- Big Content
Big Content (also called Big Copyright) is a pejorative term used to refer collectively to the major content-owning businesses, typified by such groups as the MPAA and the RIAA, and their counterparts outside of the United States. It may also be used to include the
Association of American Publishers , and individual corporations such asDisney ,Viacom , andSony . The term is based on the model of established pejorative terms such asBig Tobacco orBig Oil .The term Big Content originated due to the similar techniques of the MPAA and RIAA in defending their current business models, which are being challenged by piracy in the digital age. Websites such as
Ars Technica and Techdirt use the terms to decry the tactics of these organizations, which include such methods as using their significant lobbying power with governments to pass laws (such as the DMCA and repeated extensions of the length ofcopyright terms), pressuring police to take action against large-scale copyright violators (such as the raid in Sweden on the bittorrent-indexing websiteThe Pirate Bay )ref|NI1, and bringing large numbers of John Doe lawsuits against individual filesharers based on a harvestedIP address ref|NI2. Big Content is also known for public relations campaigns which have been criticized aspropaganda meant to indoctrinate children and others with an incorrect understanding of copyright (such asCaptain Copyright ref|NI3, and feeding the media inflated estimates of losses due to piracy and file sharing)ref|NI4.Detractors of these groups consider them to be abusing the original intention of copyrights, and abusing their customer base in an effort to protect outdated business models. The organizations constituting Big Content have been in the news recently for creating another
lobbying group, known asThe Copyright Alliance , advocating stronger copyright lawsref|NI5.References
# cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5036268.stm|title=Police hit major BitTorrent site|publisher=BBC News|date=
2006-06-01 |accessdate=2007-05-20
# cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3563843.stm|title=Students targeted in piracy fight|publisher=BBC News|date=2004-03-24 |accessdate=2007-05-20
# cite web|url=http://www.captaincopyright.com/|title=Captain Copyright|accessdate=2007-05-20
# cite web|url=http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20061003/185626.shtml|title=And Just Like That, Bogus Piracy Stats Become Fact|accessdate=2007-05-20
# cite news|url=http://news.com.com/Backers+of+stronger+copyright+laws+form+lobby+group/2100-1028_3-6184604.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news|title=Backers of stronger copyright laws form lobby group|publisher=News.com|date=2007-05-17
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