Pirates Promise Improved Version of DaVinci Code

Y'arr, Matey writes "CD Freaks is reporting that pirates are not happy with the quality of the DaVinci Code. According to the article, "A sales assistant at one Shanghai DVD shop said the initial copies were 'pirated overseas' and that 'better quality' versions would probably be available early next month.""

News?

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't it normal that the first pirated copies aren't top quality? I'm not sure how this is news.

Why is this on /.

[PhrostyMcByte]

People cam/telesync [wikipedia.org]/telecine [wikipedia.org] the movie, and finally a dvd ripped version comes along later. This happens to every movie, why is this news. Even if this was unique to DaVinci Code, this doesn't belong on the front page of /.

Re:I can't believe...

[paulius_g]

Agreed.

I don't know if the news source can be trusted. And how come a few words that this average salesman said suddenly become news?

Pirates won't stop pirating movies and their quality always increases. They'll try getting the actual film from the theatres and rip it. Or even yet, get an "internal agent" which would work closely with the movie to leak a copy. Ah, so many possibilities!

As for the movie itself, I still have to force myself to read the book before watching it.

No right to complain

[Mr. Freeman]

Alright, considering that what they're doing is illegal in the first place I don't think they have any right to complain.

This is like stealing a car and then complaining to the owner that it doesn't have air conditioning.

Why is this here?

[Distinguished Hero]

The only way this story would be newsworthy would be if pirates saw the movie, were unhappy with what they saw, and decided to improve it by reshuffling the scenes around (sort of a Pirate's cut).

Re:Why is this on /.

[Zemran]

Maybe you have not been reading /. for long or something but it certainly is not a pro-piracy haven. Disgust at the MPAA/RIAA activities does not in any way imply a pro-piracy stance, mearly a dislike of bully boy tactics. Most people here say that things should be more readily available and free to use as you like once you have bought but I have seldom seen a post that advocates piracy.

Re:Why is this on /.

[PhrostyMcByte]

I'll bite. I think most people agree copyright infringment is wrong and should be delt with somehow.

What they don't agree with is the *AA treating all their customers like criminals with (sometimes really nasty) copy protection that the real criminals know how to get past anyway.

Or the *AA creating ridiculous numbers and blaming all losses (even stuff thats not a real loss, like them missing their target growth) on copyright infringment, regardless of how crappy a product is.

Ot them using mafia tactics of "I don't have much proof and might not win in court, but I'll drown you in legal fees if you don't pay $3000 for something we think you did."

Re:Cmon people!

[aero2600-5]

Heh, The Pirate Bay has you covered...

Link [thepiratebay.org]

Aero

Re:Sadened

[Dachannien]

Judging from the e-mail address on the submitter's name, I'm guessing the point of the article is actually a political statement meant to make the RIAA/MPAA look stupid for (a) their obsession with DRM and (b) suing file sharers when actual for-profit pirates are so brazen.

Re:Why is this on /.

[NutscrapeSucks]

Maybe you have not been reading /. for long or something but it certainly is not a pro-piracy haven

You are not reading very deeply into this. What goes on here is very much a justification-fest for Internet copyright infringmenet, where frail nerds tell each other that they aren't bad persons by voting the same opinions +5 Insightful over and over again.

Dislike of RIAA/MPAA tactics is only one small part of this, you can also claim that "information wants to be free", "their business model is obsolete", "people wouldn't pay for this stuff anyway", "their statistics lie", "infringement is not (as bad as) stealing!!!!!!", or really any argument that happens to fit the bill and you'll be lauded because you've provided moral cover for someone.

Admittedly, there is a small "free music" faction on slashdot trading their public-domain folksongs, but by in large the obsession with firesharing around here is very much because computer nerds love the downloading. (myself included)

If you have any doubt this is the predominate attitude, check the "DSL/Cable Hog" stories, Bittorrent site stories, or video game piracy stories -- same attitude over-and-over which is that "Piracy is great fun except for those meanies trying to stop us".

Re:Why is this on /.

[rob_squared]

Well to be fair, some gripes with copyright are valid, namely the duration of copyright laws. If the origonal rules of copyright were in place in the US, then you would be able to freely trade or resell all the star wars movies, all the origonal Star Trek episodes, and draw Mickey mouse in any cartoon you'd like without any legal issue.

For some perspective, the movie The Da Vinci Code will enter the public domain in 2081. By then, the US will have already celebrated its tricentennial. The last Apollo moon landing will have been 99 years ago, and I will be 98 years old.

That, I think, is a problem.

Re:Content

[kubrick]

Ever read Foucault's Pendulum?

Good post

[@madeus]

A good post, and all too accurate sadly. The post about DSL/Cable hogging is quite relevant too I thought (it certainly annoys me for many of the same reasons).

It seems it's always okay to use as much bandwidth as you possibly can or to copy media as you like, but it's not okay when it's your bandwidth or your software that's being abused.

