MPAA Head: Piracy Shouldn’t Be Called “Theft”, Wait. What?

On occasion, the Universe throws knees-buckling curve balls at you.  For example. What the fuck can you do when MPAA Czar  Chris Dodd comes out and states that piracy shouldn’t be called theft, besides stand there dumb founded?

Gizmodo:

MPAA head Chris Dodd backtracked on the association’s stance on piracy in comments made to  Variety  over the weekend:

“We’re in a transformative period with an explosion of technology that’s going to need content… We’re going to have to be more subtle and consumer-oriented… We’re on the wrong track if we describe it as thievery.”

While he didn’t say it’s  not  a crime, Dodd’s words are quite the reversal from the organization’s official policy. The MPAA has been pretty hell-bent on making piracy synonymous with theft for many years. Just look at its  “you wouldn’t steal a car”  campaign.

We can only hope that Dodd’s words signals a shift in the way piracy is treated in the eyes of the law. There should be nuances–someone who is downloading a movie to watch on their own shouldn’t be pursued in the same way as a person that is ripping a movie and turning around and selling it for a profit. At this point, Dodd’s statements are a definite change in rhetoric for an agency that will hang people out to dry for illegal downloading.

Nuance? I had thought it to be forsaken in these parts.