| Bloomberg’s
Assault on DVD Piracy or Another Fake Forum
By Gabby
Sutton
Mayor Bloomberg has recently
announced an assault on DVD piracy. The penalties for illegal DVD
copiers are quite severe. Landlords that rent to pirates will lose
their buildings and clandestine cameramen will receive jail time.
Forty three percent of bootleg video originates from the New York
City underground. A staggering figure coupled with another alarming
statistic. The average cost of attending a movie in New York City
is $12. That's the bare basics. Throw in a hot dog, soda and some
popcorn and there goes the budget. Yes, there are bootleg movies
because people simply cannot afford the legal ones.
In 2001, when Loews raised it's ticket price to $10.00, politicians
protested. Then New York City Council Speaker Peter Vallone called
Loew's decision, "insulting and fundamentally unfair."
Vallone called Loew's increase "a mugging of our middle class."
He added, "average New Yorkers and their families can no longer
afford to go to the movies."
Fast forward to 2006 and Mike Bloomberg declares war on DVD counterfeiters
with an impressive presentation. Replete with industry bigs such
as Whoppi Goldberg, Dan Glickman and Commissioner Susan Oliver,
Bloomberg laid out his plan. Law enforcement was now being impowered
to watch movies while spying on illegal videotaping. Those shady,
shaky images sold for five bucks a pop will be stopped. Bloomberg
cited the numbers of jobs lost to DVD pirating but failed to illustrate
who benefited from those jobs. And although he initiated a task
force to employ more minorities in the film industry, his efforts
fell short. Absent from the press conference were economic development
czar Daniel Doctoroff. In August of this year, Doctoroff was quoted
as saying "I don't think we know for sure" whether minority
groups and women are seriously underrepresented. "But we believe
we can do better," especially in relation to the higher paying
jobs in the industry." In his stead were a sampling of politicos
but no major labor leaders or union reps from the industry.
Pass any movie set in New York City and one can count the number
of minority workers on one hand. Thus, the revenue loss from counterfeit
DVD's would appear to effect the privileged elite that make up the
film and entertainment business. The token few minorities who are
employed are denied union membership and the benefits of the "father
to son" employment chain. As for the illegal DVD's, they will
continue despite the Mayor's efforts. The sub-economy fueled by
immigrants and the working poor will not go away. As they continue
to subsidize the pleasures of the rich, they quietly fight back.
In a city where the average cost of a condominium is in excess of
a million dollars, a five dollar bootleg DVD is not unreasonable.
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