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Why all the fuss about Star Wars piracy?

20 May 2005 18:49 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 95 comments

This week, one of the biggest and most anticipated movies of the year opened in theatres all over the world. Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith showed millions of fans finally how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader and is packed with tonnes of special effects and action scenes. News coverage on TV stations, in newspapers and on the Internet covered the opening of the movie very well but suddenly the focus has gone off the movie and on to an occurrence that happens much more regularly.

On Wednesday night, a copy of the new star wars movie appeared on the Internet and spread like wild fire (as one would expect). It is a full Workprint copy of the movie featuring two massive timers on the top of the video. The fact that this is a workprint means that this originally must have come from "inside". This was not made by someone with a concealed camcorder in a movie theatre. My question is simply; why would the media make such a fuss about this?

I think it is safe to say that most major movies appear on the Internet within days of its release in movie theatres. Cam and Telesync copies of movies are not rare and I'm sure you've seen the ad's at your local cinema warning you not to copy the movie from the screen with a camcorder, or face the consequences. The MPAA has condemned the individuals responsible for these copies but they need to look a lot closer to home to find the ones responsible for the Star Wars copy.

In September 2003, AT&T Labs published a study that basically told the MPAA to "stop leaking your own movies", blaming industry insiders for a huge majority of movies that appear online before they appear in theatres. Perhaps the Star Wars copy would have never appeared online at all if more care had been taken? "There is no better example of how theft dims the magic of the movies for everyone than this report today regarding BitTorrent providing users with illegal copies of 'Revenge of the Sith'," MPAA president Dan Glickman said.

While copies of Revenge of the Sith are in fact available to download on BitTorrent sites, they did not originally source on a BitTorrent tracker, regardless of what Glickman believes. One has to wonder why the focus is immediately put on to the people (the star wars fans) who are downloading and sharing this copy of the movie with each other, and not on the industry insider who is responsible for the leak in the first place or the pirate on the street selling the movie. This copy probably was picked up on the street before it was even put on the Internet.

There is no charge to download and share the movie on the Internet, whereas on the street you will have to pay for it. Nobody on the Internet sharing this movie is making money from it, and nobody who was responsible for releasing it in the first place is making any money from it, it�s a hobby more than anything else to these groups who compete with each other to make major releases like this. It is also quite interesting to see how many of the sharers would not even think of watching this workprint copy of the movie before seeing it on a big screen first.

I had a look over a few forums and read some live conversations on IRC channels and the general attitude was that the quality isn't good enough for such a movie for a first time viewing, but will do perfectly for viewing after seeing it properly until it's released on DVD. In fact, many people are seeing this as a sort of "collector�s item". The fact that it�s a workprint copy still including its original timers really gives some star wars fans reason to hold onto a copy of it(maybe they feel some kind of "magic" about it just to have it like people do with bootleg copies of their favourite artist's music), whether or not they buy the retail DVD later.

A very good example of how leaked movies become collector�s items is Apocalypse Now. A workprint copy of this excellent movie appeared online many years after its filming. In January 2004 a workprint copy of the movie appeared online, a massive 289 minutes long; 6 SVCDs in total. It was a rough copy that the director had put together and included some never before seen stuff. For movies fans, this was huge, as it�s the only print that ever leaked so you can see why it could be seen as a collector�s item, even though it apparently had terrible quality.

To sum this all up, the media is paying too much attention to the star wars leak and the movie industry needs to start pointing the fingers at its own people instead of P2P users/developers. If the media reported on every leak of a major movie, it is all we would ever read. However, in many countries in the world downloading movies is illegal, even if you have seen it in theatres already simply because the movie studios are not compensated for it but in some countries it is legal to download.

However, in my own personal opinion, I don't see how this leak has taken any "magic" at all from the movie. It is most likely that some revenue will be lost because of it, but this time, the finger should be pointed at the media that made such a huge fuss over such a regular thing and simply alerted the general public that the leaked copy existed and even explained in some cases how easy it was to download.

