Hollywood, gotta love it

Harry Potter at the mercy of pirates?

Seems that AOL/Time-Warner shipped an unknown quantity of "Harry Potter" DVD's without analog encryption, meaning that you can make clear, beautiful copies of the film, DVD to video tape. Digital encryption remained in place. And why would they do this?

Jon Peddie, analyst at Tiburon, Calif.-based Jon Peddie Research, said the studios for now are spending substantially larger amounts of money lobbying Congress for new copy-protection laws and regulations than they are spending to install copy controls at the content level.

"I am speculating that Hollywood’s rational for dumping millions of dollars into lobbying and soft money to influence Congress is viewed as a one-time expense, as opposed to an ongoing expense of paying for the encryption license for each and every movie they make," Peddie said.

So all their customers are presumed guilty, and everyone gets to pay so they feel...Safe.

Meanwhile, "Harry Potter" sold 20 million copies (DVD and tape) in the first week of release. Pirating obviously destroyed its sales potential.