I’ve lost count at this point how many times and ways I’ve rejected the premise that piracy is a consumer-driven response to claims of scarcity in the market, especially in the United States; but now KPMG has released the results of a study of motion pictures and television programs that rebuts such pro-piracy claims with actual data. You can read the ...
Yesterday, Google chairman Eric Schmidt was interviewed on public radio and simulcast on Google Hangouts. WAMU’s Diane Rhem threw softballs, slow and over the plate at Schmidt, providing a friendly platform for the chairman to evangelize the many ways Google makes the world a better place. Coincidentally, I happened to be editing the following: For those who don’t know, ChillingEffects.org ...
If I hadn’t given up regular TV watching about 20 years ago, I’d probably still be channel-surfing into oblivion. You’ve been there, right? Whatever you’re watching can’t possibly be as good or important as whatever you’re missing. With hundreds of available channels, this is just mathematically reasonable in a very frustrating way. Maybe, but it’s also an example of how ...
Last weekend marked an anniversary in copyright and film history. On August 24, 1912, the 1909 Copyright Act was amended under the leadership of New Jersey congressman Edward Townsend to protect motion pictures as a medium distinct from photographic works. In the century that has since passed, filmed entertainment became, and continues to be, one of the most important products made ...
Well, what have we learned about pre-release piracy and its likely impact on this past weekend’s lackluster performance of Expendables III at the box office? About two weeks ago, someone who had access to a DVD-quality file of the franchise’s latest installment leaked that file for the purpose of upload to illegal file-sharing sites; and prior to film’s release on ...
