This time last year, I had the opportunity to talk to Dr. David Price of London-based NetNames shortly after they released a report on the scale and scope of media piracy worldwide. Presently, Dr. Price is in Washington DC where, along with collaborator Tom Galvin of the Digital Citizens Alliance, he officially released a new report on piracy, this one ...
People like to tell themselves and others that piracy of entertainment media is a victimless crime, by which they typically mean that their one little download of a major motion picture doesn’t hurt anyone when the studio that produced said picture is making millions. I’ve assailed this fallacy in more than a few posts, but a report released today by ...
Following the loss of Robin Williams, my kids were in the mood to re-watch Disney’s Aladdin. We thought we had a VHS copy of the film, but I bet mine is not the only household with a few VHS jackets containing the wrong tapes inside. (See kids, this is why we put things back…) Anyway, not so much with the ...
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 ...
Dear Helen Wong and especially the Editors of The Daily Californian: On today’s opinion page, I see that you have decided to share your thoughts (we’ll call them thoughts) on the subject of piracy, predicated on your desire to see the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. After trying unsuccessfully to view this film through a legal and relatively cheap ...
