/ Cory Doctorow / 6:38 am Wed Aug 12, 2009

Movie industry wants the right to take your house off the net without full judicial review

The motion-picture industry has spoken out against a New Zealand proposal to allow them to disconnect entire households from the Internet if one member is accused of copyright infringement; they want to be able to disconnect your Internet connection without giving you a chance to defend yourself in front of a judge because that would be "time consuming." Instead, they would like to be lord high executioner for your network connection, with the power to shut you out of the benefits of the network (freedom of speech, assembly and the press; access to school, health, family, work and government) without having to prove it in a real court of law.

The motion picture industry has become one of the gravest threats to modern democracy. I've given up on hoping that they'll see the light. Now I just hope they'll go bankrupt before they can bring on a new dark age, all in the name of preserving the future of fifth-rate sequels to Z-rate adaptations of schlocky comic books.

FACT director Tony Eaton says that his organization doesn't have a problem with judicial process - as long as it's on their terms.

"The concern is that we send out 1000 infringement notices, and then someone says, `The way to stall this is let's all go to arbitration', and a year later we could still be going through that same process," Eaton said.

"Do we get to the point where we have 1000 cases to be heard by the Copyright Tribunal? If everyone brings their lawyer, we will only do five in a day," he added.

By anyone's measurement, even given the lack of accuracy inherent in some anti-piracy evidence, 100% error rate and 100% appeals is a little pessimistic to say the least and to suggest everyone would bring a lawyer is absurd - the cost would be hugely prohibitive. Nevertheless, Mr Eaton said he would prefer to be able to present evidence in bulk to the tribunal - in search of corresponding disconnections in bulk, no doubt.

Movie Studios Want Own Version of Justice For 3 Strikes
Previously:

50

  1. “The motion picture industry has become one of the gravest threats to modern democracy.”

    Now honestly, that’s a tad hyperbolic.

  2. (damn you boingboing for not letting me sign in- Tigershungry)

    I am no longer shocked at the absurd claims or kneejerk reactions by ‘senior’ people within the industry. Tony Eaton might just be able to knock the CEAs Phil Clapp from the top of my hate list on this subject for this.

  3. Y’all need to look at IP’s links to outsourcing: if IP law is not draconian, who makes iPods?

    What is Apple (or Dell, or Sony, or GM) but pretty little bows on the heads of the Chinese industrial behemoth?

    If you can download Radiohead, then they can download Wiimote schematics.

    Now what’s a threat to democracy?

  4. It could do with some qualifying terms. In western first-world nations only, and after hysterical “war on terra” legislation, general government corruption, and increasing corporate media monopolies, as some examples. “[O]ne of the gravest” might still be a little over the top, but the degree of exaggeration is MUCH less once you tighten up the focus.

    In the context of the western democratic first world nations, it does get to sit pretty surprisingly high up there. I would definitely rate it as a MUCH higher threat in this environment than, say, Al-Queda.

    It’s a different story entirely outside of that subset of the planet.

  5. Of course, the movie industry must be protect6ed at any cost….Want to understand big media?

    Read Joseph Goebbels diaries…if you can find an unexpurgated and unedited version in the English language. It really helps to understand what “mass media” is all about, politically: one on one media (machine-on-machine=internet, eh?) is the way to go…

    Or you can just “watch the movie”, if reading’s too difficult:

    http://www.amazon.com/Goebbels-Experiment-Udo-Samel/dp/B000EULK1O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1250087619&sr=8-1

  6. Hey, I’m all for it: as long as the same rules apply to the movie studios. If they violate someone’s copyright, they lose all right to connect to the internet. Now, let’s see, where’s that copy of *Coming to America*?

  7. if someone robbed your house, would you want them walking around free to do it again?

    I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying I can see where they are coming from.

  9. I think that’s a great idea; the only problem is, they’re not going far enough. By the same token, we should:
    -immediately execute anyone suspected of murder. If we find them innocent later, we’ll apologize.
    -cut off the hands of every suspected thief. If it turns out someone else did it, they can have free gloves for the rest of their life.
    -immediately seize the property and assets of everyone suspected of securites fraud, insider trading, and falsifying financial information. Hang on…where’d Sony’s accounting department go?

