Metadata is data about data. Metadata is contained in virtually every device that collects data today.
The Motion Picture Association of America has created techniques and tracks to identify each individual film that is distributed. The movie you see at the theater most likely has scratches or a light code imbedded in it. Pirates who bring cameras in the theater routinely get convicted when the prosecution discovers the embedded data from the original.
SOPA would allow the U.S. government to shut down websites and prevent access to sites considered offensive. At the other end of the spectrum, the government of Sweden has a recognized a group that promotes file-sharing as a religion.
Continue reading more about SOPA and metadata
I think the motion picture companies need to give away movies for free and throw in advertising either directly or though product placement that enables the motion picture companies to capitalize and turn the movie sharing sites and file sharing sites into an asset. Imagine if a movie was made and paid tens of millions in ad fees and product placement fees and could turn these illegal file sharing and illegal movie streaming sites into a free syndicate network. It would hurt movie theater sales and DVD sales, but there is still something to be said about the theater experience. The big screen, the booming sound. Nothing really compares to that unless you are fortunate enough to have your own home theater, which not many do. But just imagine if 10 times the number of people in theaters were to see a movie because it was released to the public for free. Not to mention that a lot of movie budgets are in the tens of millions of dollars and could be financed with a few key advertisers since they know their audience was several times that of what the movie theaters could bring in. If the movie theaters wanted to stay in business they would be forced to reduce the ticket prices to encourage more people to see the movie in a theater, of which the theater companies would be given a copy of the movie for free too (just to be fair). It’s the monetization model that needs tweaking in today’s movie market to turn the illegal movie watching into an asset.
That could work. We just need to convince the dinosaurs in Hollywood of it.
It all needs to start with just one movie. If that movie makes a healthy profit from the ad revenue, then others will follow.