UK TV/Film Stars Urge ISPs to Stop Piracy
Written by Ben Jones on December 16, 2008A group of British actors, directors and producers have written an open letter to The Times newspaper. Their concern – downloads of TV episodes and films. What is needed, they claim, is for the government to force the ISPs to do something about it.
The UK is a major player in the TV and film industry. While only a few films are made in the UK, British actors and directors have a major place in the world entertainment business. Now, a number of British writers, directors and producers have sent an open letter to The Times, asking that something be done about TV and film downloads.
While some producers, directors and actors actually believe that BitTorrent and other filesharing tools help to boost the fanbase of films and TV-shows, this group disagrees. Signed by a staggering 116 names including the likes of directors Sir Alan Parker, Mike Leigh and supported by several entertainment industry groups, the letter claims:
At a time when so many jobs are being lost in the wider economy, it is especially important that this issue be taken seriously by the Government and that it devotes the resources necessary to enforce the law.
Ignoring for a moment that notably they make no mention of job losses in their sector, one of the problems with their demands is that the law they seek to enforce is civil law, not criminal.
Beyond employing judges there is nothing more that the government can do to enforce it. That is the problem with copyright law, it’s hard to know what’s legitimate and what’s not, what can be copied and what can’t, without checking with the rights holders first. This was exemplified perfectly earlier this year, when the IFPI sent out takedown notices for Travis tracks, despite the actual copyright holders, Travis, having already given permission to distribute.
The bigger problem comes from their data, the 98 million illegal downloads and streams. While we know TV shows are popular, our own data shows that British TV rarely features in the top 10. Movie downloads are more fleeting, with a certain bias towards the newest films, with a few exceptions. Their figures are also questionable; while we count downloads, we can’t quantify them with a figure for the UK.
Yet, if their stats on downloads are of questionable accuracy, it’s nothing compared to the power they ascribe to the ‘almighty ISP’. They believe that ISPs have the power to stamp out file sharing, stopping people from downloading TV shows and movies; they just need a prod. In this belief they are sadly mistaken.
Again, recent news has shown how hard it is to control access to even one image in the UK, on a cut-and-dried subject like child pornography. Being able to determine if something is infringing copyright or not would require huge lists of content, and real-time examination of all Internet traffic. Not just deep packet inspection, but an all-invasive Big Brother monitoring system, beyond the dreams of even the most totalitarian dictator.
Of course, those that bother to check facts know that not only is such a thing illegal (criminally illegal, not just civil) but that the tools they’ll want to use just don’t work. The problem is highlighted by Michael Malone, CEO of ISP iiNet, currently under attack from various movie studios, “I think they genuinely believe that ISPs have a secret magic wand that we are hiding and if we bring it out we can make piracy disappear just by waving it.”
And, when just this year it was reported that UK commercial TV broadcasters “enjoyed a bumper April with the highest viewing figures in five years”, that total TV viewing was up 10% year-on-year, and “the valuable yet hard-to-reach 16 to 24-year-old demographic [i.e the typical file-sharer] watched 4.9% more commercial TV in April year-on-year and saw 12% more ads,” you have to wonder exactly what the problem is.
Previously: MPAA Fears Economic Downturn Will Boost Piracy
Next: Virgin Media to Throttle BitTorrent Users
55 Responses
I’ll stop downloading movies if they pay me the same wage those stars get for acting in a tv show/movie/whatever.
Money, all the companies care about is money. Not jobs, but money for the lucky few. And all the fools follow them like sheep.
This isn’t about jobs.
+1 to #1
Only a small percent of the downloads represent sales, people have a certain amount of money, and no more.
But it does represent a 100% of more wealth. There aren’t even costs involved for you!
You make a fine salary, but still you need more… and more.
Happy christmas to you too scrooges!
@2 : You dopey twat: why the hell would any company in any area care about jobs except where they pertain to making money for the company.
It’s so amusing that people just happen to “care” about the companies that are speaking out against filesharing and not others.
Like some other posters here that rave about artists being “ripped off” (as if illegal downloading does anything for the artist), “corporate fatcats” lining their pockets and other tripe.
I’ll bet most of these posters aree wearing clothing and shoes made by people getting paid $2.00 per day but of course they wouldn’t give it a thought - and because the clothes are cheap and they like to dress well they couldn’t care less about the poor saps making them. Different story when it comes to downloading though - then it’s a moral outrage with poor, innocent “victims” (artists), “evil tyrants” (record & movie comany execs).
It amazes me the crap people claim to justify filesharing: isn’t it enough that it’s free, easy and almost instaneous rather than going on a verbal “moral crusade” to justify it to yourslef and others?