  10. “I’m just saying” is such a drop-out phrase. If it’s “just” anything, don’t bother giving it. What’s your point?

    @7 your allegory is eerie – an allegeerie – imagine if they walked into your house and took your only working phone. You’d be upset, no?

    In fact, in 1937, didn’t may German nationals see where Hitler was coming from?

    I’m with gravest threat though.

    But most importantly – stop watching this trash-novella pap, and do something useful! The only way to stop this really is to suck the money out of the system. Same goes for illicit narcotics, prostitution, kidnapping. But this one is quite easy to stop – once you realise just how bad the tosh you’re paying for (or not) is.

    Here’s a plan – when you see a movie trailer you like, make some ice-cream stick puppet people to play the key characters and run a plot for yourself. I bet you won’t be far off the creatively bankrupt real thing.

    And the reason that last sentence matters is because you are what you eat.

    If you need a translator to get you through all those allegories, you’ll end up with an allegator.

    And surely, that will come back to bite you.

  11. But a robber leaves you with, in actuality, nothing: “Hollywood”, though, still has its film: these are copies (is anything stolen from you, if someone merely photographs you?); and they’ve only lost a “potential” sale,not actual property…and this is thus actual punishment, for a merely potential loss.

    Hollywood did not exist a hundred years ago:and they won’t exist, a hundred years from now. They were giddy from their profits in the last depression: not so much this time, but they still get n awful lot of $$$ and admiration/respect, for their useless fantasies, those brief audio-visual patterns: which serve to slake none’s thirst, nor to feed, clothe nor shelter their patrons.
    It’s an over-priced and over-hyped rip-off..and I’m their biggest fan…seriously!!

  12. Dear Mr Idiot Anonymous:

    “if someone robbed your house, would you want them walking around free to do it again?

    I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just saying I can see where they are coming from.”

    If someone robs your house, they are taken to court and tried for this alleged crime – and by a court, not by *you and your housemates*.

    I hope you can tell the subtle difference here.

  13. I’m serious: I NEVER rent dvds/blu-rays, I only buy…and they don’t produce much today worth buying, I’m telling you. And there’s only so many old worthwhile titles available, or in total. After ten years, my purchases are now dropping precipitously…

  15. “The motion-picture industry has spoken out against a New Zealand proposal”

    Does this make sense? Am I going crazy? Why would they speak out against what I’m assuming is their own proposal?

  16. @ugly canuck

    I’m with you. I’m surprised anyone even bothers to download illegal copies of most movies. I hate to be that grumpy old guy, but what the heck, I’ll go there: Most big-budget “blockbusters” aren’t worth the $0.007 of electricity I’d use downloading them.

    That said, Hollywood should start worrying if people DON’T bother to download–that will mean nobody cares enough to even try to steal from them.

  17. I think #6 almost had it, but to clarify:
    Turn this copyright thing around, and punish Hollywood for derivative works.

    Whereas,

    ‘sequels’ will now be defined as ‘movies that continue, not repeat the storyline of the original film’.

    ‘classic’ popular films will not be ‘remade’, other than remastering the original film for theatrical re-release.

    and most importantly:

    ‘classic’ television programs shall be aired in their complete original broadcast length, without overlaid channel logos or other distractive elements. This is a violation of the original intent of the creative works producer.

    Any violation of these copyview rights can result in the holder’s rights being transferred to a public trust, with royalty proceeds towards independent film production funding.

  18. @Sr. Canuck – totally. And the funny thing is, in Asia, most middle class families have libraries of hundreds of fake dvds that cost … $1. That’s a fair price they see for watching the silliness unfold before their eyes.

    I read you on the buying – I’d happily pay $50 for On The Waterfront, but don’t need to, as it’s bargain bucket! However, $25 for “40 Year Old Virgin” – um, Mr. Hollywood, the money seems to be going in the wrong direction. Compensate moi for the waste of my time.

    Go Go Pirate Party UK

  19. @16 actually yes what a great idea! Use subscriptions from Pirate Party members to work with the copyright holders of the originals to develop a heavy load of sophisticated caselaw around the issue, and suck money out of Hollywood’s pockets.

    See, if they could deliver to me something like the impact Star Wars had first time round, I’d pay lots. They just can’t.

