Spring Break
Movie industry fights illegal downloading
Penalties to be implemented for pirating
Kenneth Seli
Daily Staff Writer
- Page 1 of 1
The Motion Picture Association of America stated in a recent press release that stiff penalties would be put in place for people who pirate copyrighted movies and related materials, and that studios will sue many file sharers who attempt to download movies illegally.
The measure is similar to the lawsuits and penalties administered to people who downloaded music files from producers in the music industry.
According to the Motion Picture Association of America, their new campaign, titled "Rated I," which stands for "Illegal Downloading: Inappropriate for all ages," is meant to battle the wave of movie piracy and illegal peer-topeer fi le sharing of motion-picture material.
The peer-to-peer file-sharing methods that the Motion Picture Association of America is focusing on are the illegal downloading of movies through services such as Morpheus and Gnutella.
The services transfer music, movies and computer programs from one Internet user to another without payment to the producers of the material.
"The motion-picture industry must pursue legal proceedings against people who are stealing our movies on the Internet," said Motion Picture Association of America President and CEO Dan Glickman in a prepared statement. "The future of our industry, and hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports, must be protected from this kind of outright theft using all available means."
Full-page ads have been taken out in many newspapers warning people of the wave of litigation to come.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred in many major motion pictures, released a statement supporting the Motion Picture Association of America.
"This year, I signed an Executive Order (S-16-04) banning the trafficking of illegally duplicated copyright material using stateowned resources, as well as legislation that made Internet piracy a crime," Schwarzenegger said in the release.
Maziar Moezzi, operations coordinator of the Associated Students Computer Services Center, said their center enforces a campus policy that was enacted by former interim President Joseph Crowley that ruled against illegal file sharing on the campus.
Moezzi said after the enforcement of the policy, he has had few problems with illegal file sharers.
"Since (the policy was enacted), we don't have an issue anymore," Moezzi said. "(They are blocked) in the campus firewall - they would not be able to install peer-to-peer programs on our computers."
Christina Reeves, an undeclared freshman, said the motion picture industry is cheap to squabble over a few lost sales.
"I don't think it's right (to sue file sharers)," Reeves said. "It's a petty excuse to put someone in jail to (seek damages). They should find ways to get people to stop."
Reeves said she has never downloaded a movie illegally, but has downloaded music without paying for it.
"I see both sides of the issue," Reeves said, "but as a college student, I don't have the money to buy a $20 (compact disc)."
Jared Morre, a film and cinema sophomore, said many artists have become obsessed with sales rather than attempting to convey their arguments against piracy.
"I think that's a cheap way for artists to get their money," Morre said. "I'm not mass producing it - it's for my own personal benefit."
Morre also said he has downloaded only music and not movies.
Nicholas Hinrichs, a freshman mechanical engineering major, said the movie industry is justified in its actions to pursue people who download movies without payment.
Hinrichs said people who obtain media without paying for it are stealing.
"It's illegal," Hinrichs said. "If I was the one
making movies for money, (I) wouldn't want
people doing that."
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