US ambassador explains his fight against Game of Thrones piracy
28 replies, posted
[QUOTE]THE US ambassador to Australia, who lambasted Australians for pirating popular fantasy TV series Game of Thrones, has explained why he does not have "anything better to do" than to fight this issue.
Last week ambassador Jeffrey Bleich – a fan of the show – was the target of a fierce online backlash after he pleaded with Australians to stop illegally downloading the show.
"Unfortunately, nearly as epic and devious as the drama, is its unprecedented theft by online viewers around the world," Mr Bleich wrote in a Facebook post.
"As the ambassador here in Australia, it was especially troubling to find out that Australian fans were some of the worst offenders with among the highest piracy rates in the developed world."
Now the diplomat, President Barack Obama's top official in Australia, has taken to social media to address criticism of his plea head on after he was asked on Facebook "Don't ambassadors have anything better to do?".
"Several people wondered why a US ambassador would bother to complain about the pirating of Game of Thrones when there are so many bigger issues," he said.
"Actually, given the overwhelming response to the topic, maybe I haven't talked about internet piracy enough."
Read more: [url]http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/us-ambassador-explains-his-fight-against-game-of-thrones-piracy/story-e6frfmyi-1226634534605#ixzz2SOFBt1vo[/url]
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[url]http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/television/us-ambassador-explains-his-fight-against-game-of-thrones-piracy/story-e6frfmyi-1226634534605[/url]
Dealing with the important issues.
Looks like someone has been recieving bags of money from the MPAA.
how about they don't make it a ridiculously expensive bitch to get the show legally
seriously, you have to pay hundreds of dollars for one channel to watch Game of Thrones, and even if you wait for the DVD it's like $80 and doesn't come out until a year after it actually airs
[QUOTE=Fangz;40532347]Looks like someone has been recieving bags of money from the MPAA.[/QUOTE]
Well what do you expect him to do, talk about the Middle East? To my understanding, we aren't exactly prepping for war with Australia, so of course they'll talk about other stuff. This article is sensationalist as fuck
TV shows coming to Australia take the longest fucking time I swear to god, it's really why tv show piracy is skyrocketing here
Showcase doesn't get the show directly they have to wait a bit for HBO to send it through, then it has to go throw the Foxtel censorship team to make sure it's a-okay (which all the time it is) and then it's on the television, also many Australians are getting rid of foxtel because they have the internet
It's like piracy with Adventure time and regular show, Cartoon Network Australia censors it like crazy (which is really fucking funny considering when they had adult swim and other tv shows they never censored them) and people find it better to stream it
the fact is, unless people ditch this delay process, piracy will continue to go up
[editline]5th May 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE]Piracy rates were particularly high in Australia, where there had been a six-month delay between the U.S. and Australian premiere[/QUOTE]
Even says it on wikipedia, shows being delayed is the biggest issue. The only channel I've seen that doesn't delay US airings is FX when it comes to the walking dead, it's on our screens in 40 hours.
Glad to see they have their priorities straight
[sp]$$$$$$$$$[/sp]
[QUOTE=Fangz;40532347]Looks like someone has been recieving bags of money from the MPAA.[/QUOTE]
Only people paid off by the MPAA oppose illegal piracy, right?
[quote] ""As the ambassador here in Australia, it was especially troubling to find out that Australian fans were some of the worst offenders with among the highest piracy rates in the developed world.[/quote]
Wonder if that has something to do with the heavily overpriced games, movies and other stuff that we seem to get...
[QUOTE=O'Neil;40532671]Wonder if that has something to do with the heavily overpriced games, movies and other stuff that we seem to get...[/QUOTE]
It isn't, it's about networks delaying their programs, if the series isn't branded as FastTracked by the channel then you know there's a 6 months gap and that's never fun
[QUOTE=fruxodaily;40532383]TV shows coming to Australia take the longest fucking time I swear to god, it's really why tv show piracy is skyrocketing here
Showcase doesn't get the show directly they have to wait a bit for HBO to send it through, then it has to go throw the Foxtel censorship team to make sure it's a-okay (which all the time it is) and then it's on the television, also many Australians are getting rid of foxtel because they have the internet
It's like piracy with Adventure time and regular show, Cartoon Network Australia censors it like crazy (which is really fucking funny considering when they had adult swim and other tv shows they never censored them) and people find it better to stream it
the fact is, unless people ditch this delay process, piracy will continue to go up
[editline]5th May 2013[/editline]
Even says it on wikipedia, shows being delayed is the biggest issue. The only channel I've seen that doesn't delay US airings is FX when it comes to the walking dead, it's on our screens in 40 hours.[/QUOTE]
How, exactly, does one [del]su[/del] censor Adventure Time?
[QUOTE=Appellation;40532698]How, exactly, does one [del]su[/del] censor Adventure Time?[/QUOTE]
[url]http://adventuretime.wikia.com/wiki/Censorship_of_Adventure_Time_on_Cartoon_Network_Australia[/url]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baiHg2vy7HA[/media]
I don't even know why they do it, they never censored any other shows until now, when they ran adult swim they branded everything PG and had uncensored full blown swearing (but then again it was midnight)
fact is that CNAU is retarded
[editline]5th May 2013[/editline]
btw just for the record, Adventure Time and Regular Show is classified as PG in Australia for mild themes which may not be suitable to some persons under the age of 15
Channel 10 regularly censors TV shows for no god damn reason, Episodes of Smallville have had entire scenes removed if they dealt with villains (So when watching the episode, the villain would suddenly vanish and they'd be happy randomly). Even better when they remove the murder scene from a show about murder (You literally never see who is killed)
If they want to stop people pirating these shows, they need to offer legal alternatives so that people can see them quickly and in their original "quality", people aren't going to wait a year or pay high fees to watch a show just to see it's been censored, when they can just download it for free.
