Topic: The MPAA and online piracy

Fast Facts:
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is an association that
represents movie and TV studios, specifically, Warner Bros., Disney, NBCUniversal,
Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, 21st Century Fox, and Paramount.
The MPAA, for years, has attempted to protect the right of movie studios through
copyright law, especially in regards to online piracy.
A federal law called the DMCA has allowed the MPAA to lawfully request the
takedown of pages and content from websites that they deem to be infringing (breaking
copyright law).
So far, the MPAA has failed to cope with the problem of online piracy (Ernesto,
95%...).
In 2011, the MPAA openly supported and helped create the bills titled SOPA
and PIPA, which would have literally broken the internet and destroyed the free and
open internet available for our use today.
The MPAA is also responsible for confusing and nonsensical movie ratings,
where a movie that involves only harsh language is rated R while a movie with heavy
violence is rated just PG-13.

The Motion Picture Association of America was founded in 1922 as (essentially) a

lobbying firm built to advance the business interests of its members. Today (according to its
website) it continues to do that. However, many argue that this very general agenda allows them
to roam freely between subject to subject, imposing their sinister intentions on whoever gets in
their way. This is perfectly exemplified in their fight against online piracy. In their battle against
all copyright-infringing content on the web, the MPAA have not only tried to break the internet
through three outrageous bills (SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA), censor the internet (through the same

bills), circumvent the government completely when its lawful attempts failed (Brandom), request
the takedown of public domain (copyright free!) content (Ernesto, MPAA Wants to Censor...),
but also destroy whoever gets in their way in the quest for internet domination (Brandom).
For example, when sending Google its usual load of DMCA takedown notices, the
MPAA included links from OpenCulture, a website devoted to sharing public domain (noncopyrighted) movies with whoever wants to view them. A legitimate mistake? Perhaps. A better
question, though, is why the links to OpenCulture were included in the first place. Many
companies have automated DMCA takedown systems that automatically request that content be
removed without the help of a human (search So... What Happened To Minecraft Style? on
YouTube for a prime example). This is a clear abuse of the DMCA system which the MPAA, as
evidenced by the OpenCulture takedown notices, is probably taking advantage of.
Furthermore, the MPAA has led Project Goliath, which, as reported by The Verge, is a
project aimed at taking anti-piracy measures directly to ISPs (exactly the aim of the bills SOPA,
PIPA, and CISPA, which all failed to pass through the Senate). First, however, there was a
skyscraper-size obstacle in the way. That obstacle, as denoted by emails and documents from the
MPAA, is Goliath. And subtle hints left by MPAA employees suggest the Goliath is Google.
Evidently, in the eyes of the MPAA, Google must be taken down in order for their cause to
prevail.
Why? Most likely because of Googles incredible and heavily prevalent legal team and
influence. The MPAA also believes that Google and other search engines have an incredibly
important role in facilitating access to infringing content. This is shown plainly in the supposedly
snarky comments that caused Google to cut ties with the agency. Everyone shares a
responsibility to help curb unlawful conduct online, and we are glad to see Google

acknowledging its role in facilitating access to stolen content via search, an MPAA press release
read (Andy). In response to Googles fury, the MPAA stated that [Google] conveyed that they
feel as if they went above and beyond what the law requires [Google recently added new features
to reduce the amount of links to infringing content available through search]; that they bent over
backwards to give us a heads up and in return we put out a snarky statement that gave them no
credit for the positive direction. Googles added features, within a timespan of several days, had
a visible impact on torrent sites in Google search.
A study commissioned by the MPAA titled Understanding the Role of Search in Online
Piracy which examines the degree to which search engines participate in facilitating access to
infringing content definitively proves that the MPAA sees search as a portal to infringing content.
The study found that search engines influenced 20% of the sessions in which consumers
accessed infringing TV or film content online between 2010 and 2012, that 74% of consumers
surveyed cited using a search engine as either a discovery or navigational tool in their initial
viewing sessions on domains with infringing content, and that Consumers who view infringing
TV or film content for the first time online are more than twice as likely to use a search engine in
their navigation path as repeat visitors. Most importantly, however, the study 82% of all search
queries leading to infringing URLs came from Google.
So far we have seen that the MPAA has taken upon itself the mission of eradicating
online piracy. We have also seen that it has failed, and that it will do whatever it takes to strip the
internet of its foundation. However, we have also seen its reasoning for doing so. Ultimately,
however, forming an opinion is the job of a reader, so I ask you: In relation to online piracy, what
is the impact of the MPAA?