Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room
DOTCOM saga - updates
IainB:
Relevant to Internet freedoms and the Dotcom raid: Post at arsTechnica: (rather good video they made there - "Are Your Politicians for Sale?)
(Post copied below sans embedded links.)
SpoilerAnonymous donors bring Hollywood production values to anti-MPAA video
Video has been featured on the Pirate Bay, generating 10 million views.
by Timothy B. Lee - Aug 9 2012, 1:10pm NZST
A video accusing the American government of selling out to Hollywood has made a splash after being featured on the front page of the Pirate Bay, where it has garnered over 10 million views. Anti-Hollywood sentiment is nothing new, especially on The Pirate Bay, but what sets this video apart is its top-notch—one might even say Hollywood-caliber—production values.
On Wednesday, Ars talked to an individual behind the video. He said he and a friend paid for the video out of their own pockets. They are hoping to "raise awareness" of what they view as America's repressive copyright policies.
The video has three scenes. In the first, the "American Motion Picture Association" announces it has hired "Senator Chris Rodd" (clearly references to the MPAA and its chairman, former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)) to represent Hollywood. In the second scene, police carry out a military-style raid on a London home. The final scene takes place in an "undisclosed location." The kid arrested in London is now in chains, wearing an orange jumpsuit and a hood over his head. The young soldier guarding the prisoner asks an older American in a suit what the suspect did, and looks incredulous when he's told that he's been arrested for copyright infringement.
Obviously, the video is over-the-top. Nothing exactly like the incident depicted has happened in real life. The US government doesn't subject copyright defendants to the same harsh treatment as suspected terrorists. But after the commando-style raid on Kim Dotcom's mansion in January, it may be close enough to the truth to make effective propaganda.
The website associated with the video depicts Kim Dotcom, Richard O'Dwyer, and others as victims of a copyright regime run amok. The site is short on details about who's behind it, providing only an email address.
On Wednesday, Ars spoke to one of the producers, who identified himself as "Andrew," via Skype. He told us he's a financial professional outside the United States. He created the video with a friend who also works "on the stock exchange."
Believing a video would attract a wider audience than a text-based website, they hired a director and a sound professional to produce a 3-minute video. "Andrew" told us the whole video cost about $5000 to produce, and that he and his friend funded the project out of their own pockets. "We really don't have much to do with the Internet industry as a whole," he told us.
If this video is a hit, it could be the first in a series of videos focused on "online freedom and copyright." The next one might be tied to the American elections in November.
Why the secrecy? "You see what's happening with people who are involved in this kind of stuff," "Andrew" told us. "Especially when you're directly attacking against political figures. We don't want to attract unnecessary attention in our lives."
He said he was motivated by the sight of people being "getting arrested left and right in different countries for various copyright infringement 'offenses.'" He said that copyright issues "affect pretty much anybody."
--- End quote ---
-IainB (August 09, 2012, 09:56 AM)
--- End quote ---
Renegade:
kkipple | Ars Centurion
So is New Zealand America's 51 state or what?
--- End quote ---
WELL! That was just a rude and ignorant comment! Everyone knows Canada is the 51st state~! Get in line Kiwis~! :P ;D
nudone:
I thought it was the UK. Guess we'll have to battle it out for gold, silver and bronze positions.
Renegade:
I thought it was the UK. Guess we'll have to battle it out for gold, silver and bronze positions.
-nudone (August 09, 2012, 12:14 PM)
--- End quote ---
Hmmm... Maybe we can sell tickets, then arrest people that don't smile. ;D
IainB:
RT just did an interview with Steve Wozniak on free speech online (and some other stuff).
He talks about Dotcom and other issues.
-Renegade (August 12, 2012, 01:59 PM)
--- End quote ---
I put @Renegade's separate post of this - Steve Wozniak (Apple co-founder) YouTube video of an interview by RTAmerica - in here because it's rather relevant.
I think Wozniak hits the nail on the head where he says:
Conservative types and libertarian types say, "Governments shouldn't have any say and control over that. That takes away our freedom."
Wrong. It takes away the freedom of the companies that are taking away the freedom from us.
--- End quote ---
However, I didn't really understand the bit where he seems to be stating in the interview that the Constitution "granted" rights. I had always thought the Constitution was merely a codification of pre-existing inalienable rights, for the sole purpose of keeping government in check - like one commenter says:
Const. explicitly limits powers DELEGATED to gvt, but NEVER limits those of the People, as reminded TWICE: 1st in the 9th, then in the 10th Amendment.
--- End quote ---
:tellme:
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version