[QUOTE=TheDecryptor;40532758]Channel 10 regularly censors TV shows for no god damn reason, Episodes of Smallville have had entire scenes removed if they dealt with villains (So when watching the episode, the villain would suddenly vanish and they'd be happy randomly). Even better when they remove the murder scene from a show about murder (You literally never see who is killed)
If they want to stop people pirating these shows, they need to offer legal alternatives so that people can see them quickly and in their original "quality", people aren't going to wait a year or pay high fees to watch a show just to see it's been censored, when they can just download it for free.[/QUOTE]
I've noticed that they've censored a lot of Simpsons and Futurama jokes that border sexual innuendo, too; even the older Simpsons episodes where the jokes were usually quite well crafted and done in such a way that they weren't in your face.
The cunts.
I'm sure if HBO had oversight in how GoT episodes are delivered in Australia, rather than selling the rights to Foxtel who make it incredibly expensive and difficult to legally view, the story would be different. I know HBOgo in America allows the live streaming of the show based upon a subscription service and I don't see why that cant be extended to Australia so viewers, like myself, don't have to subscribe to 30+ irrelevant cable channels at massive expense to see the one thing we wanted. Hell if they charged a flat-rate of $2 an episode online I'm sure thousands of Australians would jump on the opportunity which would probably offset whatever lost revenue they have from the current system.
[editline]5th May 2013[/editline]
I'd pay $10 a fucking episode cause I love it so much (but don't tell them that)
[QUOTE]The US ambassador to Australia, who lambasted Australians for pirating popular fantasy TV series Game of Thrones, has explained why he does not have "anything better to do" than to fight this issue.[/QUOTE]
ARG!
[QUOTE=sltungle;40533221]I've noticed that they've censored a lot of Simpsons and Futurama jokes that border sexual innuendo, too; even the older Simpsons episodes where the jokes were usually quite well crafted and done in such a way that they weren't in your face.
The cunts.[/QUOTE]
yeah channel ten are fucking stupid, PG covers that whole field and yet they still have to censor it
honestly SBS2 should purchase the rights to those shows, they play ugly americans fully uncensored it's great
[QUOTE=fruxodaily;40532383]the fact is, unless people ditch this delay process, piracy will continue to go up[/QUOTE]
Also this shit
[t]http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l189/Simski_2006/asrestriction_zpsa609c425.png~original[/t][t]http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l189/Simski_2006/hulurestriction_zpsd35a05f1.png~original[/t][t]http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l189/Simski_2006/spsrestriction_zpsf3f15258.png~original[/t]
WHAT IS THE FUCKING POINT OF THIS
Supporting bad business models duh
[QUOTE=Simski;40533549]Also this shit
[t]http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l189/Simski_2006/asrestriction_zpsa609c425.png~original[/t][t]http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l189/Simski_2006/hulurestriction_zpsd35a05f1.png~original[/t][t]http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l189/Simski_2006/spsrestriction_zpsf3f15258.png~original[/t]
WHAT IS THE FUCKING POINT OF THIS[/QUOTE]
Licensing?
[editline]5th May 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Computrix;40532609]Glad to see they have their priorities straight
[sp]$$$$$$$$$[/sp][/QUOTE]
They're just strengthening the economy.
The concept of restricting access to shows based on your location in the world baffles me to no end.
And once again, piracy is a service problem. And seeing how the TV industry at large is not a fan of this new Internet thing, things will probably stay this way for a good amount of time.
Same for services rendered only for specific countries when the Internet's a place without these physical boundaries. I realize there's a crapton of legal issues beneath this, but if they aren't solved swiftly, it'll only mean more and more piracy, which can't be in anyone's interest.
New episode tonight!
[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;40533740]And once again, piracy is a service problem. And seeing how the TV industry at large is not a fan of this new Internet thing, things will probably stay this way for a good amount of time.
Same for services rendered only for specific countries when the Internet's a place without these physical boundaries. I realize there's a crapton of legal issues beneath this, but if they aren't solved swiftly, it'll only mean more and more piracy, which can't be in anyone's interest.[/QUOTE]
this is will change in the following decades, hollywood pissed off silicon valley with the SOPA crap, which has MUCH more money than hollywood, and now silicon valley has started to lobby too, i can't wait to see hollywood die the horrible death it deserves :yarr:
[QUOTE=gamefreek76;40534301]New episode tonight![/QUOTE]
It's Monday for Australians, which means Monday is the best day
Who the fuck even has the bandwidth to pirate tv shows in Australia? You just can't win over here.
[QUOTE=Tinter;40533616]Licensing?
[/QUOTE]
South Park, adult swim etc. all show in Australia and in other countries so im sure that's fucking bullshit
TV really is a dying medium.
nah i dont want to wait a year just to watch this show so ill keep downloading it :)
Maybe if it wasn't exclusive to Sky Atlantic over here it wouldn't be a problem.
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