[LINK] U.S. Ambassador & Game of Thrones

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

<http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/04/sydney-university-hacks-its-bell-tower-
to-play-the-freaking-game-of-thrones-theme/>


U.S. Ambassador to Australia, Ambassador Bleich, Facebook entry

<https://www.facebook.com/notes/ambassador-bleich/stopping-the-game-of-
clones/542850132425361>

Stopping the Game of Clones

by Ambassador Bleich (Notes) on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at 3:14am

Earlier this month, my family and I joined millions of others in watching 
the premiere of the third season of Game of Thrones.   For those who aren’t 
already fans, it is a great epic chronicling the devious machinations of 
rival noble houses fighting for supremacy.  Unfortunately, nearly as epic 
and devious as the drama, is its unprecedented theft by online viewers 
around the world. The file-sharing news website TorrentFreak estimated that 
Game of Thrones was the most-pirated TV series of 2012. One episode was 
illegally downloaded about 4,280,000 times through public BitTorrent 
trackers in 2012, which is about equal to the number of that episode’s 
broadcast viewers.  In other words, about half of that episode’s viewers 
stole the program from HBO.  As the Ambassador here in Australia, it was 
especially troubling to find out that Australian fans were some of the 
worst offenders with among the highest piracy rates of Game of Thrones in 
the world.  While some people here used to claim that they used pirate 
sites only because of a delay in getting new episodes here, the show is now 
available from legitimate sources within hours of its broadcast in the 
United States.

So because today is the 17th annual UN World Book and Copyright Day, it is 
worth reflecting on why piracy is not some victimless crime.  A show like 
Game of Thrones takes a lot of work and talent by many artists to create.  
These artists can do this work only if we ensure that they are rewarded for 
their labors.  Production companies are no different.  Entire industries 
exist to locate artists, provide them a forum for their works, arrange 
contracts, record, promote, and sell their works, and free artists from 
doing other things – like waiting tables and parking cars in Hollywood -- 
by paying them for their efforts.  Here in Australia about 8% of the 
workforce works in the copyright industries and depends on people obeying 
the law – not to mention the artists in Ireland, Malta, Croatia, Iceland, 
and Morocco, where the series is filmed, who depend on fans obeying the 
law.

And yet, it seems that fans often forget all of this.  Anyone might be 
tempted to download pirated CDs and movies, and illegally share these 
materials; and there are big businesses that make money by encouraging 
consumers to illegally upload material as well.  But artists’ livelihoods 
depend on us rejecting that urge; just as shopkeepers and small businesses 
depend on people not just stealing products from their shelves.  If the 4 
million people who watched Game of Throne legally had been illegal 
downloaders – the show would be off the air and there would never have been 
a Season 3.  So to me, Copyright Day is not about government regulations, 
it is about celebrating and protecting the power of great writers, 
painters, singers, composers, actors, dancers and other artists to bring us 
together and enrich our lives. 

I realize that fans of Game of Thrones who have used illegal file-sharing 
sites have reasons.  They will say it was much easier to access through 
these sites, or that they got frustrated by the delay in the first season, 
or their parents wouldn’t pay for a subscription, or they will complain 
about some other issue with copyright laws.  But none of those reasons is 
an excuse – stealing is stealing.  Buying a book in a store costs more and 
takes longer than stealing it from your neighbor’s house, but we all know 
it is the right thing to do and it allows authors to make a living and 
write more books. 

So please celebrate UN World Book and Copyright Day by doing the right 
thing – Tyrion Lannister will thank you for it. 


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Ronald Ryan, Leslie Hawes, Gianina Carter and 24 others like this.
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View previous comments

Thomas Ridgway Gee i wonder if the entertainment industry will ever break 
away from their antiquated and quite frankly appalling methods of 
delivering content? Maybe people would buy the things they want if they are 
provided to them without all the bullshit. See More
Saturday at 9:15am · Edited

Chris Riddell For those of you who claim that it's not available for 
purchase by you, it seems that it is on Itunes. For those of you 
complaining that you are being charged more for it, is that really an 
excuse for stealing? ...See More Saturday at 10:49am

Conrad Bastian HBO is owned by Time Warner, one of the heaviest hitters in 
terms of political lobbying. Time Warner made $2.4M in political 
contributions last year, including $452,000 to Obama, and spent $3.5M 
lobbying congress. Obama appointed Ambassador Bleich obv...See More
Saturday at 1:18pm via mobile · 4

Jacob Kelly Once Australia has access to both A: Cheap, B: Timely, and C: 
Non-DRM locked access to the episodes, much like you do in the US, you will 
see piracy rates go down. Until then - its cheaper and easier to simply 
download it. Hell, if I could get stuff like Netflix in Aus for the same 
price as the yanks - I'd be the first subscriber.
Saturday at 1:29pm · Edited · 6

--
Cheers,
Stephen