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MPAA files lawsuits with data from P2P logs (25 August 2005)

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EliteTorrents shut down by U.S. customs and FBI (25 May 2005)

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Sazaziel (Junior Member) 5 June 2005 7:54
pro`noob.... you got a point but, only at a UK vs. US price or rate of exchange. $5.00 GBP equals about $9.00 to $10.00 US. Even though I would love afford the luxury of the theatre experience I think I'd rather go the $3 to $5 dollar route or trade from some bootlegger who has the work print and wait for the DVD. Either way...the industry still gets my money when it comes out on DVD. See where I'm from in the US the theatre used to cost $4.50 per person to get in now it's about $9.00. Along with the price of gas here as well with a car load of children slowing me down......gas + theatre food + (admission X 5)= $66.50 (Adult admission @$9 x 2)....(underage admission @$7 x 3).. (big bucket of popcorn @$5 x 2)... US gas @ $2 a gal. min ( gas total is $10 for 5 gal.).... theatre candy @ $2.50 x 3) ...this estimates at $70. This mean at GBP exchange rate you'd only pay about half. [ + quote]
creaky (Moderator) 5 June 2005 8:31
@Sazaziel, i hear where you're coming from, though i'm a few steps behind you as i'm 'no longer married' so money for me is even more of an issue than you just described (and i live in ripoff Britain, oh and i live afloat on the ripoff waterways!!). However i do try and take my girls to the cinema once in a blue moon, and even buy all the goodies as it makes the experience a little nicer for them. My girls have been brought up over last couple years knowing their ole dad just can't afford things too easily, so appreciate the few things like this that i can do for them. Shit this is coming out real wrong, I'm not sure i've explained it properly, and i'm not comparing myself to you whatsoever btw. It's only recently that i can once again afford to take my kids to the cinema etc, but it's one thing i try to when the big movies come out. Going completely out of left field as you americans would say, i remember when i was younger, and the cinema cost something like 20pence. I'm sure i'm gonna re-read this in a few mins and it will just not read correctly.. Creaky B ECS EZ Buddie case (v small & sexy), Athlon XP 2800+, 1GB PC2700 Ambient - 27C, CPU Idle - 59C, CPU working - 68C : not too bad for case with limited airflow. WinXP SP2, Sony DRU-700A & LG-4480B, 120GB Seagate ATA100 8MB Buffer. DVD Shrink & DVD Decrypter, Nero, Verbatim DataLifePlus (MCC02RG20) -R 8x, Taiyo Yuden (TYG02) -R 8x. Creative Inspire 5.1 GD580 for DVD,PS2 & PC ..Newbies pls see this - cheapy media is BAD..... - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/193298 ..Memorex/CMC - don't let them near your Burner..... - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/195438 ..This post can be used to help on other posts..... - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/197667 [ + quote]
pro`noob (Senior Member) 5 June 2005 9:08
ok so u got a slightly more expensive cinema than us here in the uk... but dont get me started on gas :) u dont know how much it costs to fill your tank up over here! $2 a gal... we pay that much per litre [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5 June 2005 9:13
creaky (Moderator) 5 June 2005 9:14
i daren't go off topic........ in ripoff britain, next year we boaters are potentially gonna have to pay the same price for red diesel as we do for cars, ie fkin very expensive difference. I wouldn't mind but i don;'t use my diesel for boating, but for heating. ARGH!!!!!!. anyway to sneakily get back on topic, piracy doesnt pay Creaky B ECS EZ Buddie case (v small & sexy), Athlon XP 2800+, 1GB PC2700 Ambient - 27C, CPU Idle - 59C, CPU working - 68C : not too bad for case with limited airflow. WinXP SP2, Sony DRU-700A & LG-4480B, 120GB Seagate ATA100 8MB Buffer. DVD Shrink & DVD Decrypter, Nero, Verbatim DataLifePlus (MCC02RG20) -R 8x, Taiyo Yuden (TYG02) -R 8x. Creative Inspire 5.1 GD580 for DVD,PS2 & PC ..Newbies pls see this - cheapy media is BAD..... - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/193298 ..Memorex/CMC - don't let them near your Burner..... - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/195438 ..This post can be used to help on other posts.....** - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/197667 [ + quote]
dufas (Member) 5 June 2005 14:44
