Though I suppose it's nice that the FBI is taking this stuff seriously, I can't help but think that there are better targets. Selective enforcement usually does more harm than good, especially in the world of PR.

It's much harder to reward someone for buying a movie than it is a game. With a game, we get support, updates, bonus bits and all sorts. For a movie, we get a movie.

For a DVD, we get a movie and a Making Of. Some commentary, some impossible to navigate menus etc. It's hard really to say "hey, you get more with our DVDs". Much harder than it is to say "hey, you get more with GOG.com".

You're absolutely right, though. Movie companies do have to make themselves respected, but without much more than good ouput it's really hard to do that. Craploads of bonus content for a two hour long epic just doesn't make much sense.

I really don't know how a movie company can reward you for buying their stuff. Closest they've got to that is giving you a pair of 3D glasses which are only good for the 3D version in the cinema. What else can you do? Free cups? Goodie bags? I really don't know.

At the same time, of course, it's harder to piss someone off with a movie than it is a game copy protection system.

I feel for the guy, being busted for such a mediocre movie.

Yeah, respect is key but earning it can be difficult... There was a guy who gave much thought to the issue and eventually concluded that while being loved is awesome, being feared is much more efficient, since people love you when they want to (and can easily change their minds when you'll require an effort on their part) but they fear you when YOU want them to ;)...

Bullshit. That's an industry problem.

Well for one thing they could do is make good movies for the customers not just whatever brings in some money. Take the superheroes movies for example. We had a couple that were nice and then Boom! All superheroes get mediocre movies. When you become a company that just milks it's titles for cash you won't get respect from your customers. I mean for some of those movies they just shit on the fans expectations.

And maybe, just maybe after about 5-10 years of getting money for the copyrights it would be nice to release them to public domain. Show you care about your customers, not just the mighty $$$.

It's not an ignorant argument, it's a reflection of the fact that it's not their job to enforce copyright law, that responsibility falls on the owner of the copyright. No, that's not true, copyright, trademark and patent rights are solely enforced by the owner in civil court. It is not the FBI's place to take enforcement actions in cases like this.

This is fundamentally a different situation than if somebody were to break into somebody's home and steal their stuff. The FBI isn't supposed to be getting involved with squabbles between people.

I'm sure he made a nice facepalm once the feds busted down the door.

"If only I've uploaded that My Little Pony thing, then getting tasered and tear gassed would be well worth it."

Except that uploading a movie isn't illegal, it's a civil violation at most. And as with nearly all other civil violations it's up to the owner to investigate and prosecute in civil court.

Having the FBI get involved with squabbles like this just lessens the amount of respect and compliance that they get when they're investigating actual serious crimes.

Sort of like when the FBI director tells people to report themselves when they accidentally download a mislabeled child porn video.

Bingo.

Violating the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 makes what he did a criminal offense, not a civil one, hence the necessity of involving the FBI. If convicted, the guy could get up to 5 years in prison for each film he uploaded; 10 years if he was in any way paid for what he did. He probably does face additional civil penalties on top of the criminal ones, but those aren't the FBI's business.

They go after the downloaders because the law doesn't differentiate. They can bleed more money out of DLers since there's more of 'em to sue.

It's easier than you might think: don't just make mainstream stuff but also cater to niches now and then. They take safe bets, go with movies that target large audiences while rarely really appealing to a single group strong enough, etc. That's why piracy is so easy - people are mostly non plussed about movies these days because they're so commercial and people equate commercialism with greed and consumerism instead of works of love.

I watched Lawrence of Arabia a week or two ago. I downloaded it since I had no idea whether I'd enjoy it. I LOVED it though and the movie was really excellent, made me look up all the history around it and I bought it immediately. I'd do the same with modern movies except almost none ever make me do this. Considering I pay $30 a month to watch movies on Prime, a series of movie channels (most of that money going to the movie industry), my conscience is clean about this (since I barely watch those channels at all - I mostly want to watch stuff at my own leisure). But modern movies ... they rarely make me go "wow, I want to buy this".

EDIT: just noticed Aningan saying more or less the same thing - shows we're right ;)

I thought that was Australia? :P