MPAA Exec Admits: 'We're Not Comfortable With The Internet'


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There have been a ton of post mortems about the whole SOPA/PIPA fight, with many trying to figure out where and how the MPAA "went wrong." After all, this is a group that is very used to getting its way inside DC. And it got slaughtered. We've already discussed our thoughts on why the MPAA failed, but what stuns me is how every time someone from the MPAA opens their mouth, they seem to make the situation worse by demonstrating just how tone deaf they are to the online community and what their concerns were. Whether it's just more backroom dealing, each response just sounds like a group of people who are playing a different game, and still don't realize the rules have changed.

The Hollywood Reporter's version of the post mortem is a good read, even though it covers much the same ground as many other such recaps. Still, it's worth reading to get a good feel for Hollywood's view of the world. But the really stunning part is the quote from Michael O'Leary, the MPAA's number two guy, who makes what may be the most tone-deaf statement we've seen to date in this fight:

The MPAA's O'Leary concedes that the industry was outmanned and outgunned in cyberspace. He says the MPAA "is [undergoing] a process of education, a process of getting a much, much greater presence in the online environment. This was a fight on a platform we're not at this point comfortable with, and we were going up against an opponent that controls that platform."

Yes, even when he tries to say that they're trying to learn about the confounded internet thingy, he sounds ridiculous and dismissive. But the real point is his inadvertent admission within that statement: the MPAA (and the rest of "old" Hollywood) simply "is not comfortable with" the internet. And that's really what SOPA and PIPA were about. Rather than trying to understand this new platform, and learn from the many entertainers who do get the internet, they did what the MPAA does and simply tried to regulate that which they don't understand and fear.

Furthermore, even more ridiculous is the end of that sentence: "an opponent that controls that platform." As the article makes clear, he means Google. Which shows that he still doesn't get it. First, Google didn't lead the protests. It came late to the game, after the grassroots had already taken off with this stuff and run with it. But, more to the point, contrary to what O'Leary and the MPAA seem to believe: Google does not control the internet. No one does.

This, of course, explains why the MPAA wants to "negotiate" with Google these days. But that's not going to work. The folks on the internet don't want a backroom deal, whether it's negotiated by Google or someone else. Either way, this suggests that the MPAA is desperately in need of new leadership. They need leaders who don't try to regulate that which they admit they don't understand. They need leaders who aren't so clueless as to think that Google controls the internet (or that Google is somehow "the enemy.") And, really, most important, they need leaders who recognize and understand that the internet is their future too -- and any leadership needs to not fear the internet, but understand it and learn to embrace it. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem likely that the MPAA is going to find such leadership any time soon.

Source: TechDirt

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All they need to do is find a way to avoid 8 yr old scriptkiddies that think ddos'ing is doing any good and they should be good to go.

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The MPAA's O'Leary concedes that the industry was outmanned and outgunned in cyberspace. He says the MPAA "is [undergoing] a process of education, a process of getting a much, much greater presence in the online environment. This was a fight on a platform we're not at this point comfortable with, and we were going up against an opponent that controls that platform."

It?s like their some kind of vaudeville era villain, twiddling their handlebar mustache and yelling ?I?ll get you next time, Internet!?

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It?s like their some kind of vaudeville era villain, twiddling their handlebar mustache and yelling ?I?ll get you next time, Internet!?

You've referenced a scene that takes place in several movies; MPAA says shut Neowin down!!!!

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He says the MPAA "is [undergoing] a process of education, a process of getting a much, much greater presence in the online environment. This was a fight on a platform we're not at this point comfortable with, and we were going up against an opponent that controls that platform.
Does he mean Google?
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The current CEO of MPAA is Chris Dodd, the guy has been working congress and senate for the last 20+ years. He was force to quit the senate in 2010 because he was becoming unpopular with the people for all this corruptios. Go figure...

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Think it says it all, and why the MPAA has failed so badly to adopt to this technology. Idiots.

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if they learnt to adapt they would be more comfortable with it, its not liek it hasnt been around for 15+years :/ were they not comfortable when tapes came out or cd's came out, or dvd,s or mp3 players friggen idiots

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if they learnt to adapt they would be more comfortable with it, its not liek it hasnt been around for 15+years :/ were they not comfortable when tapes came out or cd's came out, or dvd,s or mp3 players friggen idiots

Considering they were the ones publishing the tapes, CDs, and DVDs, I'm pretty sure they weren't too concerned with those formats. I'd be surprised if they weren't comfortable with mp3 players once Napster starting gaining popularity, though.

