cstroman
06-23-2004, 03:59 PM
Pirating (the digital kind, not the Johnny Depp or Pee Wee Herman kind) is an awknowledged problem for the Motion Picture Industry.
I think they are pretty stupid in how they are addressing the issue however.
They are cracking down on the people who pirate the movies, which is fine, but that will never eradicate the issue. Just like drugs there will be a demand for immediate "view in your home" of recent movies.
As long as there's a delayed release between a finished product and home viewing/ownership, there will exist a demand for pirated content.
That said, one of the ways in which movies are distributed digitally is through the internet through P2P networks which will never go away and with time and technology will become impossible to regulate or track.
Currently when a movie is released and someone pirates it and puts it up for download you have to click on the file and download it, then view it.
What seemed like a good idea to combat this at the time by the Motion Picture Studios was to put DUMMY files out there named the same thing and as large as the pirated versions.
That does use up time/bandwidth for the person downloading such.
HOWEVER (and here's where I am smarter than them) the files that are being put out there to flood the net with fake Pirated versions are all BLANKS, or BLACK SCREENS.
Now, anyone who knows a little about what they are doing can preview the file and see that it is blank and cancel it. They can keep doing this until they find one that actually has a PICTURE and then resume the download and get an actual movie.
IF they were smart, the Movie Distributers wouldn't be putting out there these BLANK movie files. What they WOULD be doing is putting out 5 to 10 minute INTROS of the actual movie and then the rest of the file would be ADVERTISEMENTS for their movies and/or DVD's.
The First thing that does is ADVERTISE the movie that is in the theaters so that if someone sees the beginning, they will want to see the rest and are more likely to go see it in the Movie Theater. It's ADVERTISING.
Second, they can ADVERTISE all of their CATALOGUE titles that are SIMILAR to the movie that was attempted to be downloaded and show the Trailers or INTROS of those movies as well.
Third, the person downloading the movie will think they are getting the Pirated Version because when Played the first 10 minutes (you could even extend this as well or loop it, etc.) is the Actual Movie.
I have downloaded the intro to a few movies (Big Fish, etc.) to see if I like how it starts, and then I have actually gone to the theater and watched the whole thing, where otherwise I would not have gone.
They could turn pirates downloading movies into ADVERTISERS if they just were smart enough to do so.
I think they are pretty stupid in how they are addressing the issue however.
They are cracking down on the people who pirate the movies, which is fine, but that will never eradicate the issue. Just like drugs there will be a demand for immediate "view in your home" of recent movies.
As long as there's a delayed release between a finished product and home viewing/ownership, there will exist a demand for pirated content.
That said, one of the ways in which movies are distributed digitally is through the internet through P2P networks which will never go away and with time and technology will become impossible to regulate or track.
Currently when a movie is released and someone pirates it and puts it up for download you have to click on the file and download it, then view it.
What seemed like a good idea to combat this at the time by the Motion Picture Studios was to put DUMMY files out there named the same thing and as large as the pirated versions.
That does use up time/bandwidth for the person downloading such.
HOWEVER (and here's where I am smarter than them) the files that are being put out there to flood the net with fake Pirated versions are all BLANKS, or BLACK SCREENS.
Now, anyone who knows a little about what they are doing can preview the file and see that it is blank and cancel it. They can keep doing this until they find one that actually has a PICTURE and then resume the download and get an actual movie.
IF they were smart, the Movie Distributers wouldn't be putting out there these BLANK movie files. What they WOULD be doing is putting out 5 to 10 minute INTROS of the actual movie and then the rest of the file would be ADVERTISEMENTS for their movies and/or DVD's.
The First thing that does is ADVERTISE the movie that is in the theaters so that if someone sees the beginning, they will want to see the rest and are more likely to go see it in the Movie Theater. It's ADVERTISING.
Second, they can ADVERTISE all of their CATALOGUE titles that are SIMILAR to the movie that was attempted to be downloaded and show the Trailers or INTROS of those movies as well.
Third, the person downloading the movie will think they are getting the Pirated Version because when Played the first 10 minutes (you could even extend this as well or loop it, etc.) is the Actual Movie.
I have downloaded the intro to a few movies (Big Fish, etc.) to see if I like how it starts, and then I have actually gone to the theater and watched the whole thing, where otherwise I would not have gone.
They could turn pirates downloading movies into ADVERTISERS if they just were smart enough to do so.