Indie film legend accuses Apple, Google of Web piracy
Yahoo?And calling out Apple is a head-scratcher too. All the major film studios and networks distribute downloads through iTunes. The same with the music-recording companies. Apple sells music and movies legally and always has.Content creators are sure to point out that Google has a much more spotty record on protecting content. Weinstein mentioned YouTube, a site where people divide complete movies into 10-minute long clips. While that still occurs, Google has a filtering technology that has helped keep some of that content off the Web's top video-sharing service.More importantly, Google has implemented numerous antipiracy measures recently and cut big distribution deals with film studios and record labels for Google Play.Had Weinstein lashed out against MegaUpload or Rapidshare, he would have at least been in step with the rest of the entertainment industry. Many in the film and music sectors accuse those cloud storage services of encouraging copyright infringement, though the sites say they operate legally.One reason why Weinstein may have rattled his saber is that at another recent function, he lamented the decline in film revenue, which he blamed on piracy and consolidation in the sector, The Register reported. As a result, he said he and brother Bob are planning to do more TV production.While he's at it, Weinstein should do some homework or else risk getting lumped in with Jon Bon Jovi and other stars who have made uninformed statements about copyright and the Internet. The impression they leave is that they're only aware that their royalty checks are getting smaller but haven't taken the time to find out what's really happening in their business.
