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The media world would be a lot more fun if every CEO unloaded on Twitter as much as Rupert Murdoch has since he began posting his personal thoughts this month. News Corp’s chief tweeter’s latest target is — surprise!– President Obama after his administration said today that it has qualms about the Hollywood-supported anti-piracy bills making their way through Congress. Although the MPAA still sees room for negotiation on the proposals — opposed by the tech community – Murdoch is fed up: “So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery,” he writes in one tweet. The follow up: “Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying.” And then a third: “Film making risky as hell. This has to lead to less, hurting writers, actors, all concerned.” Murdoch seems to be thinking a lot about risk today. Earlier he wrote: “Normally disapprove of casinos, but hitting 16s and 17s lot of fun. To hell with theories!”
Rupert Murdoch Blasts Obama Via Twitter For Opposing Anti-Piracy Bills
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So why hasn’t he similarly spoken out against all of the Republicans that also now oppose the bills, I wonder?
Yes, Rupert, because phone hacking is so much more civilized. If I didn’t know better, I might think Old Rupe is compensating for his transgressions by accusing others.
The gloves are off.
This doesn’t help necessarily, but it’s nice that he is cutting loose. He speaks the truth on the issue – I disagree with him about a lot of stuff, to say the least, but he just came out and said the truth today. So, for one day, kudos to him.
Neither bill will do anything to stop most piracy. They’ll stop completely computer illiterate people who download from public torrent trackers, but it’s not going to stop anyone else.
Studios and even the indies refuse to see the real problems: ticket costs, movie availability outside of NY/LA (a big problem especially outside of the US, but also inside the US — why should someone delay seeing a movie when they can download it in a few clicks?), unexciting content. The reality of the “theatrical” release is that most people who don’t make movies don’t feel romantic about theaters and would probably rather watch something on their tv, away from noisy people and cellphone users. 3D and IMAX can only work with the bigger films. That’s a problem that needs a better solution.
As far as content issues, 2012 should be a big learning year, since it looks to actually be a year that will excite people with so many films that look good (or people are looking forward to at least, like Batman and Prometheus, etc). Will they learn from it though? Making films IS a risky business, but the methods of removing as much of the theoretical risk has completely sucked the life out of creativity in Hollywood since, and even before, the Strike. It’s actually caused MORE risk because everyone can see right through it and only has to pay attention long enough to know they should ignore it.
What’s worse… piracy or Fox lobbyists maneuvering politicians into doing what’s good for Fox????
Shell
If you were in the Creative business as a Writer,actor director etc, you would understand that Piracy is killing the software business and damaging one of our most valuable exports
Obama is supporting piracy by not outlawing it
Obama is supporting piracy because he’s not for this bill? Sorry, but your logic is bullshit. It’s pretty much up there with Bush’s whole argument that if you didn’t want to solve conflict by bombing people you were a friend to the terrorists– as if there is only one way to handle something. There are many, many people in the creative business who think this bill has good intentions but is too flawed to be passed.
@Truth – Prove it.
“Piracy is killing the software business”
Is it really? No one is scrutinizing the need for this in the first place. Show me the data, independent, verifiable data of these supposed “losses”.
The GAO has already concluded:
“Three widely cited estimates of economic losses resulting from counterfeiting cannot be substantiated due to the absence of underlying studies.”
- Source: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10423.pdf
Let’s have a real honest look at this.
1) How do you quantify a loss? Since a tangible product is not lost from inventory, you are left with a potential lost sale.
2) What actually counts as a “lost sale”?
Not everything someone downloads, is something they would, or even could afford to purchase in the first place. In many countries they’re lucky enough to feed their family with what they earn. Some people are just fans, but still purchase the real thing. Some people just like to collect things. And there are many other choices these days competing for the same entertainment dollars. All of these realities must be taken into account if you’re going to come up with an honest accounting of data.
When we live in a world where the RIAA sues Limewire for $75 Trillion dollars, you can bet their estimates are a bit off.
So if in the end, after an honest accounting is done, and say the industry actually loses $17 million dollars a year, how does that equate to say shoplifting losses in brick and mortar stores? How much will it cost businesses and therefore consumers to enforce yet another law? And at what cost with unintended consequences such as anti-competitive behavior, suppression of free speech, increased litigation and burden on an already overwhelmed justice system, and potential for abuse, just as the DMCA is already being abused.
If you’re not familiar with the DMCA abuse… Viacom acknowledged that their employees secretly uploaded numerous clips to YouTube for marketing purposes and that later, the company struggled to distinguish between clips uploaded by their employees and those posted without permission, when issuing their DMCA take-down notices.
All of this must be weighed, to society as a whole, before we impose yet another new sweeping piece of legislation.
God you’re dumb as fuck. Oh let me guess you loving streaming movies from torrents don’t you. Don’t agree with SOPA and I have better way to solve the problem. Actually enforce the laws that are on the books. It’s seldomly done. If if the do prosecute people they use sue them. Put their asses in jail for 10 years and do it consistently enough and people will get the picture.
You’re calling him dumb, and saying that he likes to stream movies from torrents – which is IMPOSSIBLE. It’s hard to criticize someone for being short on facts unless you’re not.
ha ha.
