The MPAA has been heavily criticized by some civil libertarians and Internet activists for its strong stance against copyright infringements and its support for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The MPAA has sought to protect its members' interests by political lobbying for changes in copyright and criminal law. It seeks to promote digital rights management technologies, which are seen by some as infringing users' rights, and a potential threat to freedom in the electronic domain.
Dan Glickman replaced the long-serving Jack Valenti as president of the MPAA on September 1, 2004. Valenti, who turned 82 years old in 2003, announced his retirement at the Showest motion picture convention in Las Vegas in March 2003. A noted lobbyist in Washington, DC, he began serving as president in 1966, and has become nearly synonymous with the organization.
When film recording devices first came onto the market, the MPAA was among those who opposed the devices, fearing they would cut into movie sales. In a 1982 testimony before the House of Representatives, MPAA president Jack Valenti stated: "I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." [1] (http://cryptome.org/hrcw-hear.htm). In Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios (1984), the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that production of video recorders is legal, because they have substantial potential for non-infringing use.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA, originally called the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association) is a non-profit trade association based in the United States which was formed to advance the interests of movie studios.
The MPAA has sought to protect its members' interests by political lobbying for changes in copyright and criminal law.
The MPAA replies that it is only attempting to limit losses from file-sharing and other technology, although many valid arguments exist to make its moves highly controversial.
The MPAAfilm rating system is a system used in the United States and territories and instituted by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate a movie based on its content.
But the rating, which wasn't trademarked by the MPAA (as were its other ratings), was self-applied by the "adult entertainment" segment of the industry to the point where an X (or a fictional XXX) rating could be included in advertising gimmicks and came to be equated strictly with film pornography.
However, signatory members of the MPAA (major studios) have agreed to submit all of their theatrical releases for rating, and few mainstream producers (outside the pornography niche) are willing to bypass the rating system due to potential effects on revenues.
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