So good to see you're still writing. It's a great way to keep this discourse going. I'm going to do a line by line reading of your latest sampling of work to see if we can't continue it even further.
"My blog entry on internet piracy, 'Stopping the Game of Clones,' attracted far more comment than I normally get. Perez Hilton loved it, but many other people took exception to my call for folks to comply with copyright laws. Criticisms ranged from asking why diplomats should get involved in this issue, to complaints about how movies and music are distributed from the U.S. to Australia, to some legalistic arguments about the definition of “stealing,” as well as just some old-fashioned verbal abuse. I think this frank exchange is a good thing (except for the abuse). I took in these comments with an open mind, and I hope you will do the same with my own response to the feedback I received."
I firstly, apologise to those who slung abuse at you because hey, that's not helpful. It's great to discuss your opinions and especially with opinions backed up with facts, but mostly if those opinions contain a bit of verbose or scatological verbage, then it can be down-right troublesome. I'm sure the people who did verbally abuse would rather say otherwise and so be it; they have that choice.
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| You could say they have...a Freedom of Choice |
"“Don’t Ambassadors Have Anything Better To Do?” Several people wondered why a U.S. Ambassador would bother to complain about the pirating of “Game of Thrones” when there are so many bigger issues."
I'm assuming this would include things such as trade agreements, tourism, nuclear mining, etc., but sure, copyright is a big issue because America thinks it's a big issue and you represent them. However-
"Actually, given the overwhelming response to the topic, maybe I haven't talked about internet piracy enough."
Oh trust me, you have. I think the reaction both on your Facebook page and on news websites have promoted enough discussion to call into question about why we continue to listen. But hey, maybe the hundreds of thousands of downloaders aren't listening and you could sway them.
"The point is, this isn’t just about 'Game of Thrones' and it isn’t a small issue."
You're incredibly right. It isn't a small issue. It's a global issue regarding many complicated factors, including international trade laws, internet service providers, government lobbyists, copyright and content holders and plenty more stakeholders. But I am curious who else you represent and why you're pushing for this issue so much? Is it a case of just representing international interests, or is it something else?
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| It could just be...AFACT that you don't like piracy. Eh...see what I did there. |
"As the Washington Post noted: “The pay-TV industry estimates losses of $1 billion in Asia alone. Intellectual property is getting tougher and tougher to protect in the digital age, which is a big deal for U.S. economic interests. Imagine if Americans were stealing $1 billion worth of Japanese cars and Japan thought the U.S. government was being lax about finding and punishing the carjackers.”
Ironically enough, this quote was from an article about your last blog post. That Washington Post article actually used two sites to sling that claim. The first was one from TorrentFreak, a site largely devoted to news relating to internet piracy and advances in the world of internet distribution. Another source was from a two year old AFP article posted on Google News that talked about copyright infringement costing American jobs. Now, I personally think that actual "losses in piracy" only happen when there are physical copies of the work made, such as knock-off products, DVDs and Blu-Ray copies.
I also believe that statistics on piracy loss are completely aggregious after reading studies in the video game industry, but then again I used a fairly old study as well. That being said I am against physical piracy, that is something I want to be clear about that. However, personal piracy or pirating films or in this case, TV shows, is a whole secondary matter. Also that second article also points to a greater issue of the trade practices of that country, something that your country is already working towards. Not only is the article outdated but it's statistics would have changed in the past two years, but I digress.
"The U.S. International Trade Commission estimated that American business lost $48 billion to copyright infringements in China in 2011 alone. Australia, moreover, has as much to lose from lax intellectual property protection since it is an exporter of movies, music, literature, and other works."
That's kinda true. The issue is that we don't have as much of that stuff to actually import. Our film industry is incredibly lacking. Our music culture is very independent based and most of our radio play is music from your country. In fact, the last time we had an Australian hit on our hands, we had to get one of your most talented, but least respected hip-hop artists to sing on it. Our literature culture is heavily eBook focused, in fact so much so, our government is getting in on this. Our best TV import is our actors and Chris Lilley and even then, I doubt he's phased, even with the help of ABC and HBO. That being said, I have asked him via Twitter for his direct opinion.
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| It'll be better than this. I promise |
