Illegal Movie Piracy by College Students Overestimated
Here’s an article I’d like you to read, and then we’ll discuss as a class. Illegal file-sharing, digital rights management, and how industries try to control itellectual property. This article is about how the statistics used to show that college students were stealing movies was wrong:
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/01/29/green
The Movie Industry’s 300% Error
“A week ago today, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) issued what had to be a hugely embarrassing news release acknowledging that an aggressively promoted and widely cited research report commissioned by the MPAA in 2005 significantly overstated the Internet-based peer-to-peer piracy of college students: “The 2005 study had incorrectly concluded that 44 percent of the motion picture industry’s domestic losses were attributable to piracy by college students. The 2007 study will report that number to be approximately 15 percent.” The MPAA release attributes the bad data to an “isolated error,” adding that it takes the error seriously and plans to hire an independent reviewer “to validate” the numbers in a forthcoming edition of an updated report….”
Read more at article and post your comments here:
UND HON 392's Weblog 
January 29, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I’m getting very tired of the MPAA and the RIAA continually targeting college students. Pinning them as evil pirates bent on world destruction. I think big media needs to quit whining about lost profits, and just think of some new ideas. The old method of distribution of their products is quickly dying, and it will never return. If they want to stay in business (which I hope they don’t), they’ll need tho think of some new ways to distribute their media. I just don’t get why they can’t understand this.
There are many musicians and moviemakers out there who would rather their products get ‘pirated’ online. After all, there are no costs of distribution, and many more people will be able to see/listen to the product. Even more than if it were sold.
It is literally impossible to stop piracy, and every time there is an attempt to stop it, new better, and easier ways to get around blocks are created. It’s like the article said, “Mr. Sannier also described illegal P2P activity as an ‘arms race’ that neither side will win.” Instead of fighting it, embrace the technology that enables it, and create something new. And besides, there is a winner: the pirates – or as I like to call us, sharers.
The RIAA and MPAA are on their way out, and (hopefully) a new and better system will emerge from the ashes.
January 29, 2008 at 8:49 pm
While I agree that piracy cannot be stopped, especially on college campuses, one has to look at individual schools. My brother attends the U of M and they have a “hub” where he can download almost any movie he wants. All the content is uploaded by other students. I am not sure about most of the details concerning any legal issues, but I know that many of those students do not pay for the movies or music they download.
January 30, 2008 at 3:26 am
We have one of those here at UND actually. It’s just as legal as using P2P or bittorrent – it’s not legal – but it’s not really utilized too much here. It’s actually really cool, and works very well.
January 31, 2008 at 2:53 am
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