Yes, making a terrible law is the answer. Hey, since people are stealing things from homes, why don’t we burn down all homes?
Writer…It is clear why you did not put “Working Writer” with your “burn down the homes analogy…
the bill is a beginning…it is better than nothing…and OBama supporting “nothing” and providing No alternatives..
Well I AM a working writer and I agree with writer. So there.
And it’s a TERRIBLE law that doesn’t do anything but support censorship. And while Murdoch is down for that, America (as stated in the First Amendment) is not.
It’s a very slippery slope. And where will the line be drawn? So one user uploads, or uses a torrent system to “share” product. Would you block their access to the internet? Or block the company that gives them access to the internet? And since some of those people might be students using file share at universities, do you block the universities? Yes, these are generalities. However, with the matrix known as the internet, a branch leads to a bigger branch leading to bigger branches. Where will you block? Because technically, to get from user to another user, pirated content goes through many branches. So cutting off the branch will NEVER solve the problem. It will just cut off or block legal data, information, content, etc from getting to their intended target. And THAT is censorship.
Dear, Sad Misinformed Poster:
You wrote:
“Obama is supporting piracy by not outlawing it”
Just so you know, because apparently you don’t, piracy is already against the law.
The question is, “What to do about piracy?”
SOPA is a horrible, horrible solution to that question.
The Obaman administration is only replying in the only sensible way to this mess.
The problem isn’t people opposed to the horrible bill that is SOPA. The problem is that the studio bankrolled a bill that made perfect sense to *them* but everyone else thinks is horrible. Guess what? The studios don’t rule the world after all. I know executives in Hollywood think they’re very, very important.
But really, you try to break the internet and you find out you just don’t matter that much after all.
That’s not what’s hurting Hollywood, champ.
Poor content is what is hurting Hollywood.
Amen!
“silicon valley paymasters…” But Obama should be giving in to Hollywood paymasters, right Rupert?
So the guy who presided over the worst phone-hacking scandal in history is whining about Internet piracy?
“Why that Obama has as much morality as, as, phone-hacking a dead girl’s cell phone! Oh, wait a minute…”
He sounds like a copywriter for Occupy Wallstreet. Too bad he can’t see the irony in his own protestations. I for one hope the days of companies like NewsCorp are coming to an end that the internet will do for their business model what Ford did to carriage makers.
Hey, Rupert, how about speaking out against all the studios that have ripped off Hollywood’s creative community — I’m still waiting on 15% of the net of a series that was a huge hit…
Rupert Murdock, the sleaziest publisher on the planet, the king of hacking, the ultimate male chauvinist in the entertainment business, has the nerve to criticize Pres. Obama.
He needs to clean up his house before he goes after the White House.
Nuff said… gotta liuv reality -)
Nothing screams hack legislation and morally bankrupt like Rupert Murdoch defending it.
Where does that old bludger get off criticizing US legal issues when his company is still in hot water over the phone and celeb hacking scandals? Go Tweet yourself boofhead!
three words for Murdoch: what a hypocrite
Rupert complaining about anything “pirate” is hilarious. Arrrrrgg!
Every form of media has been hit by piracy. All for the same reason. Too much high priced poor quality product. If the studios keep formulaic pap that they don’t care about, why should the audience? I’m for Rupert having Fox cut back. Make less product, but make it better. Stop using high priced producers who bring nothing to a project. Get rid of the sharks that attach themselves to projects by threatening to sue.
Less films, lower theater prices, films that are worth going to the theater for.
Study some of the more basic rules of economics. Supply and Demand. Hollywood has raised prices as demand fell but increased output. Music and publishing did the same. Less is more.
As my dear, lovely grandmother might have said:
“That’s a damn fool….”
Hitting on 17 is dumb. That isn’t a theory, that’s math.
I don’ know SOPA in details, but for me regarding piracy, if the basic principles are :
1) against piracy centers and not end users (always centers in piracy due to the need for catalogs and search amongst other things, “peer to peer” also a lot of hypocrisy in the terms and everybody knows it)
2) No monitoring at all of end users flow, collect of their IPs a formal complaint from somebody about a user acting as a center
3) All procedures are legal and public
Then it clearly is the right way to do it, not to forget that if piracy doesn’t create any revenues for authors and creators, it does create some (and not a little) for some people :
http://owni.fr/2011/12/14/secret-megaupload-streaming-kim-schmitz-david-robb/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10626044
Note : above more developed below (but in French) :
http://iiscn.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/piratage-hadopi-etc/
And “zero piracy” doesn’t matter in anyway (not more than school kids exchanging files), problem is when it becomes the default and easiest access method for works and publications.
But on this, in order to have a real “user experience” added value in buying instead of pirating, and this in a non quasi monopolistic environment (or with just 2 or three “monsters”), clearly something like below would be required :
http://iiscn.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/concepts-economie-numerique-draft/
I’m a director, but my films are pretty bad, and no one will distribute them. So I am glad Mr. Obama has sided with the pirates. Because if I can’t make movies, then I don’t think anyone else should either. And this will hopefully soon bankrupt Hollywood, and I will laugh.