Off Topic.... I think that the MPAA is pushing to make public domain a thing of the past. I read that they have {by now did} approached the courts to allow people to extend copyrights indefinetly.. Since they have now declared the downloading of TV shows piracy and they have tried to include the old movies..ie: the old 20s, 30s, and 40s movies as part of the deal. I noticed that right after this announcement, the local video store started carrying a bunch of old movies and TV video. They used to carry a very small collection, but now, there are several complete ailes of the stuff. What is sadly ironic/humorous is that many of the DVDs are the identical videos that one used to be able to download from the net. I mean identical with the same digital flaws and other bad spots that were in the net versions.... I have some older original DVD releases of some of these films and I have seen a few that has been downloaded from the net. The flaws are not in the original DVD releases. Yet, in the ones that are on sale now at the video stores, the flaws are there that are in the downloaded files... So what the studios that are releasing these new copies of the older stuff has done is download the video and burn master DVDs for manufacture of DVDs for sale. They are using pirated movie videos to make more money from what used to be public domain items and freely exchanged with no complaints from anyone... This is a little like re-patenting windshield wipers and then telling the car makers that they have to pay $25.00 to the new patent holder for each car manufctured with said wipers installed . Talk about the greedinous of the rich. Then when it comes to their money, they use creative bookkeeping and Sub-chapter 3 tax codes to keep as much of their $$$ as they can, yet will go out and stump for increasing taxes on everyone else. This isn't even mentioning all the underhanded crap and stealing they do to each other....Hollywood types make me sick........ [ + quote]
Deznaj (Member) 6 June 2005 23:09
People will find another way to trade and share in an open community. Goverments only react, they are to slow to pre-act. BTW, A friend just loaned my the DVD copy of Star Wars and it was terrible (only 1,5 Gb and 2 large counters)! If I hadn't seen it already I would have gone to the cinema anyway! [ + quote]
Sazaziel (Junior Member) 7 June 2005 5:49
It's just plain greed using tyranic tactics to put people in fear. A way to try to keep the industry in control of people along with many governments acting as iron curtains to protect them from the average citizen like us. Lets calculate a profit earning from retail dvd sales for example @ 1 million consumers purchasing the same movie worldwide. The average new release dvd is bought at about $15 US. This is $15,000,000 to the industry and a shit load of money to us right. Any government taxing in the US lets say @ a $1 tax per dvd....equals and extra $1 million dollars for the government. So I really dont get what the fuss is especially when this is a calculation of consumers purchasing a retail dvd on its release date. If 100,000 consumers rent the dvd on that same day @ a rental fee of $5.00 US then this is $500,000 dollars to this company. Even though the movies are purchased wholesale through the rental company a government tax is still imposed and the industry still gets paid via the rental company. A double standard is now made as well. In addition to rental the government also taxes the consumer as well averaging about 20 cent extra during rental of each movie. This in taxes adds up to an additional $20,000 in government taxes US. Does this example sound pretty greedy to any one else because I'm sure that I've probably made havent even grossed 1 million dollars in my lifetime of working and thats been about 13 years. Yet the ones complaining are making around $10,000 to $1,000,000 or more in a day. Keep in mind that it is by our choice as the consumer to purchase the retail product so the industry gets paid. Like I said in an earlier post...if I wanted to just see the movie then I'll watch the workprint and later on if I decide that I want to watch the movie again in dvd quality, surround sound, special effects, and dvd extras then I will purchase SW3 retail when it arrives in stores. [ + quote]
cbedell (Newbie) 7 June 2005 12:59
Everybody is making excuses. A copyright is to protect the producer of a product whether it's a movie, book, or music. His reason for producing it is to make money to which he is entitled. Anyone who downloads any such thing without paying for it is a thief. There is no other definition and no excuse for it. [ + quote]
WhatUp (Newbie) 7 June 2005 13:13
cbedell: No copywright had an expiration date and now that we see the expiration date coming your congress is now extending by 25 years and going and going it is like the bug bunny in the advertising of Energizer. We know stealing is stealing but don't give us the more Catholic then the pope because there is law and not all law are equal. Read the fondation of your constitution of the good old US of A to see what I mean by the people for the people does that give you a clue about what the lobying and millenium act is creating in our world????? On that troll away mister more catholic then the Pope. [ + quote]