The “fixing societies ills” line is just crap for most people here…
I wonder what it feels like to make millions of dollars each year and still scream about how piracy ruin your job..
Agree with #5, happy christmas, scrooges!
Greedy bastards. They can kiss my ass.
People will switch to distributing full movies inside sets of Creative Commons pictures.
http://stegoshare.sourceforge.net/howitworks.html
They are getting too much, and when their copyrights are about to expire, they bribe politicians to extend them at the expense of everyone.
Why? Because they never had a habit to save for retirement and don’t have retirement strategies.
I’m not surprised :/
You guys might also find interesting that Virgin Media is planning to start using more aggressive forms of traffic shaping specifically targeted toward torrent users:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/16/virgin_bittorrent/page2.html
Suck my balls you greedy fucks!!
Lately I bought a DVD box. Of course the shit is copy protected so the dvds are insanely long to load in my computer with anydvd (i have no tv).
Then there is a Universal jingle I can’t skip. The the producer’s jingle. Then a boring menu I can’t skip. All the episodes are on the same ifo and I can’t get subtitles/other language during the playing (i have to restart the episode from the menu). Not mentionning those dvds aren’t even pressed, but just burnt (and yes they are genuine).
Conclusion : I bought for 100€ something I could have downloaded for free, and which would have been far more comfortable in the use than this… I’m so tired about the industry moaning all the time about lost sales, when all they release is crap… So please, just feck off.
Why doesn’t torrentflux write a reply letter to the times and have thousands of your readers sign it. I’d put my full name on that.
@Ben Jones…
Good article Ben… Maybe you should re-work it slightly and send it as an open letter to The Times as a rebuttal to the industry letter?
Matters not a jot, more people will use seed boxes.
All i heard is what they want to do which is police the internet - not the downsides to everyone being watched. Like All freedoms taken away…
Here we can see celebrities being used like puppets to put across the industry’s propaganda. And using the whole “recession” thing to try and get the news to pick up the story.
Aside from the dictatorship argument people make, my argument is. What If you don’t want to watch all the shit that they produce:
Ie: Lost, Prison break, Desperate housewives etc
What if you want decent Tv shows and films from other countries. Take the shows “Trailer park boys” “Whitest kids you know” as examples. They will never show on any normal English Tv channels.
If they made more decent tv and films, I wouldn’t have an argument. But 99% of what they make is worthless,
So I do.
“At a time when so many jobs are being lost in the wider economy, it is especially important that this issue be taken seriously by the Government and that it devotes the resources necessary to enforce the law.
Dear British idiots,
You ask for the impossible. Have a nice day.
Yours truly,
reality
An out of touch moron: “Like some other posters here that rave about artists being “ripped off” (as if illegal downloading does anything for the artist)”
Unless they’re signed with a good indie label or publish their own content themselves, illegally downloading is a far bigger favour to artists than propping up the MAFIAA by purchasing ‘legitimate’ copies.
An out of touch moron: “I’ll bet most of these posters aree wearing clothing and shoes made by people getting paid $2.00 per day”
You do realize its next to impossible for most people to even find clothes and shoes that aren’t made by people getting paid $2.00 a day, right?
Also, I’d bet most of your wordly possessions were at least partially made by Chinese factory workers with a shitty wage whether you like it or not. Your analogy is quite retarded, especially considering cheap clothes have nothing to do with filesharing anyway, at least until the day I can torrent me some pants.
Sure, do it, but only if you extend this logic to EVERY OTHER JOB that is obsolete or offshored. Why do actors, not exactly a necessity of society, get this legal subsidy while people who actually contribute to society by doing meaningful work get nothing?
@17 : If it’s so worthless then why the hell do you download it? If you don’t wish to watch the “shit” (your word) why are you making this post - what, you dowload it even though you don’t wish to watch it? Presumably there must be some value to you if you bother download it and watch it.
And as if you would choose to watch “decent” (your word) on Tv rather than download it.
@20
Mate, I don’t download shows like lost, prison break ect. I download what i think is good tv. Shows with some soul behind them.
Put it this way, alot of Tv nowerdays is so worthless that i would download it for free :D
I really dislike shows with big budgets because they often have poor acting, poor story lines and season after season can go on with nothing happening
And I like your second point because even if they did put some decent shows on tv. I still wouldn’t watch Tv. Its too late since Ive got used to not watching stupid adverts every 3 mins and i can watch them whenever i want.