  21. Another thought: perhaps Hollywood wishes to return to, say, 1975, when there was no home video whatsoever?

    How profitable were their “back-catalogs” prior to the coming of home video and its necessary corollary, home-copying? For be certain, that without the latter, these systems would have remained as popular as buying and setting up 16 mm projectors were at the time (which, in fact, back then, I used to rent from my local public library, to show films at home in the basement…:) Remeber: the early pan-and-scanned pre-recorded VHS tapes were over $100 per copy!

    Well, MPAA, you can’t have yer cake and eat it too, you know!

    PS My elderly relations, with whom I share my dvds (hope that’s not a crime yet!!), are truly insulted and put out by the warnings and blaring anti-privacy ads which often precede the movie: “Must they threaten the people who watch their movies so? It so RUINS the mood..”, to quote a sensitive 90-year-old ( at the time of whose birth Hollywood was just a-borning, somewhat ironically, as far away from Edison’s “Patent Enforcers” as possible).

    Thieves of past culture, denying later thieves the right….LOL! Time for another re-make of an nineteenth century novel or ancient fairy-tale: maybe an “homage”, but never a theft, eh? …at least when Hollywood does it.

    I’m tired of people selling me back my own culture, my own dreams. Culture is to be shared, not to be rationed by price !

  22. Behold the Lord High Executioner!
    A personage of noble rank and title
    A dignified and potent officer,
    Whose functions are particularly vital!
    Defer, defer,
    To the Lord High Executioner!
    Defer, defer,
    To the noble Lord, to the noble Lord,
    To the Lord High Executioner!

  23. Question on the topic – when I buy a used dvd or book down at the charity shop, is the copyright somehow violted?

  24. Here’s a better analogy:
    I make soup. I make it in huge batches and condense it and can it and sell it all over the world. Anyone who wants can make a better soup than I do but they can’t can it and sell it as ‘My Soup’. Along comes a machine that makes exact copies of ANYTHING, even my soup. Now people buy a single can of ‘My Soup’ and, since each can tastes the same, they make copies of ‘My Soup’ – infinite copies.
    The catch to this is that if I want to stay in business I’d better start making better soup, and lots of different soups, because 1) you can’t unmake the copy machine, and 2) there are only a limited number of cans of ‘My Soup’ I can sell before it gets copied. What the movie industry wants is the ability to destroy the copy machines.

  25. The motion-picture industry has spoken out against a New Zealand proposal to allow them to disconnect entire households from the Internet if one member is accused of copyright infringement;

    Um, do the film studios also own the ISPs in New Zealand?

    Otherwise, why the fuck should ISPs care what the hell film studios have to say about the ISP’s customers? Why would an ISP lose a paying customer just because a film studio asked nicely?

    This is as ridiculous as the idea of Ford pulling rank on Texaco, saying “Don’t sell gas to anyone driving a Focus.” There’s so many degrees of disconnect there, it’s absurd to even consider.

  26. Due Process as undue burden?

    This is what happens when we give corporations the same rights as living breathing humans.

  27. I don’t agree with the concept of punishing people without making sure they are guilty first, and I’m completely opposed to disconnecting them from the Internet. But isn’t this a 3-strikes rule? This doesn’t exactly sound like poor innocent people to me. No excuse for judging them before any proof is weighed, true, but let’s stop the hyperbolic representation of the “victims” as innocents.

    I’m also a little annoyed at the level of snootiness in the arguments presented by some of the “free thinkers” in here. Yeah, we get it. You only watch Bergman films and sniff wine all day. Many of the rest of us mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers out here in the caves enjoy some of the non-creative garbage flowing out of the movie studios. You’re not exactly going to win people over to your cause by implying that anyone who likes to watch recent films is culturally retarded. Unless it’s a Michael Bay movie, and then I’m right there with you. Those people are retards! (Just kidding! Or am I?)

  28. MDH @ 24:

    Corporations apparently have more rights in the US than a living, breathing human. You or I could never claim “due process as undue burden”. The judge would probably throw an average citizen and his/her lawyer into the klink for contempt.

    I think I have to agree with Cory. If this comes to the US, and corporations are treated as insanely wealthy, powerful people instead of corporations; the constitution will get tossed out of consideration because “it’s not convenient”.