dufas (Member) 7 June 2005 14:08
cbedell: Copyrights used to be for 21 years until the MPAA stuck it's nose into politics. Have you ever heard of public domain. This originally meant that after a given period of time, copyrights expired and no matter what it was moved into public domain meaning anyone has free access to the material whether it is a book, picture, article, or a movie. Many of the old movies were in public domain . They are not anymore. Now, a copyright goes on forever, passed down to heirs. This is going to backfire in as much that the movie industry used to take public domain material and make re-makes of them and the only cost was for production. They didn't have to pay someone for the movie rights. If they are honest and not hypocritical, they will look up the last owner of the copyright and make them an offer for the re-make rights. What do you want to bet that the movie maker will only apply public domain rights when it suits his needs and want to apply copyrights when he can make some money ???? [ + quote]
creaky (Moderator) 7 June 2005 14:11
you know what - it shows that a company , whether its SONY or Macrovision or whoever, with all their millions, more like billions, are afraid of one normal (but obviously extremely talented) individual from the UK (who has contributed so much to so MANY grateful people). That shows that to feel so threatened by one person, they are greedy, technically inept, oh and did i say greedy. Good luck to Lightning for the future. [ + quote]
Sazaziel (Junior Member) 7 June 2005 20:45
cbedell.... your the one making excuses. Why don't you go somewhere and pray or something. You make it obvious that you may supposedly be some law abiding citizen or something but when will that change. Do you have to be bent over first until you can't take it anymore or is there a point of view that any money hungry industry or governing power hasn't touched to strike a nerve yet. When people have an opinion does it make it right for a group with money or power to tell you to "shut up"! I'm not knocking you in any way because many of us here do get your point but, this issue downloading did not become illegal until the music and movie industry began to feel that they weren't selling enough of their product and needed to find someone or something to blame. So they go...well ok lets blame the internet. No one can rule the network of cyberspace because there is no where to start. So they say lets go after the average joe and sue. For what? Because they grossed $30 million dollars on a theatre release but, the goal was $50 million. Then they could dine at a fine restaurant and if I was serving them and admired them...they'd probably treat me like shit. Open your eyes cause money isn't everything. If nothing cost nothing then would this topic even be an issue at all. I'm gonna let you think real hard about that one. Times are hard. The economy of many powerful countries are going bad. They blame things like this on average people because we try to pinch our pennies when we are in a jam to make ends meet. Yet highly overpaid celebrities along with others in the government and industry blame us when they dont gain that extra million they feel that they are entitled to. The freakin porn industry doesn't even bitch this much. This is because they know the product is good whether downloaded or purchased. All they want people to do is see it...get aroused...and come..excuse me..cum back for more. Now thats darn good business. So I could care less about the big business entertainment industries using the government to put people in fear. I have more respect for Jenna Jameson than I do for Jennifer Lopez. She's the queen. Most movies sold and the most download ever. She doesn't have a reason to complain because she knows what she can do and still gets paid for it without complaint. Point blank...the internet is freedom from the rest of the world yet connecting you to the world itself. It's free...free trading, free to download, complete freedom. No one should be stripped of at least this freedom. Trying to take freedom away from a person may cause problems. Star Wars is a great movie but if the industry feels that they could use fear to pressure me into purchasing their product then I just wont purchase it. Eventually I will just cure my bordom by playing Xbox and the industry will lose money because I bought a game (non-Star Wars related) instead. [ + quote]
cbedell (Newbie) 8 June 2005 6:01
