FreeCulture@RPI

Since 2005, the MPAA has been using false statistics in order to justify its litigation crusade against college students. In the original report we were blamed for 44% of domestic losses; now that number has been revised down to 15%. Which, if you believe the new data (I still don’t), means we’re only accountable for 3% of world-wide copyright-infringement losses to the movie industry. But I don’t see how we can take these numbers on faith, just like the originals. The MPAA has a clear conflict of interest: it seeks to inflate its losses to (centralized, easily litigated) college campuses in order to crack down on a threat to its antiquated business model. Not to mention to get us thinking we’re bad people.

This point can’t be overstated: downloading movies and music is not piracy. It is not theft. It is copyright infringement. The first step towards solving this problem is using the right terminology. Perhaps if I downloaded music while robbing merchants at sea then I would be a pirate. But more on this later.

Another reason the data are probably bogus: the only way for a movie download to be a loss of revenue is if that download offset someone who otherwise was planning on renting/buying a movie. With the Folsom library’s compendium of most excellent DVDs, how often do I seriously consider driving down to Blockbuster? How can the MPAA accurately estimate this number?

This issue is bigger than just being accosted by lawyers. The inflated numbers helped the MPAA cajole Congress to consider legislation to withdraw Federal aid from colleges that don’t comply with its draconian measures. And we’d lose all our personal Federal loans too. Hey, at least RPI has Ruckus.

The MPAA should stop whining and start rethinking its business model.

-Frank