Re: Foucault's Pendulum

[M. Baranczak]

I'm glad somebody else noticed that. I got about 40 pages into the "Code", then realized that I've already read this story before, only the last time it wasn't written by some Crichton-wanna-be hack. And then of course they had to get Ron Howard to direct...

Re:Why is this on /.

[bit01]

Stop trying to pretend that there is only one point of view on slashdot.

There are many thousands of readers and commentators on slashdot with many diverse points of view. Everything from Ayn Rand ideologues against almost any form of government to lying RIAA astroturfers spamming bullshit commercial propaganda and bogus moderations.

Your attempt to pidgeonhole them into one box is just sad, and shows just how impoverished your own view of the world is.

---

It's wrong that an intellectual property creator should not be rewarded for their work.
It's equally wrong that an IP creator should be rewarded too many times for the one piece of work, for exactly the same reasons.
Reform IP law and stop the M$/RIAA abuse.

Re:wonderful news!

[grammar fascist]

Even better, you were moderated "Offtopic" for... appreciating a joke! Excellent!

It looks like somebody didn't read the moderator guidelines.

You may now mod-bomb me, I am full of love.

Why the fuck?

[d_jedi]

Why the fuck is slashdot giving these scumsucking leeches who illegally profit off the hard work of others recognition?

This sort of shit really pisses me off.. why the fuck did China gain admittance into the WTO with this appalling shit going on? They're not even hiding the fact that this is going on..

Sorry for the profanity, but this really makes me angry..

Re:Why is this on /.

[moonbender]

So you can't discuss intellectual property issues on Slashdot because you're automatically just providing moral cover to yourself and others and that makes your contribution worthless? No, sorry, that won't work. While it'd be nice to have people make the argument for you who don't have any vested interest, it's not likely this will happen. Disqualifying - and that is what you are doing, even if you're saying you're just making an observation - arguments based on the (lack of) merits of the author is poor style.

Besides, you're wrong. Slashdot is actually pretty good about giving differing views "air time". Of course you'll find lots of anti-IP commentary at +5 in the respective stories (and sometimes, in totally unrelated stories...), but you'll often find pro-IP comments at the same threshold. And meta-comments like yours aren't exactly rare, either.

Re:Why is this on /.

[Kjella]

Let me just start off by saying that exactly the same is going on in quite many social groups outside "frail nerds". Here in Norway the latest BSA stats show pirated software on the rise to 35% of all software, a recent poll showed >25% of males 16-24 has downloaded TV shows (which aren't legally available anywhere). Particularly mp3 trading among kids and teens is rampant (try asking anyone with an iPod or other portable player) and college students have long been heavy pirates of everything, far and wide beyond a small circle of nerds.

On slashdot you at least see a lot more serious attempts at justification than "I've used up my allowance/budget this month already", if any at all beyond "Why not? It's free". Here on slashdot you at least get a broader discussion on the basis for and duration of copyright, DRM and implications for consumer rights, interoperability and competition, time and formatshifting and other fair uses, how they strike down on P2P tools, implications for privacy and so on. Obviously, there's those who just want to be able to leech the latest CD/DVD and not pay for it, and just feel they need an excuse. Those people will always find one anyway.

It's also really hard to reach the middle ground with a "fair" exchange when there's none to be had from the other side. There's also certainly those who advocate fighting fire with fire and that only through mass disobedience of copyright law (which is not quite the same as civil disobedience, where a few are doing it vocally but rather where as a mass is doing it silently) is the only way to bring about change. So far my impression is that all it means is that legitimate consumers get even less rights though, but I suppose this is like a rubber band between consumers and producers that sooner or later will snap.

Re:From the reviews I must conclude

[nwbvt]

I doubt that would help all that much. I've never read the book, but I read two of his other books in a reading group a few years back. Damn, he has to be one of the worst writers ever. Neither plot made any sense, the 'science' in them (both were considered intelligent novels by the critics which you could learn a lot from) was complete bull, the stories were predictible, the characters flat, the dialog worse than anything from the first three Star Wars movies... If the Da Vinci Code (shouldn't it be The Leonardo Code anyways? Da Vinci was neither his name nor his surname...) was only half as bad as either of those I fully understand what pissed off the Catholic Church.

Sorry for this completely off topic rant, but I just get like this whenever I hear how great Dan Brown novels are (which has been a lot recently).

Re:Sadened

[Tango42]

Movie companies are the only people making movies? Who would have thought it...

A monopoly is ONE company, not an entire industry. Nobody has a monopoly on movies. You might complain that there's price fixing going on, but that has nothing to do with a monopoly.

Re:Why is this on /.

[operagost]

draw Mickey mouse in any cartoon you'd like

Mickey Mouse is a registered trademark of Disney; so no, you wouldn't. But you could reprint and sell the movies featuring him.