Studio Executive Takes Anti-Piracy Plea to Silicon Valley

By Jim Thompson, The Daily
via Comdex.com

"Stop ripping us off" was the impassioned plea from News Corp.President Peter Chernin and "Star Wars" creator George Lucas at aTuesday COMDEX Fall keynote presentation. "I am here to suggest thattechnology and media companies form a partnership so we can combat therash of stealing that threatens us both," implored Chernin. "We havenothing more urgently in common than the escalating theft of ourproducts."

Chernin, who is also chairman and CEO of the Fox Group, noted thatthe piracy of motion pictures and software is reaching epidemicproportions and destroying the ability of the technology industry toevolve. He added that a partnership between the technology andentertainment industries is beyond question since it can stop "years ofrobbery in broad daylight and copyright losses of around $8 billion ayear."

Master film maker George Lucas added his voice to the call to stopthe theft of films, computer software and other intellectual property."There is no free lunch. No matter how free it seems, someone is payingfor it. In the end, when someone gets ripped off or someone is gettingsomething for free, someone else is getting screwed. The bigcorporations are like cockroaches, they will survive anything.It’s the artists who suffer."

Both Lucas and Chernin emphasized that the real losers in the theftof creative property are the consumers. Great films, like "Star Wars"or "The Lord of the Rings" simply will not be made if the producers,actors and technicians fail to make a fair profit because revenue isdeluded by piracy.

Three excuses for piracy

Chernin identified three ways the "pirates" justify their actions.The first is what he called the "Dinosaur" theory, which states thatthe opposition to piracy is simply a distrust of technology and aknee-jerk defense from a dying breed. "We have been accused of being alot of things, but by no stretch of the imagination are weanti-technology. We have embraced and pioneered many technologicalbreakthroughs. In fact, the only economic and technological developmentwe haven’t embraced is the option of getting ripped-off."

The "Big Bully" theory," which holds that content providers want toroll back the rights, freedom and privileges of consumers, is anotherfalse accusation he attacked head on. "We have no objections to anyonemaking copies of television programming," Chernin said. "We want abalance between viewers rights that are brought about by digitaltechnology and the creator’s right not to be digitallylooted."

Finally, there is the "Screw the Suits" theory which states thatillegal downloads are only rebellious slaps at what he called the "richidiots and slick Hollywood offices who have it coming." The rational isthat the corporate drones only care about money and they already havemore than they need.

"The stealing of creative products through digital means is a blowto creativity, not to corporate might," countered Chanin. "In otherwords, there must be better ways to ‘screw the suits.’Digital copyright theft is less harmful to executives at the highestlevels than it is to the countless people at the creative level who usetheir hands and minds to build motion pictures. These are the peoplewho are truly at the heart of what we do."

He also reminded the audience that broadband has the potential toboth expand the creativity of the world or to strike what may be afatal blow to the industry. "I have not come to COMDEX to stop alldigital stealing. I come to this vast showcase of the world’smost advanced technologies to offer the most old fashioned of things --optimism. I have great confidence that together we can restore to bothour industries the explosive growth that is within ourreach.”