I don't have to make excuses as nearly everyone else seems to. I was raised to follow the law whether just or unjust. If it's unjust, there are ways to fight it. The copyright laws are not unjust, they are there to protect something which has been produced for sale and a profit. [ + quote]
Sazaziel (Junior Member) 8 June 2005 9:18
cbedell...ithe the way you think whether just or unjust makes you feel good about yourself then good dog. Go fetch another bone. But just as you say...staeling is stealing...well...sharing is sharing and a trade is for a trade. And if I bought something with my money...can you read this...."my money" I am free to do whatever I choose with it. I'd rather get beat up and take a loss then to bend over and just take anything. Laws are made just for the wealthy and powerful. There is no way to fight against laws that are unjust. Congress itself has more power than the president of the US. And as far as voting against unjust laws ....laws are made in Congress and primarily voted for in Congress. More than half of the laws passed aren't even known about by the average citizen. The average citizen didnt even want to go to war and that shit happened. So as you sleep tonight just hope and pray that one day a bill passed that you do not agree with doesn't affect your life. It doesn't have to be this topic or the next but I'm sure you will feel as angry as many people do on this site. But back to the topic......the industry leaked its own movie and caused a big stir up in the media. In turn the media persecuted the average citizen and now the government along side with law enforcement officials are trying to crucify people just make make an extra dollar and a point. [ + quote]
nonoitall (Member) 8 June 2005 11:01
cbedell is an excellent example of why it is now a legal system instead of a justice system. [ + quote]
cbedell (Newbie) 8 June 2005 12:05
Our "justice" system died when Washington became the center of a dictatorship. Since the Patriot Act, no one can deny this is a dictatorship. [ + quote]
nonoitall (Member) 8 June 2005 16:04
Hmm... You aren't with the MPAA, trying to make us submit, are you? [ + quote]
Oriphus (AfterDawn Addict) 17 June 2005 17:16
Quote: star wars was unbelievable! i was so close to crying :[ yes, i was one of the nerds who stood in line for 12 hours, but it was worth every minute Worst star wars yet released in my opinion. It didnt get very good reviews. I didnt think it was anything special. nonoitall i worry about your mental health For your DVD needs http://www.dvd-and-media.com http://www.dvd-backup.tk For User Guides/Downloads: http://www.chrismccann.co.uk/user_guides.htm [ + quote]
dufas (Member) 17 June 2005 17:44
Just wait...Some MPAA lawyer is going to try and figure a way to sue people that don't go to see a movie. In order to protect the movie industry, all people will have to go to every movie under penalty of fine or imprisonment amounting to no more or less than the lawyer can squeeze out of the offender......... [ + quote]
nonoitall (Member) 19 June 2005 12:33
Quote: nonoitall i worry about your mental health ...why? [ + quote]
Sazaziel (Junior Member) 19 June 2005 20:27
dufas you got a good point. Actually you make a great point. It brings up the message the industry is I guess trying to weasel in to telling people. I think that message is .... "We depend on you the people to make us rich. If you do not comply with our demands to make us rich we will then force you to make us rich by any means necessary"! [ + quote]
dufas (Member) 19 June 2005 22:40
Brilliant,.....I should have had said it that way........ [ + quote]
dufas (Member) 30 June 2005 8:48
Well, well....The entertainment industry is complaining that there is an 18 percent decline in movie attendance and this is reflected in their profits. This decline is going on even though they have stopped so many file trading sites. Could it be that the Hollywood Elite have pissed off a lot of the little people ?? Does this mean that the elite will have to get along without another Europian castle or another limosine in their garage ??? Will the Carl Reiner family be stuck with just 24 SUVs, they may have to decide between another SUV or a new Lambergini... One would think that an industry that sues little old ladies and 12 year old children would have the brains to figure out what is going on. Many of the people that I know won't go to any movie at all. There are several points to the argument that these non-attendies give..... 1....The entertainment industry wants complete control over one's entertainment. This includes what, when, and how one gets entertainment. So much for entertainment freedom. 2....The entertainment industry has and uses political clout to not only control the public's private life but also to levie taxes on blank CDs, blank DVDs, blank video tapes, and on computers which is put into a pool to be divided between the entertainment studios because these items might be used to copy their product. 