Comments on: Your tax dollars at work: misleading, lurid "anti-piracy" ad campaign from US AG and Natl Crime Prevention Council

By: Vincent Maldia

Vincent Maldia — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:17:00 +0000

Gosh darn it! This ripped off my idea of a commercial of a psychic touching a diamond in a jewelry store that turned out to be a blood diamond, and there was a flashback of the diamond’s history, including the suffering and death it encountered.

Really, I had this idea long ago in my head. I just never wrote it.

By: CS

CS — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 09:23:00 +0000

There is no broken window fallacy on my part. Where is the broken window?

By: cdh1971

cdh1971 — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 05:13:00 +0000

I turned in my mother _and_ grandmother and all I got was this crappy (genuine) t-shirt!

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 23:19:00 +0000

I thought that everybody was pretty clear even before the election that the Democrats were closer to the entertainment industry and would have concomitantly worse policies.

By: Charlie B

Charlie B — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:26:00 +0000

Well, it’s not like I didn’t warn you, repeatedly.

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/joe-bidens-problem-music

This was pretty obviously signaled the day Biden got the VP pick and Obama did a total one-eighty on “intellectual property” law. But everyone was still a hopin’ for a changin’ and didn’t want to open their eyes…

By: ridestowe

ridestowe — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:04:00 +0000

haha yeah sorry, my comment was definitely said in jest

By: Alex Riepl

Alex Riepl — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:03:00 +0000

I lived in China for a number of years recently and one of the joys of living there is the access to all the cheap dvds (very high quality ones too). But the best part is that whomever is copying these dvds always seems to make sure to also copy the FBi warnings and anti-piracy vids like this one. Nothing like a little ironic comedic short before the show!

By: JosephArmano

JosephArmano — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:56:00 +0000

Living in New York, I can say with a degree of certainty that if you do indeed purchase pirated material – most likely from a vendor in Chinatown or at a subway stop – you are probably just supporting a poor immigrant family running a small business. Sounds pretty American to me. The real thugs are the cops a couple of streets down hammering the heads of college students with nightsticks.

By: Radka

Radka — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:19:00 +0000

My first reaction “Are you shitting me???” I love the trite stereotypical depictions of all the ‘bad’ people. Does anyone really believe this crap? Mind you, I grew up during the “Just Say No” campaign so my bullshit detector for things governmental is relatively well calibrated…

By: Jas Strong

Jas Strong — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:18:00 +0000

I really don’t understand why they think drug trafficking is financed by pirate DVDs. I mean, isn’t drug trafficking generally a self-funded operation? A profit centre even.

By: senorglory

senorglory — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:44:00 +0000

i’ve never wanted to buy a bootleg dvd, until now.

By: Nathan Van Fleet

Nathan Van Fleet — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:47:00 +0000

I really love how there is 2 kilos of (coke, heroin?) next to a couple jewel cases. The cocaine is ~30,000$ a kilo and a couple DVDs…. I don’t think they’d have them laid out on a table like that.

By: LightningRose

LightningRose — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:23:00 +0000

Cowicide, I want to have your babies! :)

By: A Nonny Moose

A Nonny Moose — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:41:00 +0000

I’ve never knowingly bought a counterfeit product in my entire life (although I was tempted by a Relox watch once). This ad fills me with an urge to go out and do so, though.

By: A Nonny Moose

A Nonny Moose — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:39:00 +0000

I really hope that I'm just failing to pick up on the facetiousness of that statement. I use lots of DVD-R/W discs. None of them for pirated movies, though.

By: RyanMcFitz

RyanMcFitz — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:59:00 +0000

I’m against the lunacy presented in these ads but the “money still gets into the economy” argument is not the argument to make. Read up on the Fallacy of the Broken Window to see the error.

By: miasm

miasm — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:46:00 +0000

“…counterfeit goods take away jobs; and many are tied to violence and crimes, including child labour, drugs and gangs.”

Great Scott! We must do every thing we can to destroy these violent, drugged-up, child slavers!
Quick, Watson. To the Pirate Bay!!!

By: ridestowe

ridestowe — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:33:00 +0000

what about these blank dvd companies who’s only customers at this point must be the terrorists selling pirated movies. WHAT IS BEING DONE ABOUT THEM

By: TheMudshark

TheMudshark — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:08:00 +0000

Get outta here!

By: Mister44

Mister44 — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:58:00 +0000

Holy fuck, that was just horrrrriibbblleee. Someone should really do a spoof of this, only have a guy at a convention buying a grainy copy of the Star Wars Christmas special.

Seriously though – there ARE ties to things like this to counterfeit items. But holy-drama, Batman! They laid it on thick.

What pisses me off is the whole “costs people their jobs” bullshit. It’s just that – bullshit. Whose job is it taking? If you buy a fake Prada bag it’s usually because you would never buy a real one. Making DVDs is a pretty low tech manufacturing process. Maybe because films make a tiny bit less, they can only hire 6 caterers instead of 7 when filming their next motion picture.

By: ultranaut

ultranaut — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:52:00 +0000

Is it art, or is it pornography?
(even better than the real thing!)

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:46:00 +0000

http://i.imgur.com/LLKFL.gif

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:46:00 +0000

This is an important issue, so important they pulled McGruff the crime dog in on it, if they are using a cartoon mascot this is serious.

And that is the truly sad portion of this, they are pretending to be serious.
Every real study shows that the media corps are making numbers up, inflating things, claiming trillions in losses… all while paying their CEOs more money and spending a ton of money to “fight” piracy.

Our leaders are answering to their every whim, and shredding the idea of law and justice in this country all to fill their pockets with money. Elections cost alot, so expect more of this pandering and eroding of our rights to make a few corporations happy as they try to destroy the internet and roll us back to the 1950s of entertainment shopping.

This is disgusting and stupid, a prime example of how out of touch with reality the government is. The problem is not the net, it is the failure of a business model that refuses to adapt to consumer demand. They love to talk about the free market, and then do everything they can to prop them up. A decade later they still claim they are loosing money, and yet not a single one of them is dead yet… someone is lying.

By: Rindan

Rindan — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:35:00 +0000

Wait… so this video is saying I SHOULDN’T buy shit from Walmart?

By: efergus3

efergus3 — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:16:00 +0000

Sadly, too true.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 06:27:00 +0000

I’m not sure that they really care what we think.

By: efergus3

efergus3 — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 06:06:00 +0000

I just wish that I had been ASKED.

By: efergus3

efergus3 — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:49:00 +0000

Once again, OUR tax dollars at work.

By: Layne

Layne — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:40:00 +0000

Hah – did the super-scary eye zoom-in remind anyone else of Meatwad seeing the future?
http://video.adultswim.com/aqua-teen-hunger-force/the-future-of-the-back-scratcher.html
(Within the first 4 seconds)

Anyone paying attention to the drug war hype-machine should know that these PSAs are mindless twaddle. But they can’t find *ANY* budgets to cut?

By: digi_owl

digi_owl — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:22:00 +0000

Also, why all this bellyache about lost jobs when factories close down left and right and the employees are told to reeducate?