Head MPAA shill reduced to outright lies in bid to make the case for SOPA

MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd is making the rounds in DC, trying to gin up support for the Stop Online Piracy Act, which establishes a national censorship regime in which whole websites can be blocked in the US if the MPAA objects to them. The former senator turned shill has run out of plausible arguments in favor of the bill, so he's resorted to really, really stupid lies.

Case in point: Dodd recently told the Center for American Progress that "The entire film industry of Spain, Egypt and Sweden are gone."

Of course, this is a flat-out, easily checked, ridiculous lie.

Sweden actually produces a number of high quality films. Released in 2008, the vampire flim Let The Right One In received critical acclaim here in the U.S. Additionally, all three best-selling books of the Millennium Trilogy are Swedish films and 2009’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was quite successful. The film made a modest $10 million in the U.S. and a respectable $104 million worldwide.
Considering the budget for the U.S. remake of the film is $100 million - as much as the original film has earned to date - perhaps Dodd meant that the film does not count until Hollywood gets a chance to remake it. Ironically, the U.S. remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was shot in Sweden.
Chris Dodd was correct to say that film is an international industry, but he was wrong to say that the Swedish film industry has disappeared and misleading to imply that all Hollywood jobs are American jobs. At least for this Hollywood production, Sweden has a lot to gain.

Mike Masnick at TechDirt has more details on the (healthy) film industries in Egypt, Spain and Sweden.

Chris Dodd Resorting To Outright Lying In A Desperate Attempt To Get SOPA Passed (Thanks, James!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Business • censorship • Copyfight • corporatism • corruption • free speech • mpaa • pants on fire • petard • sopa

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Erin W

Pedro Almodóvar is probably surprised to hear that his career has vanished on a US Senator’s say-so.
http://twitter.com/frederikvdz Frederik

With all the re-makes Hollywood is getting into, you could almost say that if the international movie industrie was actually gone, Hollywood would have dissapeared along with it.
- http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios
  
  Couldn’t agree more.
Guest

I think what he was saying was hyperbole.
- http://vinodkumartiwari.wordpress.com/ Vinod
  
  Agree…
- Sean McKibbon
  
  You can’t exaggerate something that doesn’t exist. If you said a couple were divorced when they were in fact happily married that wouldn’t be hyperbole, that would be a lie.
Paul Renault

Even as late as 1988, Ronald Reagan used to repeat the lie that “Managua’s one synagogue has been defaced and firebombed”.

He kept repeating this lie despite the fact that
1) “In September 1983, the U.S. Embassy in Managua reported it had found “no verifiable ground” to accuse the Sandinista government of anti-Semitism.”
and
2) “Rabbi Balfour Brickner of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York, who went to Nicaragua on a fact-finding mission in 1984, said most of Nicaragua’s handful of pre-revolution Jews had close ties to the dictator, Anastasio Somoza, and left of their own accord.” (Yikes, Hannah Arendt all over again!)

This leaves an accusing finger pointed at the American news media. If they couldn’t call out Reagan on such an obvious lie in the early 80′s, do you really expect them to call out so obvious a lie today?
- Paul Renault
  
  Aargh: I forgot to add the preceding ‘fact’ that Reagan listed:
  “And as most of you know, few regimes today so blatantly sanction and practice official anti-Semitism as the Sandinista Communists in Nicaragua.”
- beforewepost
  
  Curiously, your numbered refutations do not address the original charge that the synagogue had been defaced and firebombed.
  
  And not to get too picky but what does Reagan have to do with Dodd’s shilliness?
  
  I actually think Cory’s being too kind to ex-Senator Dodd …
  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123681364667801647.html
  - Paul Renault
    
    That’s why I ‘aarghed’.
    
    Yes, the synagogue was defaced and firebombed. It had been empty for some time, and it was firebombed by people who claimed to be part of SDLF. This might be true, or it might have been contras.
    
    Reagan repeatedly used the firebombing to ‘ilustrate’ the SDLF’s ‘official anti-Semitism’, despite the fact that it had been repeatedly debunked years earlier.
    
    Again, do you really expect mainstream American media to call out Chris Dodd on his lie?
mneptok

From a longtime Connecticut resident of the 1980s and 1990s … Chris Dodd is a scumbag.
- Cowicide
  
  He should be in prison for what he did against America just while he was in office.
PGJ

Being a Swede , I can assure everyone that the rumors of the death of the Swedish film industry are greatly exaggerated. In fact the Swedish film industry is doing great. Sure, every now and then there are some complaints about piracy. But, even so, there are about the same number of movies produced each year as before.

