Two articles have come to my attention: 1. a bunch of porn producers are having trouble prosecuting a very large number of Koreans who have been uploading their material and reselling it. They’re particularly miffed because at the same time as Korean courts are brushing off their porn-stealing claim on intellectual property (haha. porn. intellectual property. didn’t think I’d ever see those phrases in the same sentence), Korean prosecutors are aggressively hounding pirates who are uploading or selling illegal DVDs of the Korean movie Haeundae.
2. ROK Drop reports that Louis Vuitton was actually successful in prosecuting a group of people making and selling ripoff LV handbags…GI Korea comments, “This is the first time I have ever seen a counterfeiter in Korea lose a lawsuit like this”
My own view on this one: it’s ridiculous for Korean prosecutors to think they’re going to accomplish anything by guarding Haeundae from piracy.
Making Haeundae the film where they fight piracy is meaningless when an online piracy culture has developed to the point where stealing all films (even just all films except Old Partner and Haeundae) is accepeted as OK. When everybody, everybody buys Hollywood films on the way home, four for a green bill at exit 2 of his home station. It’s gotten so bad that major film studios have abandoned Korea completely as a DVD sales market — pitching a flag on Haeundae and saying, “This far, but no further!” is bailing out a sinking boat with at spoon.
Until it’s illegal – effectually, not just legally — to sell hollywood movies, European art films, Japanese animated children’s movies, on the street, until there are legal and workable ways to watch movies online that are as convenient as downloading, and more reliable (Itunes Korea: still nonexistent. Why be legal when you can steal?) and frankly, until good conscience rather than “not getting caught” is the more compelling motivation for one’s choices in media consumption, picking random Korean movies and drawing the line is like a bully victim bragging that the locker-room bullies always gave him his street clothes back after he started to cry. Seriously, THAT’s where you’re drawing the line… and still claiming to stand for something? And Koreans who got used to being allowed to download hollywood films — why would they suddenly decide it’s not OK to steal Korean films, when they’ve gotten used to seeing movies for free? What’s the distinction, really, other than hitting the “switch languages” button on your keyboard before typing in your next search prompt, for these guys? I can’t help think of the “Far Side” cartoon where the guy’s talkin to his dog, and the second frame shows what the dog hears, and it’s “Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla Rufus bla bla bla bla bla” — except instead, the authorities are saying, “It’s okay to steal movies, except Korean movies” and everybody hears “It’s OK to steal movies, bla bla bla”. If people feel entitled to steal foreign movies, why WOULDN’T they feel entitled to steal Korean ones? And until all illegal file sharing is shut down (yeah right) chasing Haundae pirates is arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. These guys need to get to work on a viable way of selling media online that’s cheap enough that people will use it, and fast and convenient enough that it’s actually a better alternative to illegal downloading. Until they can do that, they certainly need to realize they are no longer going to convince people to get off their duffs and walk down to the DVD shop instead of downloading. The game has changed too much to believe people will go back to that.
In other news: in reference to Asians who have assimilated to the norms of predominantly white cultures (for example, second generation Korean-Americans who don’t speak Korean), is “twinkie” generally considered a pejorative term? I wouldn’t know myself, but I was a bit surprised to see it used so liberally in this Korea Times article about the 2PM singer who quit the band after some K-Netizens (there they are again) dug up some four year old comments he made that disparaged Korea.
Oh yeah, and this one: “Seoul Metropolitan Government wants Seoulites to walk on the right of the sidewalk” — an oldie — is just silly.
18/09/2009 at 9:02 am Permalink
This is a good snapshot of what it is like in almost all sectors of the Korean economy. The prevailing attitude almost everywhere on the peninsula is “It’s cool to take from others without due credit or compensation…but when others take from us without due credit or compensation…well that’s just terrible.” For example, I work at a research institute, and I am still amazed that people here do not even bother citing foreign documents, and yet they always credit Korean researchers. Baffling.
With regard to the porn case. It’s peculiar that Korea has vowed many times to make Korea 100% porn free by blocking ip’s etc. I really find it sofa king ridiculous that they would not embrace this lawsuit as part of their crusade.
21/09/2009 at 8:22 am Permalink
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and yeah, terms like “twinkie” (or “banana”–both for Asian-Americans who identify more with white culture) and “Oreo” (for African-Americans) are pretty common within various ethnic groups. Whether they’re used in a derogatory or jokingly proud or self-effacing fashion depends. I’m white so I would never ever use these terms to describe others, but I understand them when I hear them.