Tuesday 31 January 2012

Hollywood and studio conglomerates hate progress, now ACTA

Since ever the studios (now merged into a few multi-national conglomerates) have fought against progress, always claiming that they would lose if… while in reality they were, and are, just seeking to maintain their old business models.

1894 invention of 35mm film

1895 motion picture camera

1920's censorship threat fom federal government, studios set up rating system and create MPAA …for 45 years used 35mm film and distributed only to cinemas. MPAA spends $110M/year to deal with innovation

1940's studios own >50% cinemas in USA. Forced to sell under anti-trust laws (26% today). Studios say "its all over"

1950's Cable TV starts. Fight against TV remote controls (channel hopping). Studios say free TV can't compete with paid content, say technology doesn't understand the arts...

1970's The VCR, home rentals. Big objections to VCRs by studios. Say it will starngle their business.

1990's DVDs, Congress pass Digital Millenium Copyright Act, makes copying a DVD you purchased illegal

2000's DVR introduced, increases TV viewing by 20%

2006 Cloud based DVR storage, studios sue to block, lose case

2010 Studios claim on-line "piracy" will put them out of business. Revenue $52.8B 2000 -> $87B 2010!65% of revenue from sources studios originally claimed would put them out of business!

2011 SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) proposed to lawmakers by studios. Gives them unprecedented powers to censor almost any site on the internet (the whole site, not just infringing works). MPAA asks for same kind of powers to censor as in China. Like as "If someone shoplifts your store (uploads infringing works), SOPA allows government to close your store (your web site)".

2012 SOPA withdrawn after huge internet protest, and popular sites blackout. ACTA and TPP continue to roll forward introducing interference with open internet (ISP liability), criminal damages for infringement. Objections starting.

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