Creative America, a group launched over the summer to support Hollywood's anti-piracy campaign, recently released the video above, explaining that thousands of jobs and billions of dollars are lost because of online piracy of movies, music and television.
In the video, writer and producer Bruce Leddy shares his experience of piracy of his independent film "Wedding Weekend," the costs of which he was hoping to cover through DVD sales. "Literally, the day the film was released on DVD, I got four emails.. saying, 'Watch the Wedding Weekend here for free'.. And I could click on that link, and my movie would start instantly. These sites.. are making money. I didn't. I lost my money. It makes you angry, embarrassed, frustrated because there's not recourse. I can't call up bit torrent and say, 'Hey, that's my movie! Stop giving it away!'"
Creative America's effort continues a battle between two of California's most lucrative and powerful industries: Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley. Hollywood, claiming the film, music and television industry is being threatened by Internet piracy, is lobbying for the House of Representatives's Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate's Protect IP Act. Internet giants are fighting back, saying the legislation qualifies as Internet censorship and would not solve the piracy problem.
As the Associated Press reports, the pending legislation would allow copyright holders to force credit card companies and online advertising companies, including Google, to drop websites that distribute pirated material. The Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce argue the legislation is necessary because online piracy results in an estimated $135 million in lost revenue a year.
In response, a group of Internet companies, including Google, AOL, eBay, Facebook, Yahoo and Twitter, wrote a letter to legislators saying, "We are concerned that these measures pose a serious risk to our industry's continued track record of innovation and job creation, as well as to our nation's cybersecurity," Reuters reports. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said in a presentation to the MIT Sloan School of Management, "The solutions are draconian. There's a bill that would require [Internet service providers] to remove URLs from the Web, which is also known as censorship last time I checked."
Schmidt added that advertisers should be targeted. "The correct solution, which we've repeatedly said, is to follow the money," Schmidt said. "Making it more explicitly illegal to make money from that type of content is what we recommend."
Each industry has spent over $90 million lobbying Congress and the public for support, the Los Angeles Times reports. A coalition of Internet companies has published full-page ads this month in major newspapers warning that the pending anti-piracy legislation would set a dangerous precedent.
The clock is winding down to Dec. 31 and the fate of the payroll tax cuts is still up in the air.
If lawmakers decide to let the cuts expire, they could be making a multi-billion dollar mistake, according to economic policy analysts who say consumer spending could help drive the economy out of its hole.
"Payroll tax cuts go, essentially, straight into personal bank accounts, which drive consumer spending,” said Scott Nystrom, an associate economist with Regional Economic Models, Inc.
"And this leads to retail jobs and jobs in the service sector, as well as in their supply chain industries like manufacturing.”
According to REMI's calculations, renewing the cuts would pump as much as $120 billion into U.S. households in 2012 and translate into as many as 450,000 jobs.
It's a winning formula if you're among supporters of the cuts, and if the last few months are any indication, consumers are already chomping at the bit to return to the greener pastures of yester-economy.
Spending has been on the rise since summer and shoppers drove Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales to record billion-dollar levels in November.
The Obama administration will no doubt champion Nystrom's findings to support extending the payroll tax cut, but relying on consumers alone to lift the economy could be a mistake. Much of holiday shopping goes on credit cards and savvy spenders will spend the beginning of next year paying down the debt they're busy racking up now.
For one thing, popular policies like the commuter transit tax break are still on the chopping block and its fate will undoubtedly impact millions of bank accounts in the new year.
In the meantime, whether an extended payroll tax cut would prompt Americans to hit the malls and boost our economy is pretty much still a guessing game.
Miss out on Black Friday weekend? See how you can still cash in on deals here >
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