Ignoring it Will Also 'Enable' Science, Education, Knowledge, Business....
Ever terrified of evolution, the MPAA and entertainment industry is apparently concerned that Google's deployment of 1 Gbps fiber connections in Kansas City will be a boon to pirates. Speaking to
Bloomberg (via
Techdirt), the MPAA's Howard Gantman expresses fear that if you give consumers ultra-high speed broadband connections, you'll simply act to embolden pirates and piracy. As Gantman's erratic logic trail goes, South Korea has some of the fastest broadband speeds, so it only makes sense those broadband speeds mean a ton more pirates. Right? From the piece:
Wandres stresses that Google Fiber isn’t meant to empower pirates: “We hope higher speeds will actually make it easier to deliver and download more authorized content,” she says. Nonetheless, Howard Gantman, spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America, notes that piracy is always a concern of the entertainment industry. Google Fiber “could be a great opportunity for consumers whose access to creative content is often hampered by slow speeds,” he says. But in South Korea, “the home entertainment marketplace was decimated by digital piracy” enabled by the widespread availability of high-speed Internet.
Gantman's position rather perfectly illustrates the entertainment industry 's logic, which has a tendency toward histrionics.
If you give someone an ultra-fast connection, you're "enabling" them to do
whatever they'd like. Technological advancement
doesn't somehow magically create piracy -- and it's interesting that the MPAA's first thought on 1 Gbps connections isn't about using that speed to offer better services and projects -- but
fear. Granted it's not clear why Gantman's or the MPAA's opinions on network improvement are relevant in the first place, aside from the fact that the MPAA is going to want those 1 Gbps connections filtered and hamstrung as soon as possible.
