The “Hannibal” executive producer has a message for major brands: “You’ve got a problem. Solutions are available.” Today, Ad Age published an op-ed by Martha De Laurentiis, the chairman of the De Laurentiis Company and executive producer of Hannibal. Recently she joined with other members of the CreativeFuture Leadership Committee... Read more
Last Sunday, The New York Times ran an article on Hana Beshara, the founder of the pirate website NinjaVideo who was convicted for conspiracy and criminal copyright infringement and served 16 months in prison. The story raised more than a few eyebrows for its sympathetic treatment of Beshara, whose only... Read more
By Ruth Vitale In my more than 30 years working on the production and distribution of independent films, I’ve seen many changes in the business. Some of the biggest changes are in how we reach audiences. Today, innovations in digital distribution provide audiences with more access to films and television... Read more
Flesh-eating zombies are not the only thing that concerns Gale Anne Hurd. The Executive Producer of AMC’s hit series “The Walking Dead” spoke out yesterday about the harmful impact of piracy at Variety’s annual Content Protection Summit. Says the Creative Community, Responsible Businesses, and Parents Can All Play a Role... Read more
Today on Capitol Hill, at an event hosted by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), industry analyst David Price of NetNames unveiled a new report that measures the size and shape of online piracy – and details how piracy profiteers are finding new ways to make money off stolen... Read more
A new study released today and conducted by academic researchers at Wellesley College and Carnegie Mellon University found a causal relationship between the shutdown of one of the largest sources of illegal downloads, Megaupload, and an increase in online movie sales and rentals. At its peak, the website Megaupload.com boasted... Read more
Yesterday, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) took a positive step toward combating rogue websites that peddle pirated and counterfeit products and content. The industry leaders reached an agreement that encourages marketers to avoid advertising on “rogue” sites dedicated to stealing others’... Read more
Portal Door
When Sam Altman, CEO of the company behind ChatGPT, gave Congressional testimony about the dangers of AI, many believed Altman had genuinely altruistic intentions. More cynically, we wondered if Altman was embarking on a preemptive apology tour, aiming to foster good will before damning revelations about his company could come... Read more
GoogleTimeline-1920x1106
In December 2022, Google initiated “code red.” Fucking finally! This meant that Google was mobilizing its hordes to protect user privacy, restore compliance with antitrust laws, and disentangle its ad revenue machine from profiting from massive criminal enterprises. Right? Wrong. Google invoked “code red” to announce a completely different priority.... Read more
aihead
Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022, it seems like everyone has been talking, pontificating, or simply ranting about artificial intelligence. Many people believe AI is poised to change the planet in the next several years – maybe, some say, by eliminating our species. Even some of the AI developers... Read more