You're right. They should've done a much better job of adapting. I wonder how bad off they would be if iTunes and similar services didn't go live when they did.

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Considering they were the ones publishing the tapes, CDs, and DVDs, I'm pretty sure they weren't too concerned with those formats. I'd be surprised if they weren't comfortable with mp3 players once Napster starting gaining popularity, though.

You're right. They should've done a much better job of adapting. I wonder how bad off they would be if iTunes and similar services didn't go live when they did.

Jack Valenti, the former head of the MPAA, once said that "the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone".

They never have understood technology. All they care about is power and control, as they think that's how they will earn their profits.

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The MPAA has always been against technology. This goes back to cassette tapes and video tapes and the user ability to record/copy. What really freaked them out is when congress passed the Audio and Video Recording act of 1992 which stated that copying for personal use and sharing was OK, but making many copies and selling them was not OK.

Then you had the DMCA which tried to break those copying mechanisms. SOPA/PIPA was the next step in the MPAA/RIAA trying to trample everyone's rights to their own personal belongings. Not to mention they wanted to crush amateur creativity because they see it as competition.

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The MPAA has always been against technology. This goes back to cassette tapes and video tapes and the user ability to record/copy. What really freaked them out is when congress passed the Audio and Video Recording act of 1992 which stated that copying for personal use and sharing was OK, but making many copies and selling them was not OK.

Then you had the DMCA which tried to break those copying mechanisms. SOPA/PIPA was the next step in the MPAA/RIAA trying to trample everyone's rights to their own personal belongings. Not to mention they wanted to crush amateur creativity because they see it as competition.

Here is a lovely timeline. This industry has for its entire lifespan been slow, deaf, and dumb.

http://matadornetwork.com/change/infographic-why-the-movie-industry-is-so-wrong-about-sopa/

TED best explains why SOPA/PIPA is primarily being crafted to destroy all competition from amateur sources and more:

http://www.ted.com/talks/defend_our_freedom_to_share_or_why_sopa_is_a_bad_idea.html?awesm=on.ted.com_ACxO

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... This was a fight on a platform we're not at this point comfortable with, and we were going up against an opponent that controls that platform."

There's your problem. Why even fight it? Why not just accept the internet as it is, and adapt to it. THIS IS WHY EVERYBODY HATES YOU. If you approached the internet with an open mind, and some fresh ideas, you'd have been lauded (well, maybe not) for innovating on a new platform and bringing us original content in a new and excitingly convenient way. Instead, you come to our internet with your war machine, accuse us all of being evil pirates, and want to turn it into your internet where you can control the flow of information, suppress competition, and stifle innovation on a massive scale.

Your outdated methodology of artificial scarcity (copyright) doesn't work in a world where there is (by definition) no scarcity. But instead of accepting this and innovating around the issue, you use your money to exploit corrupt politicians to get your own way and try to censor and otherwise break the internet.

The fact that services like Netflix, Hulu and Spotify exist and continue to make decent profits should be evidence enough that most of us are not inherently out to take your content without paying for it, but when you punish us for using legitimate services, why should we bother? When was the last time a pirate saw the anti-piracy bull**** on a movie they downloaded? When was the last time a pirate had to call tech support to reinstall his computer game? When was the last time a pirate had to install a rootkit to put his new CD album onto his mp3 player? Never, never and never respectively. Many of us stopped illegally downloading content as soon as these streaming services came along. Spotify and iTunes have vastly reduced music piracy by making legal music downloads easy and cheap to access. Netflix and Hulu (in the USA only until recently) will also have reduced piracy for the same reasons.

Your war on the internet falls on deaf ears mainly because your companies (in the movie, game and music industries) all made record profits last year. You're not suffering from piracy, not even close, and if you were, we still wouldn't listen because the great thing about the internet is that it's the perfect adapt-or-die world. If you can't adapt and compete, then you will not survive. You however seem to think that you're exempt from this because it doesn't suit your anti-consumer business model, and so you want to break our internet through censorship and control, and frankly, we won't let you. If you try, we'll just take our ball, and play somewhere else, and you still won't be invited.

Get. a. Clue.

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I think too many companies are refusing to adapt their business model to the new era of technology. The USPS is a great example of this. They're bleeding money, partly because if you don't change with the times you get left behind.

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