Earlier this month we reported allegations from the CEO of MP3Tunes.com that major record label EMI was engaging in hypocritical practices by leaking their artists’ tracks on a BitTorrent site, while at the same time denouncing the site as a “piracy haven”. Today, we bring you the network television equivalent of that story.
Alki David, the billionaire founder of mobile television streaming service FilmOn.com released a 10-minute-long tirade on YouTube this week accusing executives at the CBS network of being “hypocritical, thieving liars”, after the four major US networks received a temporary injunction to prevent his service from airing their programming.
The YouTube video begins with David explaining his intentions behind FilmOn.com with a quick marketing segment for the service, but then quickly turns toward CBS and his accusations:
“CBS want FilmOn Dead. Why? Because FilmOn threatens their existing business, which is piracy online. That’s right, piracy. CBS through its subsidiary CNET has distributed over one billion illegal file-sharing softwares, as well as DRM cracking softwares” David claims. “CNET openly distributes this. Why? Because they’re the most popular items online. They’ve masterfully educated the masses into stealing content. Why? So they can make money from the advertising. The little banners around the downloads? The revenue share they make from other softwares that they sell? Well, not just the legal softwares, the illegal softwares as well. CNET profits from the downloading of illegal software; DRM-cracking software.”
“Even the editors’ notes tell you what to do and how good that software is,” says David, driving the knife of hypocrisy just a little bit deeper.
Davis closes his video with a vow to fight the network for blocking FilmOn.com:
“Guess what, Mr. CBS, we’re not going anywhere. We’re going to fight you; we’re going to show exactly the way things are and how to do it right. Dunne, Moonves, Redstone - the lot of you are a bunch of hypocritical, thieving liars - you have single-handedly destroyed the entertainment business in the twenty-first century.”
The case is currently on hold because FilmOn’s legal representation has recently removed themselves due to “irreconcilable differences” with David. The judge is waiting for David to retain a new lawyer and confirmation that he would like to carry on with the case.
I’m actually glad that these corporations are getting called out on these issues. This just reinforces the point that piracy is not such a cut-and-dry issue as the entertainment industry would like to make it seem. Banning websites due to piracy claims will have a much wider effect than many realize. Crying “Piracy!” and seizing domains is not something to be taken lightly. These issues need to be thought out much more thoroughly before we begin taking action on them.
