MPAA bias in the News

[mobrien_12]

Just saw a story on FOX news that pissed me off.

Here is a copy of the letter that I sent them ([email protected]).


 

quote:
I just saw your story on the use of IR cameras to catch people in theatres who use small cameras to tape the movies.

The story was interesting, but I became quite angry as I watched.  The
reason?  The incorrect use of the term "thieves."

To be a "thief" one must take something away from someone else.  The
person who stole my car stereo was a thief.  A person who shoplifts a DVD
is a thief.  

Taping a movie is not stealing, it is copyright infringement.  Copyright
infringement is a different crime.  However, the MPAA and the RIAA prefer
to use the terms "thieves" and "stealing" all the time because of the
negative connotations they have.  

You showed an MPAA member on this story who claimed that they were losing
billions each year to piracy.  That reminds me of one of my favorite
quotes:   "That's the best kind of lie, one ain't noone can disprove."

Why don't you do a story on how the RIAA and the MPAA are paying our
senators and congressmen hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to
curtail the rights of consumers and redefine fair use, all in the name of
"piracy" and "intellectual property theft?"

[ February 20, 2004: Message edited by: M. O'Brien ]

[WMD]

Well done.  

However, something scares me: it isn't just FOX News that does reports like this.  Every single station that I've seen uses the word "theives" like this.

Why?  Because the media is fucking stupid, and doesn't know SHIT about how this stuff works.  They just trust the RIAA/MPAA, because they're the establishment, and well, they must be right.  :rolleyes:

So I hope this isn't designed to be an argument against FOX News (I see a lot of that).  They all do it.  However, this IS a very good argument against the RIAA/MPAA as a whole.  All the news organizations are brainwashed about this topic.

[Fett101]

Um.... but they are thieves. They have essentially stolen/made a copy of the movie. You just like having mental word games.

[cahult]

Do a follow-up on this, please. I want to read the answer.

[restin256]

quote:Originally posted by Fett101:
Um.... but they are thieves. They have essentially stolen/made a copy of the movie. You just like having mental word games.

Technically it's not stealling because they still have the same thing too. You're just spreading information.

[Fett101]

quote:Originally posted by restin256:


Technically it's not stealling because they still have the same thing too. You're just spreading information.

Technically, OJ Simpson is not guilty.

[flap]

quote:Originally posted by Fett101:
Um.... but they are thieves. They have essentially stolen/made a copy of the movie. You just like having mental word games.

This debate has been done to death here, but the truth is that you don't "steal" when you copy. Stealing means depriving someone of something they own. You may as well say they're rapists, or murderers.

[Fett101]

But arguing on the internet is so much fun.    

P.S. You're wrong. Booyah!

[Annorax]

quote:Originally posted by flap:


This debate has been done to death here, but the truth is that you don't "steal" when you copy. Stealing means depriving someone of something they own. You may as well say they're rapists, or murderers.

Quoted for truth. The media companies know damn well the difference between theft and copyright infringement. The only thing they know better is that their propaganda wouldn't work worth a damn if they didn't redefine piracy in terms the lowest common denominator can relate to.

[WMD]

quote:Originally posted by Annorax: Temporal Refugee:
The only thing they know better is that their propaganda wouldn't work worth a damn if they didn't redefine piracy in terms the lowest common denominator can relate to.

For some reason I'm reminded of "Pirates of the Carribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."  They kept accusing Johnny Depp of "piracy."