Why the MPAA is scared
Ever since the invention of the cassette deck, the entertainment industry has found themselves in a constant cycle from technology to technology. The cassette allowed the average consumer to listen to music whenever—and, more importantly, wherever—they wanted. Of more interest to the music industry, however, was the sudden ability to copy purchased music to a blank tape and, once copied, give or sell that copy (illegally) to a third party. Obviously, the lawyers weren't too excited by this prospect, but they didn't have much time to react; before they knew it, video tapes hit the market (in the form of VHS) and the problem was at the forefront once again... a few years later and the cycle repeated itself, first in the form of CD-RW drives and, recently, with their DVD counterpart.
Within the last year, the controversy over copying protected DVDs has constantly been in the news spotlight. With the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) suing thousands of individuals over stolen music, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) soon joined the party, this time complaining about illegally pirated DVDs. Up until the last three or four years, movie pirating was never a big problem— the majority of the residential world had, at best, a 56.6k dial-up modem. With the onset of the broadband revolution, downloading a 700-800mb movie took hours, not days or weeks. Once the MPAA saw a drop in theater admissions (down about 4% in 2003), they decided to take action.
Despite popular belief, copying a commercial DVD for a personal "backup" is technically illegal. As recent as this summer, a company based in California sold a product dubbed "DVD X Copy," which made copying and burning a copyright-protected DVD "as simple as 1-2-3." This summer, however, the Supreme Court of California deemed the product unlawful, primarily due to the fact it broke the copyright-protection present on all DVDs. (The company has since modified their product to only copy non-protected movies, such as home movies created by the average citizen.) While it might seem logical that I should be able to copy a movie (that I legally own) for day-to-day use, the law says differently.
The entire situation is quite reminiscent of the fight over VCRs and VHS back in the day—luckily, the movie folks abandoned the fight once they started selling retail movies, which allowed the general public (for the first time) to watch a movie long after it had left the theaters. Unfortunately, the MPAA doesn't appear to be giving up on this fight any time soon, but they also aren't interested in following the RIAA's plan of throwing lawsuits at grandma's and seventh graders. Instead, Hollywood is pursuing the movie equivalent of the enormously successful iTunes Music Store.
NetFlix, an online company that charges a monthly fee for unlimited DVD rentals, has established itself as one of the most successful alternatives to movie pirating. As Wal-Mart, Best Buy and other major retailers are following the path forged by NetFlix, others are turning the very problem—illegal movie downloads—into a business plan. MovieLink is one of the most popular such options, giving broadband consumers the ability to download the movie directly to their computer for only $4.99 per title. As rumors swirl about NetFlix and TiVo teaming up for a similar venture, the arena of online and offline movie pirating is quickly approaching the turning point.
As Hollywood continues their plans to increase profits, pre-release downloads have continued to increase. In fact, above all other types, the pre-theater and pre-rental pirating sectors are the ones the MPAA is the most concerned about. With 400,000 to 500,000 movies swapped every day, it is estimated that between 35-50% of those are otherwise unavailable to the public—that is, movies currently (or not yet) in theaters, or movies on their transition between theater and DVD release. Services like NetFlix and MovieLink can't feed the appetite for pre-release pirates, but Hollywood is never going to be interested in providing such services.
Until the MPAA manages to scare off the pirates, which (compared to the average Kazaa user) will be quite difficult, they look to be content to fight the battle against the mainstream user. What that means to the average student depends on their activity in the movie copying arena—my advice to you, though, is to play it safe and stay away from the wrath of Hollywood.