]

I don't think piracy is something you should be arrested for. Well to an extent. If you download the occasional movie or album, so be it.

But if the authorities log into your computer history and discover that you've downloaded 50 movies in just 3 weeks, then I say take 'em away.

Piracy is done by too many people to have charges given to EVERYONE who does it.

But to be fair, you can't make a law based on how often you do something. If it's illegal, it's illegal whether you do it five times a week or fifty.

[Nerf]

But how can you arrest some and not others? That's called discrimination.

EDIT: Zero beat me to it while I was still reading the thread.

Edited December 4, 2006 by Nerf.

[Toe]

Am I the only one who, when seeing the "Report Video Provacy Immediately" screen in the theatre hopes to turn around and see a stereotypical pirate drinking grog and filming the screen with a huge, rickety, old camera?

[Vilge Duin]

I'm of the mind, you can't afford it don't have it. I'm not driving a couple hundred thousand dollar Porsche.

But, if you were able to obtain one for free and you know there's likely no chance of you getting busted, would you be saying the same thing? Human greed is one thing, but if someone was actually hurt by it, I doubt as many people would be doing it.

[zero]

I suppose I just look at it from my own personal standpoint (I find it repugnant to steal). But honestly, I've seen a fair amount of good come from people's downloading habits with digital medium. For example, my indy band reference, I know a couple of bands that have actually started getting air-play and their own videos after getting a record deal. How? People downloading their music, liking it and spreading it. Oftentimes buying it after the fact. Same goes for movies, comics and just about anything else you can shove on the Internet.

And that's where it all gets so blurry. It's such a double-edged sword. I agree with everything in your post above and this part is what really stands out. It's so funny that the biggest tool for bands these days is myspace and if it were six years ago, the RIAA would have been going after that instead of Napster. Napster could have very easily been what myspace music is and a far better tool for band promotion. But instead of the record companies using their money and power to buy the idea and turn it into a marketing tool, they demonized it and it bit them in the ass.

[lari]

Yeah, but you can't use 'piracy helps promote bands' as an argument. Bands do have promotion and they do give out songs and such in mp3 format for free that they want spread out as much as possible. Thing is, THEY pick the songs, and 99 percent of the time opt not to give out the whole album for free. If they did, then fine, they won't make money but they get the promotion. It's their call. A lot of bands have videos and such available too. That is all good for promotion, no doubt about it. But is promotion enough to make a living off of? It should be up to the bands/management to decide what they put out for free. It's not your call to decide if something should be free or not.

[gunnar hendershow]

Instead of challenging piracy you should look at a way to lower the prices of your said medium. Shit it way too expensive these days.

That only goes so far though. Some people pirate stuff because of lack of funds, but most do so simply because they can. The "well, why pay for it if I can get it free?" mentality.

Piracy of every kind has been rampant in human civilization for ages, it won't go away. The methods and manner in which it occurs just changes.

I don't see the point really. Just human greed. Wanting something you can't pay for and/or don't wish to. I'm of the mind, you can't afford it don't have it. I'm not driving a couple hundred thousand dollar Porsche.

I didn't word my statement best. I was trying to say more along the lines of what you said. Somewhat. I think if we were to lower prices of CDs, which is probably possible it'll just be the profits off each copy being sold which drops. I think more CDs will be sold if they are cheaper. I'm on a budget where I can only spend a little bit of money here and there on CDs, I prefer to buy band merchandise and go to concerts (Which I do both quite a lot). If a CD were dropped to 8 dollars, then instead of going out and getting 1 I could get 2. And still have the same money for band shirts and concerts.

That said, I do also think fighting piracy is a huge waste of money. Target the people who sell bootlegs and actually make a profit over the people who make no money through piracy. Piracy will always exist, and I'm not saying be fatalistic, I'm just saying that maybe you need to go back and assess the whole situation.

[lari]

I don't think CD's are too expensive. Sure I'd like it if they were cheaper, but I don't mind it really and am more afraid the quality would suffer if all new releases were $8 a piece. Remember making CD's employs more than just the band. It's a big production. And just think about it: $20 isn't much for something that brings enjoyment for the rest of your life. What's $20 - a few pints in a club? For those who say it's too much for a CD, it just means you haven't found good music yet. Obviously the hit parade stuff on MTV isn't worth a dime, but I can't say I'm unsatisfied with the CD's I've personally bought.

[Liam]

I'd make the argument that I think that piracy actually helps littler bands (and even some of the bigger bands), because it gets the name of the band out there to people who wouldn't usually get the chance. Bands make more money from merchandise and touring then they do from selling CD's, from what I know, and I'm sure many would fore-go a few extra thousand CD sales for a few extra thousand people willing to go and check them out at a live show. I know it doesn't always work like that, and the record companies may not appreciate it, but most bands that are getting big now don't seem to care about their songs getting downloaded illegally.

[lari]

I'd make the argument that I think that piracy actually helps littler bands (and even some of the bigger bands), because it gets the name of the band out there to people who wouldn't usually get the chance.

[Liam]

I'd make the argument that I think that piracy actually helps littler bands (and even some of the bigger bands), because it gets the name of the band out there to people who wouldn't usually get the chance.

I already stated all bands and their management are well aware of the promotional value of mp3's. And it should be their decision to put the whole album up for download. Not yours. Small bands without a record deal often put their demos up for download. But if they opt not to, who are you to say they would be better off having their songs available for free?

For your information, I don't download music, or if I do, it is generally stuff I already have but can't be arsed to rip off the CD, or something I intend to buy in the next few days. So although I'm backing people who want to download and realise the value in it, I don't actually do it myself.

I'd also argue that even quite a few bands who don't put a substantial amount of thier music online for free don't really care that illegal MP3 downloading goes on. Doesn't make it right, but it always seems that the people making the biggest deal about it are the ones who are in a lofty position already, and it comes down to what could be seen as money grubbing for money grubbing sakes. That also ties in with me agreeing that CD's are way too expensive.