Oscar-winning Hollywood director Milos Forman made an impassioned plea on Wednesday for greater copyright protection for filmmakers, musicians and other artists, saying digital pirates were not Robin Hoods but thieves.
The internet today is functioning as a dreamlike supermarket where you can go and take anything your heart desires without paying for it, the director told delegates here at the 2nd World Copyright Summit.
It is so easy with a flip of the button at any time anywhere in the world to upload or download an entire film, musical composition, television program or book, he said.
The free internet folks are trying to convince the public that only a few rich celebrities and powerful companies are crying foul about piracy because they want to get richer, said Forman, who won Academy Awards for Best Director for his 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo s Nest and 1984 Amadeus.
The pirates like to see themselves as modern day Robin Hoods, he said. They are stealing from the rich and giving the loot to the poor, they say.
They are in fact stealing from thousands and thousands of regular, many of them poor, people around the world, the Czech-born filmmaker told the 500 delegates from more than 55 countries attending the two-day summit.
Most of them are not even seen on the screen, but they depend directly on the creative industries for their livelihood. These people badly need their paychecks, he said.
Stealing from these people is not at all Robin Hood-like behavior, Forman said, adding that they should be described as thieves and not the somewhat romantic pirates.
They make it sound like no one is hurt, like it s a victimless crime, he said. We should call it what it really is – thievery.
The authors and many of their collaborators are the victims because they are not being paid for their work, he said. If we cripple our culture we re crippling the heart and soul of our society.
That is why copyright protection for those who create is so important.
Forman stressed that he and other filmmakers were not against technology.
Don t misunderstand us, we embrace the digital age, he said. We are all aware of the great possibilities to make our work visible to billions of people around the world.
All we are asking for is the protection of an artist from the theft of his right to be compensated for his work, he said. -AFP
