Internet Regulation- How It Affects Hollywood

Movies have always been subject to copyright laws and over many years people have been prosecuted for breaching these laws and filming a film in a cinema for example. However as time has went on technology has changed drastically and now in the present times we live in films can be pirated and downloaded very easily online. In order to counter this a number of organisations within Hollywood have filed claims against websites to try and get them shut down. In some cases they succeeded, however new sites keep popping up so this issue has become very difficult to tackle for movie makers in the US.

What Is Internet Regulation

Internet regulation covers a wide range of different things from copyright to preventing access to certain sites etc. In the case of film makers legislation such as the digital millennium copyright act are very important. This is because there have been several cases in the past few years where people have been sued for uploading films or using music or direct clips from the film and publishing them without permission online.

Some countries take a much harsher stance on internet regulation on others. For example in china access to the internet is heavily restricted and many western sites are blocked automatically as the government in part controls what its citizens can access online. This contrasts completely with what many western governments have in terms of laws regarding the internet. In the US freedom of speech and other laws mean that government control of the internet is very hard to enforce.

How Can Internet Regulation Benefit Hollywood

Internet regulation could benefit Hollywood in a number of different ways. One of the main ways in which it could benefit hollywood is pirated movies and copyrighted videos would likely see a dramatic drop if there was further internet regulation. As a result of this movie makers would likely have higher royalties and profits as more people may choose to see their film in the cinema due to restrictions on pirated copies.

What Negative Effects Could Internet Regulation Have?

As well as advantages there are also a number of fundamental disadvantages that internet regulation could have. Political unrest and discourse could arise as a result of stronger internet regulation powers. Furthermore if further internet regulation is associated with filmmakers and directors then they may be more likely to receive bad press or less interest from the public.

Overall Conclusions

Overall there are a number of different things that can be said about internet regulation and filmaking as a whole. it is clear that at present internet regulation in the US its in its infancy and is limited. Other countries who have a more controlling approach have almost fully implemented internet regulation and this has not gone down well at all in the affected countries. Therefore what can be concluded is that internet regulation should be treated with caution as it is effectively an umbrella solution that could have much farther reaching consequences than most people realise.