3D is useless in the movie industry's ongoing fight with online film pirates sharing content on peer-to-peer networks, according to the boss of Paramount Pictures.
Huntsberry was discussing the current state of online piracy at the film industry convention, adding that 3D, does NOT provide an easy solution for online piracy, because the movie pirate can fit a lens to their camera to take out the second layer and thus offset the 3D effects of the movie, before sharing the pirated copy online.
While the TV and movie industries are both keen to promote new 3D tech and content to consumers in 2011, the question of how 3D relates to the ongoing fight against copyright theft has rarely been raised.
The problem of an internet world
Until now, that is, with the chief operating officer of Paramount Pictures, Frederick Huntsberry informing The Hollywood Reporter at this month's CineAsia convention:
"It's a big problem in every country in the world.Anybody with internet connection can easily access pirated content.When it was a hardware problem, then it was business.
"But in an Internet world, everybody is equal."
Consumer awareness is key
The Paramount boss doesn't think that releasing films online during theatrical dates is a sufficient answer to the piracy problem either.
"If you release a product simultaneously, you are making a very good copy that can be stolen and made available during the theatrical window.
"We've made the product available in theaters. The studios today had made a decision that the theatrical window is exclusive, and that they would make the product available on DVD and online after that.To move the online release date up into the theatrical window would only expose the theatrical window to a high-quality copy of the movie being available much earlier."
So what to do? Huntsberry outlined what he described as a four-pronged strategy of consumer awareness, fine-tuning business models, technology and legislation to fight movie piracy online.
"We have to come at it through consumer awareness, education, legislation and technology. There is no single solution."
