Eric Miller on Thu, 10 Jan 2002 09:11:40 +0100 (CET) |
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Re: <nettime> Coming Soon: Hollywood Versus the Internet (Mike Godwin) |
hi all, Seems to me that the root of the conflict is twofold. One, the rather libertarian technology industry isn't keen on having regulations imposed upon it, especially when the proposed regulations conflict with the industry consensus on copyright protections. But the second issue seems more pivotal. "Traditional" content companies are fully aware that their product is generally a limited-use entertainment commodity, whereas the tech companies are in the business of providing hardware and software tools for continuous use. Put another way: as an end user, I'm probably going to watch this week's episode of "Friends" only once or twice at most, but I'm going to open Photoshop every day. There's your problem...I'm going to pay for Photoshop because I use it every day and I need the manuals, the upgrades & bug fixes, the tech support, and the licenses. But if someone emails me a Tivo-recorded sitcom with the commercials stripped out, I'll probably just watch it once and then trash it. The content owner gets nothing from me. So you have the traditional content producers soiling their shorts, worried that they are going to lose primary revenue streams for their products, and with no lack of justification for their fears (refer to Napster for a case study of a revenue-free distribution channel.) In the end, set aside any resentment of the corporate parents for a moment, and let me ask a simple question: if content producers effectively lose the right to compensation from and distribution of their works because of advances in technology, what do you think that's going to do to the quality and availability of content? Eric At 07:58 AM 1/9/2002 +1100, geert lovink wrote: >date sent: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 17:50:33 -0500 >from: Mike Godwin <mnemonic@WELL.COM> >subject: Coming Soon: Hollywood Versus the Internet >to: CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM > >An article I've been working on, for your comments. > >--Mike > >Coming Soon: Hollywood Versus the Internet > >If you have a fast computer and a fast connection to the Internet, you >make Hollywood nervous. And Tinseltown is nervous not because of what >you're doing now, but because of what you *might* do -- grab digital >Hollywood content with your computer and broadcast it over the >Internet. <snip> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net