3....The entertainment industry has destroyed the concept of public domain. You can be sure that they will do everything in their power to crush anyone that they find making a copy of something like the The Petrified Forest (1936) or Idiot's Delight (1939) but when it comes to filming a re-make, you can be sure that they will argue that they do not have to pay anyone because the work is in public domain, at least for their purposes...... 4....The entertainment industry say that they are trying to preserve jobs, yet when the entertainment indusry calls for a boycot of some manufacturing company or a service industry, they do not seem to care about any lost jobs then. Also, when the script girl, the sound man, the gopher and others begin to get residual payments for re-runs, then they may be listened to. All the monies, the extra taxes, 95 percent of the residuals go directly to the the studios and is paid to the studio heads. There have been many, many cases of where an actor is supposed to get residual payments instead of being paid just for the actors work. The studios then use " Creative Bookkeeping " to keep the money for themselves. 5....The greater majority of the entertainers, the Martin Sheens, the carl and Rob Reiners, the Barbara Streisands are more than willing to tell the public how to live their lives but no one dares to tell these actors, directors, producers, studio heads how to live their lives. No one tells the elite what to do... 6....The entertainment industry is devising ways to stop the recording of TV shows. This is one of the major reasons for changing to digital television. High resolution TV can be had with anologue TV. But, the logic is, if there is to be change, let's go digital because embedded data can be included to keep people from recording from the air waves. Even if a person manages to make a recording, the digital anti-copy data will keep a computer from making any copies. One person who works in the entertainment industry even suggested that embedding computer viruses or trojans into the digital video stream was possible and that he would look into the matter. This same man also belongs to a group that wants to include an income tax of the general population to be collected by the government and paid to the studios. He concludes that there is a tax on computers and video supplies already, and it would not be any different than the monies paid to farmers and various manufactering indudustries from income taxes..... [ + quote]
Sazaziel (Junior Member) 30 June 2005 9:55
It's just sickening what the entertainment industry and its standards have come to. It's so damn sickening. Whats next....America turns from democracy into communism. Will the industry use its pawn which is the government to start forcing everybody to go to the theatres every weekend. I can see something like that happening. Imagine being taken to jail for not going to the movies....!!!! Bull shit...just plain and simple political bull shit! [ + quote]
TurretBoy (Inactive) 3 August 2005 12:26
Last night I walked into my local theatre. I looked up on the wall to see 8 42+ inch plasma screens on the wall above the consessions. Above those was a huge replica of a 747 (being in seattle.. boeing central). I then took a look at the menu: $4.50 LARGE SODA $5.00 LARGE POPCORN Tickets: $9.50 I also see 10+ highschool kids wading in popcorn serving the rushing crowd into the theatre. After seeing the movie (wedding crashers) I realized... Man I am glad I downloaded that first and watched it.. I would have pissed if that movie sucked and I spent 25 bucks to go to the movies! [ + quote]
Earlacey (Junior Member) 26 August 2005 4:57
OK Dumb idea but I like it just the same. Make it so, that when or if I go to see a movie in the theater I get a one time use coupon or discount code for the DVD when it is released. Then, if I so wish, make it possible for me to be able to see the movie again via the internet until the release of the DVD. We are crafty but there are still ways to stream media that make it really hard to copy if not nearly impossible. So this way, everyone is happy. I paid my 10 bucks to see SW EP3, I am certainly not going to pay to see it in the theater again. Like I said, dumb idea but just make the product a whole package. Hollywood could pee it's pants by have a pre-order on a DVD for movies it just releases...come on you assholes come up with an idea instead of crying in you hands about a problem that is never going to to truly go away. One way or another someone is get a boot leg, so take the next logical step, circumvent the bootleg process by offering an alternative. [ + quote]