Motion Picture Association of America

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), originally called the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association, is a non-profit trade association based in the United States which was formed to advance the interests of movie studios. Its members consist of the so-called "big seven" major Hollywood studios: Buena Vista (Walt Disney Company), Sony Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (part of the Sony/Comcast joint venture), Paramount Pictures (Viacom), 20th Century Fox (News Corp.), DreamWorks, Universal Studios (NBC Universal), and Warner Bros. (Time Warner) The organization produces the well-known voluntary film rating system.

Purpose

Besides assigning its aforementioned film ratings, the MPAA's mission is to protect member interests through political lobbying for changes in copyright and criminal law. It seeks to promote digital rights management technologies, seen by some as infringing on user rights and others as balancing user rights with artist protection. The motion-picture equivalent of the RIAA, the MPAA has taken strong steps to reduce the number of file-sharing sites online where copyrighted films are available for download. In April and May of 2005, signs appeared on the homepages of LokiTorrent and EliteTorrents (two large BitTorrent trackers), stating that they had been closed down because of encouraging the illegal distribution of copyrighted material.

Leadership

In 1922, the movie studio bosses hired Will H. Hays to be the first president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. A former U.S. Postmaster General and election campaign manager for U.S. President Warren G. Harding, Hays was responsible for the creation of the Production Code in 1930. He served until retiring in 1945 when Eric Johnston took over and the name was changed to the Motion Picture Association of America. Johnston presided over the difficult Hollywood blacklist period and remained in office until his death in 1963. Ralph Hetzel acted as interim head until 1966.

From 1966 to 2004, Jack Valenti served as the president of the group, becoming nearly synonymous with the organization thanks to his long service and high profile. On September 1, 2004, he retired at the age of 82. He was succeeded by Dan Glickman, a former Agriculture Secretary during the Clinton administration.

Kori Bernards is the MPAA's vice president of corporate communications and the lead spokesperson in the current battle with the BitTorrent technology invented by Bram Cohen. "These claims (by Torrentspy) are false. Torrentspy is trying to obscure the facts to hide the fact that they are facilitating thievery. We are confident that our lawsuit against them will be successful because the law is on our side."

Criticisms

Some of the MPAA's actions have been controversial. One example is the film rating system; many believe that the intent of the various ratings has been subverted (for example, there is widespread access to R-rated movies even for those under 17), and that the NC-17 rating spells commercial death for a film, undermining its purpose. Film critic Roger Ebert has called for an entirely new system of ratings designed to address these issues. Some people criticize film-makers for editing their works to conform to the various ratings (for example, they might excise some extreme violence or sex to avoid an NC-17, or even "spice up" a children's movie so as to move from G to PG and appeal to older children). The ratings system itself is attacked as de facto censorship by free-speech activists, and conversely as too lenient in its content standards by some social scientists and conservative critics.

Other critics attack the MPAA for its action on copyright issues. They claim that it inhibits legitimate uses of its products through laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and that it is too draconian in pursuing copyright infringers. The MPAA replies that it is only attempting to limit losses from file sharing and other technology, although many valid arguments exist to make its moves highly controversial. In 2006, the MPAA's moral authority on this subject was questioned when it was alleged that the organization had made unauthorized copies of filmmaker Kirby Dick's documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated (itself an attack on the ratings system) when the film was submitted for rating consideration.

Since the MPAA members are the motion picture industry's most powerful studios, representing some of the world's largest media corporations, allegations of monopoly are often brought up by critics. However, the MPAA works to further the industry (like any trade association) and does not inhibit strong competition among its members.

The MPAA was responsible for a police raid on the servers that hosted a Torrent Tracking website called The Pirate Bay on May 31st 2006 by pressuring the Swedish government (where the servers were located) to take action. The Pirate Bay, in response, claims that they have no basis for the seizure, and were back up and running on backups two days later.

External links

www.mpaa.org - MPAA website
MPAA information about its rating system
Reasons for Movie Ratings
Valenti testimony
Slyck Interviews the MPAA - An Interview with Dean Garfield, the VP of MPAA, about p2p and the future of the industry.
Recent controversy with Kirby Dick
A critical site
One case of a student being sued by the MPAA
"MPAA Horror Stories" - Critical accounts from frustrated filmmakers.
http://www.penetrationtest.com/whistle.php - Whistleblower - Scan your NNTP news provider for the presence of pirated music, movies or software

Motion Picture Association of America | Industry trade groups | Cinema of the United States

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Purpose

Leadership

Criticisms

See also

External links