Dan sez, “Thought you’d like this feature I did for Portfolio about the MediaDefender meltdown. I tracked down the hacker who broke into the company and the pirates who used the data to their advantage. But the story is largely a way to ask why Hollywood is following the music industry’s footsteps in believing that that P2P is an enemy that must be stopped (no matter the cost or the unlikelihood of declaring victory). I thought this quote from Harvey Weinstein of The Weinstein Company summarized Hollywood’s take pretty much perfectly:”
“This is not Napster,” says Harvey Weinstein, the movie mogul who heads the Weinstein Co., a MediaDefender client. “Online piracy has got to be stopped. The biggest spear in the neck of the pirates will be (a) being vigilant, (b) prosecuting, and (c) in a way, making fun of them, finding a way to say, ‘That’s not cool — that’s anything but cool.’ If you had people who the young people respect in this industry — Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Shia LaBeouf — these guys did public service announcements that said, ‘Don’t steal, stealing’s not cool,’ I think you can go a long way toward stopping this.” Weinstein says that if Democrats maintain control of Congress and gain the White House, he’ll flex whatever political muscle he has acquired by being a major donor to achieve one thing: “Tougher, more stringent piracy laws.” Does he see any use for P2P systems? “No.”
(Thanks, Dan!)