Does that clear things up mate - safe
At the end of the day, the most extreme thing they can do is expose the WHOLE OF THE BRITISH NATION under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). This was designed for terrorism (or anti current cult whatever you want to call it) so that the police could watch their movements and bypasses the Data Protection Act. This of course is the most extreme point of view and they dont have enough people to be able to inspect every single person in the UK including all of the different police forces, and secret services!
The ISPs cant do anything to stop it, it either becomes legal to share the files that we want over the internet or it stays illegal and all that we pirate dies and we die with it! xD
If there is nothing created, there is nothing to pirate! But hey that want money, and dont want the risk of piracy which is now a part of most the creative industries business model. So get over it!
MeH
Mayhem excites Hell
An open letter? I wonder why those TV/Film Stars have any monopoly of sending open letters to The Times. Surely there can be an open rebuttal & opposition letter?
Roze
http://www.10ch.org/
Way to make the entire UK tv/film industry look like complete idiots (talking to those producers).
You people have to be the stupidest breed ever created..
Let me put it in words you can understand.. Asking the ISP’s to stop piracy is like asking you to stop making crap tv shows and movies.. ITS IMPOSSIBLE.
I hate even having to share air with you.. your lack of intelligence bothers me to the point I would hit you all in the face with a brick.
Go whine to your crap government, you cant produce content worth a shit so blame it on pirates and then whine to mommy when you cant solve the problem yourself.
What your asking is 110% impossible.
You guys look like 14 year olds writing an open letter that is basically a pipe dream to no where.
Il be sure to download your content and delete it and download it again.
This makes me want to download more films and send it to my friends, just for the fun of it
wel, I’m still f* waiting till I can BUY, the green wing season 2 WITH DUTCH subtitles!!! + The IT crowd is on my list but they just keep waiting waiting to include subtitles, this is disrespectful. Btw I only knew them from downloading it! (Got little britain all seasons purchased)The Office is on my list to buy, because it have to be in my collection.
“Il be sure to download your content and delete it and download it again.”
Haha, FTW!
@27 Dec 16, 2008 at 17:19 by Anonymous
Actually, it would be even better not only to download, but also to modify it a little and then distribute it just to spite them - perhaps bombard the government with copies or modified versions as well.
Roze
Slightly off track, The whole copyright issue gets on my nerves! Especially with the likes of Sony pictures, who I can’t help but notice over the years when they were just Sony have always been happy to sell the equipment with which to breach copyright. They have always been market leaders in HiFi which had cassette recorders which could make a copy of cassettes, and even now do they not sell DVD rewriters, DVD writable discs, Blue ray rewriters. The same applies to music. I’m sure I as with many people convert and burn downloads to DVD to watch on TV. I’d hate to have to watch them on my PC! Surely they have more power to stop the likes of me than anyone…. If you don’t want people to copy… STOP PROVIDING THE EQUIPMENT AND MEDIA THEY CAN COPY ON TO. I’m sure they will argue it is provided for home movies, however let’s face it there would not be a market in DVD-R for home movie making alone. I’m certainly not going to make 100 home movies in a lifetime.
To me downloading offers something back, feedback if you were. The most stolen film is surely a compliment. They should be more worried about the ones not being downloaded…hehe
If the ISPs even consider watching peoples downloads more closely someone would merely develop software or technology which overcomes it. After all it offers hackers a new challenge. You’d think microsoft would have learned that by now, each new security they come up with, someone hacks it, overcomes it.
Anyway to end I would just like to say that if I can’t download movies, I shall just hire them from my DVD shop and copy them as I did before downloading. I only take the movie, i leave all the extras which are forced upon me such as trailers… adverts you are expected to pay for essentially if you buy a DVD, directors comments… does any person actually care what the director was thinking?!
Sorry have gone on a bit but am sure you get my point and am sure there will be reprisals from the anti-pirate movement :P
Who cares… Microsoft was responsible for me being involved in all this when back in 1995 when the 1st floppy disc of my Microsoft word software was damaged and as a registered user I asked if they could send me a new a disk 1 they wanted to charge me more than 50% of what i paid for the whole set! This led me to seek out a copy of that disk 1 on the web, which led me to warez sites…. where i found I could get the next version of office free… and I’ve never paid for software since!
