September 26, 2003
It didn't work for drugs either
The New York Times is reporting that the MPAA is trying to stem the tide of online movie swapping. The movie industry has certainly taken a more measured and rational response to the Internet than the music industry has, but they're even more draconian in their policies.
Yet somehow they think that it's through playing games called "Starving Artist" and by running really obnoxious campaigns that the public will be swayed. This sounds to me like exactly the same kind of thing that adults have been trying with drugs for years. The message didn't work for something as serious as drugs, so what makes these people think that it will work for something perceived to be far more innocuous?
Still, they're definitely taking a better route than the RIAA is. Suing 12-year-old girls from the Bronx just isn't cool, you know?
damn, that respectcopyrights.org site is the most condescending stuff i've read in a long time. evidently they think their audience is made up of slow kindergarteners.
Posted by: gosey at September 26, 2003 01:05 PMIn years past I did my share of drugs and possibly the shares of a few others. The "anti-drug" campaign serves only to increase drug use because it is at the very least, silly and laughable, and at it's worst, it's condescending. Watch someone fry an egg after pulling some bong hits and you want to go to Perkin's for some fried eggs and coffee. It's the attitude of the watcher along with the quality of the commercial. I can't blame drug use on commercials but the quality is so poor that you'd almost have to be Mother Theresa to find any value in them (bad example but you see where I'm going). The attitude problem comes into play because if I really want to do drugs or copy movies, no commercial will deter me. Unless they can show how downloading movies leads to the torture of starving infants in some third world country their campaign is doomed. Even then there are a number of heartless bastards out there who would keep downloading.
Posted by: ColeSlaw at September 26, 2003 01:22 PM