MPAA Says Google Fosters Piracy, Because Why Wouldn’t It

[The Straight Story]

The Motion Picture Association of America took another swipe at Google today, releasing a report that states the obvious: Google’s search engine sometimes leads to pirate sites.

None of this is news to anyone. But the MPAA’s report comes as the Commerce Department is mulling proposals on how it could assist the private sector to voluntarily combat piracy. The MPAA — the lobbying arm of the major motion picture studios — told the department last month that “corporate ethics” (.pdf) require “all players in the internet ecosystem” to fight piracy.

Today’s study (.pdf) — which found that for all infringing URLs the MPAA found through search engines, 82 percent came from Google — is likely intended as a shot across Google’s bow that if it doesn’t take action, lawmakers might.

“This study shows that there is much more that search engines must do when it comes to pointing consumers towards legal outlets. By supporting legitimate sites rather than illegal ones, everyone wins – content creators, the U.S. economy, and consumers themselves,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) said in a statement.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/09/mpaa-google-fosters-piracy/?cid=social12090354

[NYC_SKP]

1. Fuck the MPAA, and fuck Jack Valenti, evil SOB enemy of creativity.

Evil bastard, just look at him.



Shit, he probably had a hand in killing JFK. (not really but maybe, hmmm)

Here he is cowering on Air Force One, on the far left:

[The Straight Story]

2. The job of search engines is to search and return results, not in favor of regulation

Some in the industry just cannot keep up with the changes.

I support a free internet

[frylock]

4. i'm surprised to learn that the MPAA even knows about google

[backscatter712]

5. That's the old president. Today, it's corporate-sellout conservadem ex-Senator Chris Dodd.

[markpkessinger]

3. Google is a search engine, nothing more and nothing less . . .

To suggest that Google, or any other search engine should bear the responsibility of vetting the legitimacy of any of the millions of web site results that might be returned on a given search is simply absurd. Imagine if any one of these search engine providers had to determine whether every site that sells consumer products were selling the real thing, or a knock-off.

This amounts to nothing more than attempt by the motion picture industry, on behalf of producers, to turn Google into a free copyright enforcement tool. The burden of copyright enforcement rests with the copyright owner. Schiff gets it wrong when he talks about "pointing to legitimate sites rather than illegal ones." It isn't the sites that are illegal, but some of the products made available through their sharing network. If the motion picture industry were successful in this attempt, what is to stop other industries from demanding that Google likewise be forced to determine the validity of any company selling or providing access to that industry's products? And what is to prevent the demand from being expanded from copyright infringement to trademark or patent infringement? He really needs to think this through a LOT more carefully.

[randome]

6. And telephone directories should only include 'legitimate' entries.

Not that anyone uses phone directories anymore. Still, I think it's a fair analogy.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[msongs]

7. get even with the evil MPAA: make your own movies :-) nt