Bitdefender's Pick. The Digital Dilemma: How new technologies can jeopardize the movies

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Huge IT-related scandals like the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack or the Snowden revelations have somehow loomed over the Oscar ceremony this year, as suggested by Patricia Arquette’s plea for equal pay based on information leaked from Sony, or by a documentary about Edward Snowden winning its category.

But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been preoccupied for years with yet another, much less visible danger created by technology advances. According to the Academy’s Science and Technology Council, an unintended consequence of transitioning from the old motion picture film to a completely digital infrastructure is the prospect of simply losing many of the films that form a large part of America’s cultural and artistic heritage.

That’s because while celluloid films can be stored for up to 100 years, long-term digital storage and management is still unreliable and requires a lot of resources, says an Academy study. It’s a “digital dilemma,” the Academy argues: the digital medium has tremendous benefits, but cannot be trusted to preserve movies for posterity.

The situation is even worse for independent movie makers, who lack the resources of the big studios. Online distribution platforms have not yet proven themselves, argues the Council. In a study from 2012 titled The Digital Dilemma 2 (which can be downloaded here along with the first Digital Dilemma study), the Academy called for a “coordinated digital preservation plan for the future.” Presently the Academy is testing various digital storage and data management solutions.