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"I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." -- Jack Valenti, MPAA
by RyanMcGreal 16y ago
"I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone."
-- Jack Valenti, MPAA president, in testimony to Congress, 1982 http://cryptome.org/hrcw-hear.htm http://cryptome.org/hrcw-hear.htm
I guess the film industry has gotten a bit less hyperbolic in the intervening years.
- mryall 16y agoYeah, and even less logical. Which court has ever ruled that we should ban bolt cutters to prevent bike theft?
- lhnn 16y agoWhen I read the title, I thought it was going to be an article defending BitTorrent as a technology.
- lukeschlather 16y agoIt's pretty clear from the article that they fully understand that BitTorrent is a legitimate technology, and that's why they're instead asking for the right to sue people who link to infringing content.
- GHFigs 16y agoThe bolt-cutter quote comes from the president of the Author's Guild, not part of the film industry. That is in the first sentence of the article.
- pessimizer 16y agoThe president of the Author's Guild, Scott Turow, is part of the film industry.
- GHFigs 16y agoOn what basis do you make that claim? I don't see any made in your or the previous post. I don't think that stretching the truth to make it seem like the Valenti quote is relevant is at all justified. For comparison, here is the introduction in his testimony: "My name is Scott Turow. I'm the president of the Authors Guild, the largest society of published authors in the U.S., representing more than 8,500 book authors and freelance writers. Our members represent the broad sweep of American authorship, including literary and genre fiction, nonfiction, trade, academic, and children’s book authors, textbook authors, freelance journalists and poets. Guild members have won countless honors and all major literary awards, including the Nobel Prize for Literature."
- pessimizer 16y agoThe basis of reality. Scott Turow is a famous author who has had multiple books made into successful movies.
- GHFigs 16y agoIf a person's novel is adapted into a film that does not mean that every subsequent thing they say can be sensibly attributed to "the film industry". What on earth is your stake in this bizarre interpretation?
- pessimizer 16y agoYou said: >The bolt-cutter quote comes from the president of the Author's Guild, not part of the film industry. I said: >The president of the Author's Guild, Scott Turow, is part of the film industry. You said: >On what basis do you make that claim? I said: >Scott Turow is a famous author who has had multiple books made into successful movies. Now you have attributed to me an argument that: >If a person's novel is adapted into a film that [...] mean[s] that every subsequent thing they say can be sensibly attributed to "the film industry". I would submit that although I am a programmer, every subsequent thing that I say shouldn't be attributed to "the programming industry," but that it would be reasonable to attribute every subsequent thing that I say to "a member (or an ex-member) of the programming industry." As the only reason that I commented was because of your statement that the president of the Author's Guild was not a part of the film industry, unless you dispute that a person who has a novel adapted into a film is part of the film industry, I'm not exactly sure what we're still talking about. Being a part of the film industry doesn't make his opinion any less legitimate, as it should be judged on its own merits, just as denying that he is part of the film industry doesn't make his opinion any more legitimate.