My wife is an Arabian and she watches movies from Egypt all the time. There might be a slight decline in the number of movies being produced since the country is in an upheaval right now, but that is due to other causes than piracy.
- templarsmonochromata
  
  As a spooky-kid in New Zealand, we _LOVED_ ‘Let The Right One In’ and already hold great esteem of Sweed’s film making integrity.
  Was ‘The Trollhunter’ another Sweedish great? (Perhaps t’was a little corny to deserve the term ‘great’, but I recognize its neatness, enjoyed it, and give it a greater worthyness than the contemptible run of sequels we’ve seen from Hollywood in the last few years….)
  - TheMudshark
    
    Trollhunter is Norwegian.
  - digi_owl
    
    That one was very much Norwegian.
http://codeflow.org/ Florian Bösch

It doesn’t matter what the MAFIAA says. They could be making the rounds claiming green hobgoblins live in their cupboards unless SOPA is passed. Everything else then “pass SOPA” is whitenoise conveniently being ignored by any politician who hears it, while he fantasizes about nice fat contributions.
JMac001

As long as the MPAA keeps the money flowing to the US Congress, SOPA is alive and well, unfortunately. And boy do they ever keep that money flowing. The top two former congressional aides who helped write SOPA are now top paid shills for the industry. How the heck do we end this nasty circle jerk?

Jim
- blissfulight
  
  Castration?
Manny

Whoa! What is up with Nigeria? Clicked through to the map in the article: Nigeria made 872 feature films in the covered year. USA made 520; France made 240; Spain made 173. (India, of course, kicks the world’s ass at 1,325.)
- davidasposted
  
  Nollywood! You will note that many of the films are produced at such a prodigious rate that their quality often suffers. The most influential producer is a prosperity gospel evangelist who mass produces religious propaganda as film. But there are also great Nollywood movies, diamonds in the rough. You might also check out Nigerian-produced soap operas, some of which are just fantastic.
  - wobinidan
    
    I’m sure the Nigerian people would be highly offended to hear you say that the quality of Nigerian cinema is questionable. Please refer to this trailer for “2016″ as proof that you are quite wrong.
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN_9CQDbq8k
    - davidasposted
      
      Quality cinema, right there! But in all seriousness, for all the more ridiculous examples of Nollywood films, there are others that merit our attention. Check out Osuofia in London (2003) as a counter-example and then dig a little further.
    - Manny
      
      So is there any evidence that torrenting is an issue with these films?
      - davidasposted
        
        I wish… most Nollywood films are very difficult to get.
    - Gilbert Wham
      
      So that’s where all the world’s Commodore Amigas went. D’you think they’d let us have some back? God I want an A4000
    - Jonathan Roberts
      
      That baby-kicking robot alien needs to be made into a meme.
- TheMudshark
  
  Two words: BABY POLICE.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-bRhW6Kz_Q
cratermoon

You forgot Poland!
- Pedantic Douchebag
  
  Shhhh, Nazis.
PapayaSF

Interesting historical trivia: a great many countries had flourishing film industries in the silent era, but were largely wiped out by the coming of sound. The reason was that silent films could easily have their title cards changed and shown in other countries. Sound films were much more difficult and expensive to adapt to foreign markets.

By the way, all of you folks (rightly) upset over Chris Dodd’s idiocy regarding SOPA: he was the main author of the Dodd-Frank “financial reform” bill that many libertarians and conservatives have been complaining about. Perhaps you might consider that those complaints have some legitimacy…?
- EvilTerran
  
  “[Dodd] was the main author of the Dodd-Frank “financial reform” bill that many libertarians and conservatives have been complaining about. Perhaps you might consider that those complaints have some legitimacy…?”
  
  I’m not sure which it is, but “he’s done one bad thing, that makes everything else he’s done suspect” is definitely a fallacy.
  
  “the Nazis committed genocide; maybe the opposition to their anti-smoking campaign had some legitimacy…”
Abraham Limpo

I would like to add that the main problem in Spanish movie industry is precisely the corruption within Spain’s own MPAA (the SGAE), which also had close ties with the former minister of culture (we’ll see who they appoint now with the change of color). It happened, for example, that movies were “fakely” produced to earn goverment subsidies. Those movies are made to never be published and are only shown in special events masqueraded as premieres.

As the conditions to get subsidies were getting more bizarre (it has to be the first movie script written by your writer, and also the first movie shoot by your photography director. Oh, and the main language has to be one of the secondary ones, not spanish. And don’t forget to include some minorities!) more and more good directors and actors left spain in search of greener pastures (united states or france, for example), and the number of “entertainment” movies decayed, although the number of movies produced is high.

