Spring Break
Movie industry taking measures against piracy
Motion Picture Association of America sponsors ethics awareness sessions
John Myers
Daily Staff Writer
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The Motion Picture Association of America has been engaging students from middle school to college, as well as the general public, in discussions to see the association's perspective since 2003, said Matthew Grossman, director of digital strategy and corporate communications.
"In the past, the consumer had a choice either to buy something or not buy something," Grossman said. "Now there's a new option - to just steal it from the Internet. Why is that? I don't know many people who would walk into a store and take a DVD off the shelf."
In order to stop movie piracy, Grossman said the Motion Picture Association of America began several campaigns and funded programs last year to create awareness about the issue.
"We have an anti-piracy group that sends out cease-and-desist letters to (Internet service providers)," Grossman said. "We're not snooping, and we don't know who you are. We have your IP address, and your college or (Internet service provider) will let you know."
The Motion Picture Association of America sponsored Junior Achievement's Digital Citizenship program, which informs middle school students about the moral, legal and ethical issues that come with downloading movies for free.
"This year, the curriculum will reach 900,000 students to help them understand that their actions are not in a void," Grossman said. "Every time someone offers a movie (online), that person takes away the marketplace from existing. It's not too complex for students to understand."
Grossman said the association also ran an ad on television giving the public the association's point of view on the piracy issue. The ad aired simultaneously on 30 networks last summer, Grossman said.
Chris Mangrum, assistant director for San Jose State University's residential computing network, called ResNet, said that the number of letters his office received from associations like the Recording Industry Association of America about students downloading illegal media has dropped significantly since last year.
"Last year, we had over 160 (letters)," Mangrum said. "This year, we've only had four so far. That's a dramatic drop."
Mangrum said the housing computer services department has not received any letters from the Motion Picture Association of America.
"Ninety-five percent are from the RIAA," Mangrum said. "Some are directly from record labels or from (media companies) like Sony. We got a couple from computer companies about (pirated) software."
Freshman industrial design major Pavel Rakhlin, who lives on campus, said the network in the residence halls limits file sharing online.
"You can't really download anything in the dorms because they blocked off (the file-sharing program) Kazaa," Rakhlin said. "It's been blocked off the whole time I have been here."
But Mangrum said programs like Kazaa are not blocked by ResNet.
"Kazaa is not blocked from ResNet's point of view," Mangrum said. "We limit the percentage of the network that can be used for peer-to-peer downloading to 15 to 20 percent. Then the campus has its own restrictions (on peer-to-peer downloading)."
A freshman business student, who wished to remain anonymous, said he still finds ways to download movies, despite the limitations of ResNet.
"I use (the file-sharing program) IRC," the student said. "There are a lot of movies on that. There are also different Web sites and programs like BitTorrent that you can use through the network in the dorms."
However, the student said he does not download the movies simply to avoid paying for them.
"I want to be able to watch the movies on my own time, not check the theater's time," he said. "I like to pause and stop the movies, which you can't do in the theaters."
The student said that even though he downloads films that have been released in the theaters but not yet released on video, he is not in any way opposed to buying the movies on DVD.
Currently, the Motion Picture Association of America does not have plans to file civil suits and sue individuals like the music industry has, Grossman said.
"The motion picture industry has primarily been involved with individuals (pirating movies) at the criminal level," Grossman said. "In 2003, (the Motion Picture Association of America) seized over 50 million optical pirated discs, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. We can't even quantify the use of pirated movies on the Internet."
Grossman said the Motion Picture Association of America has worked with the FBI to catch criminals engaging in a number of pirating activities, ranging from distributing bootlegged screeners to sneaking camcorders into theaters.
"Right now, the estimate of the damage of hard-goods piracy is about $3.5 billion per year," Grossman said.
Grossman said a lot of the association's advertising, such as the television ad that ran on 30 networks simultaneously, was donated because the networks supported the cause of generating discussion on piracy. Creating awareness is a far bigger focus for the Motion Picture Association of America than collecting damages from individuals like the music industry is doing, Grossman said.
"We like to keep our options open for the future," Grossman said. "We hope we're not going to find ourselves in (the position of the music industry), but that depends on how the trend grows or doesn't grow."
