This is topic MPAA Admits Grossly Overstating College Piracy Estimates in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=005360

---

Posted by Tom Doyle (Member # 1474) on 01-26-2008, 12:43 PM:
 
The MPAA admits it completely overestimated the numbers it used to tout the role of college students in movie piracy.

Here's their official statement (in .pdf format):
http://www.mpaa.org/press_releases/lek%20college%20student%20data_f.pdf

Here's one article:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/24/mpaa_admits_movie_study_error/

---------------------------------------------------------

MPAA admits movie piracy study is 29% full of @$#%

Exaggerated case used to push legislation

By Austin Modine

Published Thursday 24th January 2008 01:22 GMT

A 2005 study by the Motion Picture Association of America claimed that illegal downloads from college students accounted for an enormous 44 per cent of the industry's domestic losses.

Now the MPAA admits the figure was inflated just a wee bit as result of "isolated error" in the methodology. College kids are actually only responsible for about...15 per cent of lost revenue, according to its upcoming report.

"We take this error very seriously and have taken strong and immediate action to both investigate the root cause of this problem as well as to substantiate the accuracy of the latest report," said the organization in a statement today.

Let's be fair: the number "4" is only single button down from the "1" on a keypad. And the "5" is immediately to its right.

Say you're an intern at LEK (the consulting firm that dreamed up the rogue MPAA figures). There's a MPAA suit standing over your shoulder. He's barking away that they need those numbers in by 8:30 AM sharp to shock Congress into cracking down on copyright laws like the fist of an angry god. He's working himself into a lather about mothers and sons losing their homes due to piracy. These kids are stealing billions and if you take any longer Will Smith is going to need to root around in a garbage dump to feed his family. Do you want that son? DO YOU WANT THAT!? Spittle is hitting the back of your neck.

Keyboard button accuracy becomes less of a priority.

So you hit "44" and everyone seemed happy. Lawmakers are outraged at the breadth of the theft. In 2007, the Senate passes 95-0 a rewording of the Higher Education Reform Act that ties educational funding to campus participation in fighting piracy. Things look good for the MPAA until they have to eat humble pie today.

But the organization justifies that its new (allegedly) accurate data confirms that college campuses are still a hotbed of piracy.

"Although college students make up three per cent of the population, they are responsible for a disproportionate amount of stolen movie products in this country."

Or maybe granny needs to step her movie theft up a notch. It's hard to tell with these figures. About 74 per cent of Register readers say maybe. But 39 per cent aren't so sure. ®

---------------------------------------------------------
 

---

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 01-26-2008, 12:55 PM:
 
How can you actually know how many downloads are done from the net posting? How do you know how old a person is that is downloading and how do you track who is doing the download in the first place. If it was that easy to track wouldn't the FBI be knocking on doors just a little bit?

It take about 30 second to run a search on the name of a new movie with the word torrent after it and find oh 50 to 75 sites with that movie posted.

It is frightening how fast they find their way to the internet sometimes, more often in fact, day and date or before!

It is a problem for the film industry in general we as exhibitors are hurt by this but seriously how you are going to stop it. Software is distributed this way, music, movies, TV shows, books and god knows what else.

What good will be done by legislation? You still have to have enforcement so come up with how to enforce it and use the laws on the books and stop it.

That is just my humble opinion.
 

---

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-26-2008, 02:24 PM:
 
It's called statistics. Same thing political polls are based on. But if the poll is flawed, errors result.

Either way, colleges are sinkholes of digital theft, and the criminals by and large don't think they're doing anything wrong, despite their so-called "higher education."
 

---

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-26-2008, 04:30 PM:
 
Statistics. Yeah. They're reliable


 

---

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-27-2008, 12:10 AM:
 
Joe, that's FUNNY!
 

---

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 01-27-2008, 11:32 AM:
 
Pirates it is all the Pirates fault then Johnny Depp or those pesky Vegetables but one or the others that is for sure!
 

---

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 01-29-2008, 09:27 AM:
 
Ah, how I miss hearing ole Jack Valenti railing about how it was "a cancer in the belly of the industry." Now they just outright lie. So let's see....all those immoral, thieving college students are doing a BAD dishonest thing, while the MPAA grown-ups making up bogus statistics and lieing so as to influence dumbass lawmakers to do their bidding, that's the new moral high-road.
 

---

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 01-29-2008, 09:34 AM:
 
So, based on the bogus 44% figure, the Senate toughened the HERA? Well, it looks like the MPAA's figures worked ...

This reminds of the saying that; 'It's easier to ask for forgivness after, than to ask for permission before ...'.
 

---

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-29-2008, 10:51 AM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

---

all those immoral, thieving college students are doing a BAD dishonest thing, while the MPAA grown-ups making up bogus statistics and lieing

---

quote:

---

MPAA admits movie piracy study is 29% full of @$#%

---

quote: Tom Doyle

---

A 2005 study by the Motion Picture Association of America claimed that illegal downloads from college students accounted for an enormous 44 per cent of the industry's domestic losses.

---

quote: Tom Doyle

---

College kids are actually only responsible for about...15 per cent of lost revenue, according to its upcoming report.

---