  29. It shouldn’t a matter of the industry having the right to do this – maybe the obvious answer is that everyone legitimizes them by continuing to use their products. Stop buying their crap and they’ll come begging for you.

  30. @wylkyn in (currently) #25:
    If they want to be able to declare you guilty without the possibility of a fair trial, does it really matter how many “strikes” you get?

  31. #23: That’s how absurdly influential the “entertainment” industry lobbyists have become.

    #26: Exactly. Part of the answer may be more Pirate Parties in affected countries, but I fear that will have little effect in the U.S., where the big two parties have a stranglehold. The best long term solution would be to support true independent productions and CC-licensed works, and let the big studios whither as one more obsolete industry. A good place to start: never, ever, support anyone who uses DRM-capable formats for file distribution.

  32. Anon@24,
    Your analogy is also a great illustration of why the economics of Star Trek are completely ridiculous.

  33. Ditto to #1 – really, let’s keep some perspective. Disabling your net connection is not nearly on par with the other shit going on these days. How about: the telecoms and the federal government colluding to spy on the American public? How about the generally wretched state of news media and public discourse? How about the stranglehold corporations have on our elected “representatives”? Etc. These are all much more serious threats to our democracy – by orders of magnitude – than the pathetic movie industry disabling our internet service.

  34. The music industry is pushing for an extreme so they end up at a middle they can live with. They know if they start pushing early and keep pushing hard they’ll end up with a better status quo than they would otherwise. Their owners and execs don’t care about anyone else involved. You don’t get a big house on the beach by being reasonable.

    They’ve already done this with copyright itself, so that now copyright is taken to mean absolute control over anything and everything having to do with a product, word, brand or idea — when copyright was originally meant to bestow limited rights, taking into account both creators and the society that supports them in creating.

    Now that “everyone knows” copyright means you have to do what they say, they’ll keep going until “everyone knows” getting caught downloading music means you get your net cut off — despite that fact we are coming to rely on our net connections the way we used to rely on everyday speech. Not acceptable.

    Redefining our democratic rights to suit their interests — just like Cory said.

  35. @Wylkin (moved to #27 it looks like) :D

    I call your ISP today, saying you’ve been stealing WWE recordings off teh intarwebs.

    I call your ISP tomorrow, saying you’ve been stealing Disney cartoons off teh intarwebs.

    I call your ISP the day after tomorrow, saying you’ve been stealing old episodes of The Golden Girls off teh intarwebs.

    And now you have three strikes against you, and are disconnected.

    Strikes are not Due Process. They’re just baseless accusations.

  36. @23 rtresco

    “Question on the topic – when I buy a used dvd or book down at the charity shop, is the copyright somehow violated?”

    no, because it is a physical item which can be passed around in the real world.. it is yours do what you want with it.

    now THAT is the reason they want downloads tethered to devices instead. technically if you sell me your laptop you can’t even keep the legit media files you paid for no it for me to receive.. that would be breaking the law.

    and thats why I hate video game console download services and things like steam for the PC. >:P

  38. @27 you’re jest fishin’, right?

    I think \35 put it beautifully. Because once you have three accusations, how do you untangle them? The whole thing violates the fundaments of the Rule of Law, which is kind of what Western Society is based on, and kind of why it works fairly well.

    Mind you, what’s to stop anyone simply accusing the corporation of copying something? Wrap them up in a little trouble of their own. Surely we wouldn’t have a different burden of proof? This could actually be rather fun.

    See, they just actually want to give people the willies. Raise the current generation of kids to believe that there is a rigid, strong structure of law around the issue. Which is a big fib.

    As for wine … many’s the day I’ve spent watching illicit copies of Ingrid sniffing wine, beers and spirits. Wait … hold on … that seems silly.

    As I write, the silly “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” rolls by on TV – what a load of badly done dog’s. I’m actually looking forward to leaving it and going to the rubbish dump. Mind you, it’s the best crap on tonight.

    So really, we’re all fighting over a pile of turd.

  39. Let’s make our own movies. Let’s make our own music. Let’s create our own medicine.

    We have the technology and the wherewithal to create new systems that allow the old ones to atrophy.

  40. You people worry too much. You just have to let the proposal pass, make pirating accusations against all the MP’s and government officials, have their internet turned off, and watch them repeal the law really quick.

