MegaUprising

Big Media Promotes Piracy

Lance Ward — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:07:39 +0000

User generated content is as likely to contain copyrighted material as it is to contain spam. The difficulty in policing it is perhaps best illustrated by the sites owned by the big 6 themselves. Of all the sites on the internet, few have more to gain (or lose) than the titans of media, CBS, NBCUniversal, News Corp (Fox), Walt Disney, Time Warner. These companies are the most vocal supporters of legislation like SOPA and PIPA to censor the web, so one might expect their sites to be pristine, free of all links to pirated material, especially links to sites that are well known havens for piracy, like ThePirateBay, Megaupload or RapidShare. Wrong! It took just seconds to find these links on their sites.

AskMen (News Corp AKA Fox): 1, 2
Atom (Viacom): 1
IGN (News Corp AKA Fox): 1
Hulu (Fox, Disney-ABC, NBCUniversal): 1, 2, 3, 4
TV.com (CBS Interactive): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Protecting American Pros

Lance Ward — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:03:13 +0000

After all of the noise from Chris Dodd of the MPAA, one would expect the film industry earnings reports to show them on the verge of bankruptcy. The MPAA’s own website, however, tells a very different story. This graphic, along with others in the same document tells an uplifting story of steadily rising income. If you dig a little deeper, you find, according to a report on the same page, that the real victim of piracy is pornography. Perhaps that’s what all of those Ps in SOPA and PIPA stand for.

“An analysis of the top 10,000 (bittorrent) swarms found that pornography (35.8%), film (35.2%), and television (12.7%) were the most popular content types.”

Hulu, Heal Thyself

Lance Ward — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:10:18 +0000

For those who want to watch TV online through legitimate sources, there are really only 2 1/2 serious offers, Hulu, Netflix & Crackle. Of those, Hulu Plus is, sadly, the best option for those who want to watch more than the last 5 episodes of the current season or want to view episodes on their TVs via Roku or similar devices. Unfortunately, due to a ridiculous quantity of inexplicable licensing issues, Hulu Plus subscribers are sure to be disappointed, despite the value price of $7.99 per month.

Hulu’s promo page touts “every episode of the current season”, but the reality is much different. At the bottom of this article is a list of some of the top TV shows. Each one airs on a channel of one of the 3 main owners of Hulu, NBCUniversal, Fox Entertainment Group, or Disney-Abc Television Group. Each one has “licensing issues” that prevent Hulu from offering these shows online or on certain devices. How is that possible? How do you have licensing issues for your own shows?

Hulu’s licensing problems are particularly irritating given the fact that Hulu Plus started beta trials in June, 2010. Now, over a year and a half later, they are still plagued with so many ‘licensing’ issues by their own companies and production studios that the Hulu Plus offering is practically a joke.

Undoubtedly, there is some perfectly reasonable excuse, like union contracts or perhaps one company produced the show while another one broadcasts it. Regardless, I say this to Hulu’s parent companies, to Time Warner (CW), and especially to CBS Corporation who doesn’t even participate in Hulu or any other similar site.

Fix yourselves before you blame piracy and the internet for your supposedly lagging sales.

Update: This list does not include shows on the CW, almost all of which only offer 5 episodes, not the full season. Hulu and the CW signed an agreement in Oct. 2011

30 Rock (NBC) – A, B
Alcatraz (FOX) – A, B (now available)
Alphas (SYFY) – A, B
American Horror Story (FX) – D
Being Human (SYFY) – B
Burn Notice (USA) – A, B
Chuck (NBC) – D
Fringe (FOX) – A, B (now available)
Eureka (SYFY) – A, C
In Plain Sight (USA) – C
Nikita (USA) – A
Pan Am (ABC) – A, B
Psych (FOX) – A
Sanctuary (SYFY) – A, B
Simpsons (FOX) – A, B
Warehouse 13 (SYFY) – A, B
White Collar (USA) – A, B

A – only offers 5 of the current season for paying Hulu plus subscribers.
B – episodes are unavailable on TVs or portable devices, even for paying Hulu plus subscribers
C – previous seasons are okay, but new episodes are unavailable on TVs or portable devices for paying Hulu plus subscribers
D – completely unavailable

USA and Syfy are owned by NBCUniversal. FX is owned by Fox Entertainment Group.

Black March : Hits to Miss

Lance Ward — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:21:31 +0000

According to this movie release schedule, several key SOPA supporters have movies premiering during Black March. These movies are blockbuster sized targets for the boycott. For many, a full boycott may be difficult, so commit to avoid these, at least, to send a strong message. It’s almost a guarantee that half of them will be overrated and not worth seeing anyway, so you’ll save 50 bucks or so and 10 hours.

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax – Universal
Project X – Warner Bros.
John Carter – Walt Disney
21 Jump Street – Sony Pictures
The Wrath of the Titans – Warner Bros.
The Pirates! Band of Misfits – Sony Pictures

MPAA Comic

Lance Ward — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:46:59 +0000

A little attempt at humor… license: cc-by-3.0

Black March

Lance Ward — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:18:36 +0000

Another protest is building steam. This time, its a boycott aimed directly at big media, called Black March. For the entire month of march, consumers are encouraged to not buy any media. Personally, I like the idea of this even better than the web blackout, as effective as it was. Sony, Disney, Fox, Paramount and the WB seem to think they are invulnerable because we, as consumers, have grown so dependent on them for our entertainment. Hopefully, a good participation level will show them exactly how wrong they are.

I propose that Black March be expanded. Don’t just boycott, go out and picket and protest in real life at the theaters, at DVD rental stores, and any other place you can think of.

Download Graphic – CC BY 3.0 MegaUprising

Take Action

Lance Ward — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:23:47 +0000

Get Mad
If the latest SOPA / PIPA push isn’t enough to get you riled up against big media (think Disney, Fox, Sony etc.), then the following stories will help illuminate the reasons the a powerful and unjust media oligopoly is bad for everyone.

Automated DMCA – The consequences of using bots to locate copyright infringing content and issue DMCA takedown notices.
UMG vs. Veoh – The story of Veoh as a startup battling the deep pockets of UMG who intentionally ignored the DMCA and sued everyone in an effective shotgun approach.
14 Ridiculous Lawsuits – The most egregious errors of the MPAA & RIAA campaigns against peer to peer file sharing.

Take Action
Now that you’re thoroughly enraged and ready to beat back the corporations responsible, dive into the bible of battling big pockets.

Boycott Big Media – it’s easier than you might think to make a difference and there are many levels of participation.
Sign a Petition – one of the easiest actions to take is simply to let politicians and others know that these issues mean something to you.
Support Independent Media – this goes hand in hand with the boycott. Look to independent media to fulfill your entertainment needs.
Donate - donations help others fight this battle or help others create much needed competition. Either way, there are numerous good organizations that accept donations that nearly anyone can afford.
Create - the most powerful action you can take is to create competition. Work individually or as team to create anything from a single song to a feature length film. It all counts. Non-artistic people, if there is such a thing, can still donate as little as one dollar to help others.