The reality is, if you look at any entertainment magazine, you will see that approximately 90% of the movies projected on big screens are american, with only a handful of theaters showing foreign movies of other countries or spanish movies.
- Ashen Victor
  
  Don`t forget about the 300.000€ in clean benefits that producers get from the government subsidies while the screenwriters and the actors get barely paid at all, or just don`t get paid for art´s sake).
  About 90% of all the films produced in Spain are just bullshit productions to milk the subsidies funds.
  Here is a wonderful article detailing how and why it is done:
  https://viajeinteriorcinespanol.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/rumores-que-matan-gossip/
Graysmith

If SOPA passes I most certainly hope that a boycott is launched against the entertainment industry for instituting country-wide censorship and turning the U.S. into something on par with China and dictatorships. It seems the only way you can make them listen is through their wallets, and if they thought piracy hurt, how about when people stay away from your movies and music in droves?
sgtdoom

Gee, Cory, I would certainly thank that any American who isn’t completely retarded, should know by this late date that Chris Dodd, second or third generation absolutely corrupt politician is a complete farce.

While his wife was earning a large salary at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, ole Chris along with fellow corruption, Barney Franks, did a number on the public with their so-called “financial reform” bill, the Dodd-Frank blah blah blah Act.***

At least three acts of congress were passed in order to curb Chris Dodd’s daddy’s incredible corruption, specifically with regard to FARA, and the endless number of bloody dictators Daddy Dodd represented while in the US Congress.

His family line, I believe, goes all the way back to that Dodd who represented John D. Rockefeller and was responsible for structuring those various trusts and holding companies so that when Standard Oil was “officially split” it was still in actuality one corporation for all financial and control intents and purposes.

***Besides all those giant-sized loopholes in that so-called financial reform act, the overall structure of that bill allows for future covert bankster bailouts via the Fed — simply at the private clearinghouse level.
- EvilTerran
  
  That’s a nice axe you’re grinding there. But do you have anything to say about Cory’s post?
  - sgtdoom
    
    Cory’s a good egg, and an intelligent fellow who means well.
    
    Therefore I am not being critical when I say he’s correct with his assessement of what should be obvious to all: cloud computing is simply the means by which the corporations define their control of the “net and Web downwards, while scoping out and spying upon the rest of us, be it for advertising and commerce, financial control, and ill actions taken against the rest of us.
    
    As Josh On pointed out, the march to cloud computing and the majority only doing social networking is probably behind the i-Pad model (and similar models).
    
    Cory’s suggestion in his excellent book, “Little Brother,” about using anonymizers might mislead many to believe they are secure: while some are, many are the product of criminal corporations, the American DoD, and similar foreign entities. Beware and never believe in any online security.
    
    But I respect Cory and his overall beliefs.
  - sgtdoom
    
    EvilTerran, I was enlargening on the obvious: that Dodd is a completely corrupt and dishonest individual — possibly genetically so — who should never be taken as anything other than that.
    
    You are aware of context, right?
    - EvilTerran
      
      Really? It seems to me that you saw a mention of someone linked to your personal bugbear, and took it as an opportunity to rant about it.
      
      It’s not like there’s a shortage of slimy antics that incontrovertibly mark Dodd out as a scumbag … but you went for something that’s not unanimously derided as scummy activity, with no real attempt to back up branding it as such.
      
      You clearly aren’t a fan of the, er, “so-called ‘financial reform’ bill, the Dodd-Frank blah blah blah Act” (otherwise, why the “so-called” and the “blah blah blah”?) … but just pointing out the link between Chris Dodd and the Dodd-Frank Act doesn’t “enlarge on Dodd’s corruption and dishonesty” if your viewer doesn’t disdain the act like you do.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Were you unaware that Cory is not now and never has been an American (except in the continental sense?)
  - guanto
    
    Which is probably why nobody here claimed that he was. Cory does seem to write with his overwhelmingly American audience in mind though, judging by what he posts here.
sgtdoom

And as far as Sweden’s film industry goes, their production of the “Girl series” (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, etc.) much better than the American version, and much, much better casting.
iCowboy

Judging by that map, if the MPAA’s argument is correct then India and Nigeria must be hotbeds of copyright enforcement.
Cowicide

Obviously, Chris Dodd is a liar and just another example of how corrupt our sold-out corporatist system of government has become.

Chris Dodd is one of many corporatists that belongs in prison for his harms to the American public:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Dodd#Controversies

This guy shouldn’t be a former scumbag senator gone scumbag lobbyist; He should be an inmate.
Genre Slur

Not american, yet I have to ask if anyone threading actually respects the legal-taboo construct in the USA. If the american govt. issues a ‘law’, do most americans simply follow it because it has been issued, thereby giving behavioural ‘heft’ to the value of the law?
jimbeaux

The author of SOPA is the Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tx)

Smith also received $500K in campaign donation from the TV/Film/Music Lobby over the past 10 years. Conflict of Interest?

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2012&type=I&cid=N00001811&newMem=N&recs=20
digi_owl

Funny how it is all about american jobs, but when industry closes down to move production elsewhere it is all about retraining…