question of the day: Shouldn’t Hollywood condemn Ashton Kutcher’s ‘piracy’ of ‘Killers’?

Maybe it should only be illegal when its a good movie.

And could Kutcher’s actions actually be used in a court of law, in any future piracy lawsuits, as proof that Hollywood is not, in fact, genuinely concerned about piracy?

If it was, I'd love to see how studios try to defend themselves against it.

From an interview with Alex Alvarez, founder of The Gnomon Workshop, which sells art training DVDs produced by industry veterans (Alvarez and several other Gnomon instructors worked on Avatar, for instance), and makes their content available via digital download for pay. I mention this because MaryAnn has stated that she believes people will pay for content if it's made available via digital download...

GW: How are things like piracy affecting the industry?

AA: Jeez, you’re now stoking the fire Travis. Yes, piracy has reached a point that we begin to wonder where things are going. My opinion is that until governments decide to take a stand against it, we will reach a point of diminishing returns. Millions of people around the world feel that they are doing nothing wrong by stealing that which they can’t afford or rather, could maybe afford but why bother if they can get it for free. They know it is illegal but don’t care because they do not feel any tangible repercussions for their actions. You would never steal a Ferrari because you can’t afford one. But if you knew 100% that if you stole one that you would never get caught, would you? Clearly millions of people around the world would answer that with a ‘yes’.

I think that many people believe that the affect of illegally downloading content is negligible–that they are not hurting anyone. The reality is that so many people are doing it now, that the financial cost to the system and economies of the related industries is very much felt. It is easy to think that using an illegal copy of Windows isn’t a big deal to a company like Microsoft, but for small independent publishers, like Gnomon, you force them to change their business model. I focus now more on the Gnomon School than the Gnomon Workshop. Because of Piracy. In the end I’m still busy and happy… and we continue to create DVDs more out of a personal interest in working with artists. But will the Gnomon Workshop do this forever? Not if piracy continues to grow. At some point I’ll just shrug my shoulders and move on as there are more than enough other things to do. In the end I would be just as happy working in production as I am running Gnomon. If anything I’d get more time to be an artist. But to clarify… we’re not there yet. Gnomon as a whole is growing and all is well. But piracy is evil, illegal and hurts Gnomon and all of the artists that work hard to produce content with us.

does anybody care about this movie? Were people rushing to see it? And now look how many people are talking about it!

Oh wait ... only 4

Grow up, Hollywood, and get behind digital distribution. The more you dig your heels in, the worse it'll get.

What a bunch of whingers the big studios can be...