The MPAA is always going on about how they are losing tons of money in the theaters because of pirates. However a AP article recently pointed out that
Since the first weekend of May, domestic grosses total $1.46 billion, up 4.6 percent from 2007′s, according to Media By Numbers. Factoring in higher ticket prices, actual movie attendance this summer is up 1.6 percent.
But this isn’t the first time someone has pointed out this inconsistency. And an Ars Technica article points out that
US box office doing its biggest year of business ever in 2007, growing 5.4 percent over 2006 and bringing in $9.63 billion
So the question is, how much longer are we going to let the MPAA concoct a “truth” that allows them to push new crappy laws that erode our freedoms? But are we sure they are fibbing? Maybe they made some honest mistakes? Unlikely, the Ars Technica article also reminds us that
It turns out that the MPAA’s college [piracy] numbers were off by a factor of three, a revelation that came after years of hiding the study’s methodology but continuing to lobby Congress with its numbers.
Such gross lies are clearly not innocent. You can expect the same of the laws they’d like to push through.
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copyright, intellectual property, ip, jerks, laws, lies, movies, mpaa