  41. They’ve effectively done this with ISPs in the US. My sister-in-law’s ISP (PenTelData – http://www.ptd.net) shut off her net access because her daughter downloaded a song and the RIAA sent a “copyright infringement notice” to the ISP. Bam – off.

    She thought she had a software or hardware issue until I confirmed that the problem wasn’t on her PC. She called PenTelData and after they told her what they did and why, they made her daughter delete the file and call them back in order to get reinstated.

  42. Has anyone suggested how we the people should actually fight back against this kind of behavior from the MPAA/RIAA/etc? How about picking a traditional big movie weekend like labor day and we all boycott the cinemas for 3 days?

  43. Just so you know that we here in New Zealand don’t have an automatic right to free speech, sure we can say what we like but the right isn’t enshrined in law or a constitution or any other nice documents like that.

    Most people don’t even know or care about this law as it hasn’t impacted them yet and trying to talk to anyone about it they just look at you like you are a lunatic ‘because everyone knows that downloading is bad because the DVD and the nice little commercial they play in the theatre says so’. All for accussing the MPs and having them cut off.

  45. anonymous @ 28 – you and I are on the same page, but in so many ways corporations are already that powerful in the US.

    The current health care ‘debate’ is a fine example of my point. They can currently deny someone medical care without review of a judge or jury.

  46. You know what!? After digging around on the Danger Room blog, I have the feeling Xe (Blackwater) is behind this. How else could it have momentum?

    Do take note – once things get enshrined in law, no matter how silly, they tend not to be easy to strike down. So you have massively clever judges who’s brains are put to use figuring out how to put the new law over on the public without them working out that the whole thing is a house of cards and open to abuse.

    That’s why they all drink so much. Drunk judges, eh?

  47. I’m not sure why any company would be in favor of this. All it would take to knock Amazon.com or the iTunes store offline is three copyright complaints? I file three complaints saying I own the copyrights to, umm, 1984, Brave New World, and Mile Davis’s “Different Kind of Blue,” which Amazon is infringing on. Now Amazon is permanently offline?

    Do they have a recourse against this, or can any complaint be equally baseless. Is there a punishment for abusive complaints?

    It is just a bad idea.

  48. @32 Boba Fett Diop

    The economics of Star Trek are a version of a post-scarcity economy. Such an economy is what happens after everyone can produce items for low-to-no cost. The only things of value in such an economy are things like time, trust, and other intangibles.

    The digital economy we have now is a post-scarcity economy; normal scarcity economy rules don’t and can’t apply.

    You wait until 3D printers grow up; there are already models that can print using multiple materials. Once you go nano and manage to rework basic items into what you need, imagine then the real world economy going post-scarcity. If the digital one is anything to go by, we won’t be prepared for the day when that will arrive; which won’t be long from now given current tech development (give it another 30-50 years at most).

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_scarcity

  49. All it would take to knock Amazon.com or the iTunes store offline is three copyright complaints?

    I haven’t read the law properly but from what I’ve gathered it applies only to ‘households’.

    The answer, pirate all your movies at work!

    —

    I think Spejic had the right idea, but to add some weight to it you need some evidence just to show the absurdity.

    1 – Register a business.

    2 – Produce some kind of silly and funny youtube style video.

    3 – Burn a couple of copies to DVD and sell one or two copies to some friends.

    4 – Get one of these friends to upload the video somewhere to the internet as a proper downloadable file.

    5 – Let it spread virally for a while.

    6 – Once it’s gotten fairly popular get someone to email it to a bunch of MPs.

    7 – Accuse all of the MPs of ‘violating copyright’.

    That way when the thing blows up and gets all over the papers it can be one shown that yes it is stupid, everyone’s getting upset over that video that everyone has seen anyway and all it takes is to forward an email?

    Holy jesus batman I just thought these laws were stopping those naughty children who download $100,000 worth of movies and send them all over the internetz!

  50. Cory,

    Just want to point out that your very first sentence (the part before the semi-colon) is saying that the movie industry “has spoken out against a New Zealand proposal to allow them to disconnect entire households.”

    Considering the rest of the post and the linked material, I don’t think this is what you meant.

    Steve

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