Normally we don't jump on stories that have already achieved interdork levels of ubiquity but when the lion's share of outlets miss the real uptake on one, we feel compelled to voice our own irrelevant opinions on the matter so we can all read them back to each other and nod seriously while we go "Mmm hmmm... you are totally right about that, man. I'm gonna ping Technorati right now."
So, OK! Either the MPAA couldn't pass a pre-Algebra class or they have been deliberately inflating the percentage of their content being passed around CollegeNets. Whatevs, homey! Like we didn't know that crap already. Now M$M is ROFL and having a good old time reporting this as if they are somehow not part of the problem.
But dig this. (Actually if you could Twitter it or something that might be better.) Whether this was actually 'human error' or deliberate obfuscation on the part of the MPAA matters little now. If they can be THIS wrong about THIS statistic then WHAT THE HELL ELSE ARE THEY 29% WRONG ABOUT? Ummm... wdk.. EVERYTHING? When you're talking 'billions' of $ then 29% matters, a lot.
Also there seems to be a curious lack of interest or care on the part of the blogiverse regarding the inverse conclusion to be drawn here. Where is that missing % actually coming from? Broadband growth might be slowing a tad on the global scale, but only because it was blowing doors for a couple of years. Plus, guess which market bucks the overall trend and just keeps on booming. Thaaat's right, noodlenose. The good old North American one. *brushes own shoulder off* Yanks + Canucks + Fat Pipes = <3.
Additionally, the concept that it's only or mostly students utilizing p2p is antiquated. Especially when you look at the issue in 'internet time.' Of COURSE it's still present on most campuses, but the massive smackdown that most network managers/administrators have been engaged in for quite sometime, combined with the uptick in malware attacks means that a significant portion of the student population has found other ways to share what they want to share. (Our lips are sealed.) While the MPAA and RIAA have been busily sighting up this relatively easy target, everyone who ISN'T rocking an .edu address has been busily and increasingly enjoying their content for free.
So while it feels good to point the finger at the MPAA and laugh at their, now exposed and naked, ridiculous claims. Let's all take a moment to point the finger up our own silly asses and regroup here.
The RIAA is lying to you. Music labels and distribution companies are lying to you. Game publishers/sites, media conglomerates and 'news' outlets... all tell you that they're wearing protection. But trust your own instincts. They actually blew right by the drug store on their way over without even slowing down. The simple reason is they CAN'T WAIT TO SCREW YOU and they don't care what they have to say or do to get your face in the pillow. Their very real attitude is 'bend over, shut up and take it.'
When any massive corporation begins to sue individual users of its content, regardless of the details involved, that means one thing and one thing only. The global chief of that corporation just realized that he can't buy the private island he wanted to give to his mistress for her birthday, so he had to settle for buying her a yacht instead. Think we're exaggerating? That's OK. It IS hard to imagine it, even for us sometimes. But we've seen it with our own eyes, and it is NOT pretty.
The issues of 'piracy' and or 'illegal content' should be decided by each individual based on their own moral compass, not the supposedly shrinking coffers of Interglobal Recordz & Moviefilms Inc.
We realize there's a large segment of the consumer population out there that would take this as an extreme or borderline conspiratorial statement. Hey... whaddaya gonna do? It's analogous to that friend you had at one time who was dating someone that was ssoooo wrong for them. You know... the kind that's not even subjective. Like when your friend was banging that 62 year old Philosophy prof. for a better grade, and he got inside her head and convinced her she was in love with him? You couldn't change her mind with a sledgehammer so you just had to let her figure it out for herself. Then she showed up at your place in the middle of the night sobbing about how he pushed her out of his car in front of Food Lion and sped away without saying a word. It's like that. Exactly.
She wasn't stupid. She just bought into an attractive lie so she could pretend she was 'making love' instead of getting used like plastic or paper ma'am.
It's time to force that old prick into retirement, or at LEAST get some incriminating shots of him while he's drunk at a frat party and post them on Facebook.
The next time you see some 'report' put out by the RIAA, assume it's a lie.... because it is. The old business models are dead. They have been for quite some time. We're living through their echo... the sounds of their death throes are still bouncing around the canyon walls but the corpse is already stinking. If the MPAA and RIAA want to slap sunglasses on it and drag it around to try and collect its Social Security checks for a little while longer then that's what they're gonna do.
Just don't let them get into your head with threats and/or false information. Remember that YOU have the choice to pay for what you feel has value and to NOT pay for what you feel doesn't. Support new business models, especially the ones who favor cutting out the traditional middle man tier and instead increase the profit share for the people who are creating the art.
Society will be rewarded when it nurtures talent and genuine prolificacy over executive salaries and profit margins. We love making money and the free market economy as much as the next schmo with a rent payment due. What we don't love is a manipulated and pre-formed assembly line system of 'approved entertainment'. You don't need someone to tell you what music, movies or tv shows are 'good' or 'bad'. You can and should decide that on your own.
We keep trying to hate J.J. Abrams and we keep failing miserably. Anybody who floats along so steadfastly through the flotsam & jetsam of network television and big budget film marketing automatically inspires both awe and ire in us. We can't help but respect someone who breaks through the celluloid ceiling with such aplomb. But still... why haven't Fox Searchlight or Screen Gems optioned our screenplays for 'Repo Man II: Otto Gets Blotto' or 'Escape From Waukegan: Snake On A Lake'?? Huh? When does Gil get a lick? *is bitter*