The point I’m making is… deliver a good service at the right price in the first place and people would not steal. A new release should cost no more than £3.00! I would happily pay that.
downloading tv shows is awesome. i don’t even have a TV in my room anymore because i just don’t need it. 24″ monitor and everything in dvd quality at the time it airs on tv round here + 720p if available(without bluray drive) +whenever i like + no ads of course :D
i got some seasons (bought) on dvd but it’s totally useless now, if i wanna watch it i first have to find the correct dvd, then watch a 1 minute anti piracy spot, 15 second still telling me what to do and what not and then find my way through the menu instead of browsing to the .avi and opening it (10 sec)
to put it in a nutshell: unlike watches here the pirated stuff actually exceeds the authentic cr4p in quality -> no reason to buy anything
Every terrestrial channel now offers on-demand streaming in the U.K (channel 1 trough to 5). We now all have the option to download shows legally and for free. The problem? Quality. The iplayer is excellent in terms of quality and thus is a success. If I’m looking for something broadcast on a channel outside of the BBC I’ll download it ‘illegally’. What difference does it make where I get it from?
Cure Cancer. We can’t tell you how but a bunch of us doctors signed a letter. So cure Cancer!
looking at the writers in the times letter, most of them havent done anything decent in years and some write dross like eastenders and other crap for the beeb or itv
if i was one of the writers i would love for someone to pirate a shows i’d written (since its pirated after transmission, the bbc or itv wouldnt be losing out, and most fans would buy the box sets anyway)
the last paragraph really sums up the situation.
i wil pirate til i get physically stopped.
and a small bit more after
Of course there is nothing at all that will stop ilegal downloading. But what they fail to realise is that the solution to their problem doesn’t lie in stopping illegal downloads, but rather offering a competitive product at a fair price, without DRM or regional restrictions.
Meh, idiots… without bt I would not have known to watch Robin Hood and Merlin from the BBC. Good stuff…
J.
You morrons, you have a bunch of people wanting to download your shows, put FREAKING ADS in the content, or put trackers yourselves.
That letter sounds like a joke really.
Stop piracy…? Start realizing that the distribution channels are changing you stupid retards.
Want the moon in a glass of water with that too?
I downloaded the UK show The Wrong Door. It never aired on any channels in the US that I’m aware of and it’s not available on DVD. How am I expected to legally watch it?
If internet piracy had been around back in the 1960s, there wouldn’t be a single “lost” episode of ANY show…
start throwing shoes at actors and such seems an iraqi has the right idea
@#1
“I’ll stop downloading movies if they pay me the same wage those stars get for acting in a tv show/movie/whatever.”
————————————–
you don’t deserve their wage.
risk=reward.
it is incredibly risky (bordering on stupid) to devote ones life to becoming a successful actor.
Sorry r-tards the days of tv/film company’s dictating what we watch is long gone. Might have better luck trying to bring back Atrack players…
Has anyone read the list of names? Talk about a bunch of old farts. I think it’s time for the retirement home to up their meds.
BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
The names so you know who to boycott. It’s a shame Monty Python figures on the list…
Sir Alan Parker, Ken Loach, Kenneth Branagh, Mike Leigh, Nick Hytner, Richard Curtis, Richard Eyre, Terry Jones, Jon Thoday, Howard Brenton, Peter Bennet-Jones, Robert Fox, Lynda La Plante, Allon Reich, Andrew Macdonald, Ann Skinner, Barnaby Thompson, Bharat Nalluri, Caroline Hewitt, Charlie Higson, Damian Jones, David Heyman, Duncan Kenworthy, Giles McKinnon, Graham Broadbent, Guard Brothers (Tom and Charlie), Hilary Bevan Jones, Iain Softley, Jim Sheridan, Joe Burn, John Madden, John Maybury, Jonathan Cavendish, Justin Chadwick, Liz Karlsen, Lloyd Levin, Luc Roeg, Lynne Ramsay, Marc Samuelson, Mark Huffam, Mark Mylod, Mary Richards, Michael Kuhn, Nicky Kentish Barnes, Paul Berrow, Pail McGuigan, Paul Webster, Paul Welland, Richard Jobson, Robert Jones, Robyn Slovo, Roger Michell. Rupert Sanders, Rupert Wyatt, Sarah Radclyffe, Simon Bosanquet, Simon Channing-Williams, Simon Curtis, Simon Mcburney, Simon Relph, Stephen Daldry, Stephen Woolley, Susanna White, Tristram Shapeero, John Willis, David Aukin, Jon Thoday, David Sproxton, Murray Ferguson, Nicola Schindler, Jonny Persey, Andrew O’Connor, Andre Singer, David Strachen, Magnus Temple, Jed Mercurioo, Waldemar Januszczak, Jon Blair, Peter Berry, Ashley Pharoah, Matthew Graham, Ben Richards, Simon Beaufoy, Steve Morrison, Paul Smith, David Frank, Eileen Gallagher, Jimmy Mulville, Charles Wace, Roy Ackerman, Alison Rayson, Tim Haines, Jasper James, Daisy Goodwin, Alex Graham, Gareth Neame, Addison Creswell, Andy Harries, Mike Watts, Lucinda Whiteley, Malcolm Brinkworth, David Smith, William Burdett-Coutts, Tony Jordan, Sebastian Scott, Phil Morrow, Michael Waldman, Simon Nye, Frank Deasey, Peter Morgan, Bill Nicholson, Abi Morgan, Charlie Parsons, Peter Moffat and Simon Moore
Those poor, starving artists. Perhaps a starving African child would be kind enough to switch places with them, hmm?
