MPAA lawsuits

The MPAA announced today that it has begun to sue file traders RIAA-style. This sounds like it's going to be about as successful as their campaign of disinformation that they have been pressing in movie theaters and online (through a crappy Flash site).

But my beef with the MPAA is not over their lame "Respect Copyrights" initiative. Here's the problem: the MPAA is lying to people. If you have seen a theatrical trailer recently, you know what I'm talking about. You know - the one featuring some kid jacking a car with a crowbar, a guy stealing an old lady's purse, and someone downloading a movie over a p2p network. "Downloading is a crime," explains the trailer. Except - here's the thing. Downloading copyrighted work may be illegal, but it is not a crime. It's civil copyright infringement (unless you download more than $1,000 worth of material during a 180-day span). Which is why copyright holders can sue file sharers for gabs of money. What would happen to you if, you know, you did actually steal a CD from a record store? You'd get something like a $500 fine and you'd have to return the CD. But if you download a single track from the internet, all of a sudden you're liable for $150,000 in statutory penalties for "willful" infringement. That's because you are infringing a copyright, not stealing. And let's not even get into the fact that each track on the CD is probably a separate work for purposes of copyright law, so you're liable in the end for $150,000 multiplied by, say, 12. Ouch.

The MPAA wants to have it both ways. They want to label file sharers as criminals, but they want to sue them for civil infringement. This just isn't right.