I have nothing against the government's efforts to curb piracy, but seriously, one warning is enough -- and the "real" targets aren't even being protected.
According to a recent report from Wired, the Department of Homeland Security AND the National Intellectual Property Center are adding their dreaded "warning labels" to the beginning of DVDs and Blu-Ray discs -- you know, a second and third warning in addition to the often-attempted-but-unsuccessfully-fast-forwarded FBI warning that has been on VHS, DVD and other movies for about as long as I can remember.
Apparently, warnings from the FBI just don't carry the weight that they used to -- as if those warnings actually stop media pirates. Now you can add the two more soon-to-be-ignored warnings pictured (courtesy Wired) on your favorite rentals.
Here's where I have a real problem: these warnings do not appear on digital movie downloads -- the most regularly pirated movies, according to the Wired report.
This is not to disparage the efforts of the National Intellectual Property Center, which has notably foiled large piracy rings involving items such as bogus NFL player jerseys, counterfeit handbags and fake Viagra, and more than 700 websites streaming pirated content, to name a few. It is a necessary organization...I'm just not sure their unskippable advertisement belongs at the beginning of my brand new Muppets DVD.