Those poor, starving pirates. Perhaps a starving African child would be kind enough to switch places with them, hmm?
They Can’t Stop It. People will alway find a way to get free stuff on the Internet. Hey, to make some very good money online, check out
www dot thespidersystem dot ws
Tackling piracy is becoming big business, the effect of this is piracy is mastating into ever more mutant undertectible forms.
Keeping up with this dillema is worthless, this highlights a change in the business model for a forward thinking innovative approach.
1. Create work that is a virtual master piece like the Dark night(made over a billion in revenues and counting), people will add these master piece works into their collection.
2. DRM does not work.
3. Try before you buy
4. Choose actors that are not your average big name star, why actors get 20 mill a movie is anyones guess.
5. DVD’s cost maybe 30p to make, 20p for distribution, 10p design, 10p shipping, 10p energy bill,10p materials, How comes we have to pay so much for a DVD? (stop ripping us off)
Harness the power of the web and stop whinning to the Gov, if your a director create some master piece shit because the days of point shoot….loot are a fallicy in the information age….son!
These people still don’t get it do they? If ISPs could stop piracy they would have done so many moons ago. They have been down this path so many times, and it’s simply not possible. Unless perhaps the industry wants to subsidise the filters and extra work the ISPs would have to do. But even then, there are always ways around any restrictive system on the internet. That’s just the way it is.
They mustn’t have seen the Australian TV Producers talk on monetising hyper-distribution. They should, it is highly informative.
Piracy is good? Part One
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LxCoCTc3T5Q
Charlie Parsons eh? And he was supposed to be intelligent.
It’s very discouraging how many people believe they are owed something for nothing.
“It’s very discouraging how many people believe they are owed something for nothing.”
Exactly.
All those British “actors” want ISPs to play nanny for them and punish the big mean filesharers, but they fail to realize having your face seen on TV or the stage doesn’t make you God damn royalty.
ISPs don’t owe them a thing.
Except possibly a swift kick in the ass for acting like pouty little children throwing a tantrum because they can’t get what they want.
“It’s very discouraging how many people believe they are owed something for nothing.”
You strike me as a wally that has relied on the media businessman to make you money. That’s fine your a creator not a businessman.
Go back to the businessman and ask him to find a formula that will make you money for your work, using the web.
When he finds that formula which is no doubt out there waiting to be discovered. You will lick his balls instead of the gov;………….
wont you toss boy.
I don’t download mainstream movies and very popular music you can buy in Tescos etc. I download rare, obscure b-movies that aren’t made by Hollywood anyway, and obscure music that isn’t on Virgin Records and isn’t being sold by HMV.
It really is a bit much for huge multi-national companies to claim I am ripping them off when they don’t even sell the sort of stuff I am interested in anyway.
You don’t sell it = I am not causing you a “lost sale” if I download it. Simple.
People who say they disagree are either stupid or else they are just liars. Either way, they can kiss my arse.
Thank you to the person who printed the list of names, I only actually recognized 2 names on that list and that was Lynda Le Plant And Richard Curtis. Doesn’t most if not all their stuff appear on the BBC? The BBC I am forced to pay for annually and therefore any broadcast made is funded by license payers. We should only be paying for materials of their productions anyway… ie discs etc. We already paid to have these things made.
Again though I don’t see the big issue… apart from when they wave it at me on street corners..jk
If you have sky and a sky+ box you can record movies to hard drive and watch at your leisure, so I just don’t get it, what is the difference. With US series such as Heroes, its only my impatience that makes me download them as the us episodes are slightly ahead, they then appear on BBC2 where i can record them anyway? What is all the hoohah actually about?
Lynda Le Plante, Richard Curtis….YOU’RE FIRED!… Sorry Sir Alan I just breached copyright on your catchphrase… You are the weakest link…goodbye
Wake up and smell the coffee, there are millions of downloaders and only a few names on that list by comparison… no government would get away with it, let alone one that’s position is already so precarious.
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