This is topic Piracy Reward... in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 06-22-2004, 02:06 PM:
 
I'm turning everyone in!!!!



http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040622/media_nm/film_piracy_dc_3

quote:

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Entertainment - Reuters Industry

Hollywood Offers $500 Bounty for Movie Bootleggers

Tue Jun 22, 4:43 AM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters Industry to My Yahoo!

By Nicole Sperling

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The U.S. movie industry is enlisting theater employees to help combat piracy, offering a reward of up to $500 for every person they catch illegally recording films and report to the police.

The Anti-Camcording Rewards Program was unveiled Monday by the Motion Picture Assn. of America (MPAA), which represents the major studios, and the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO (news - web sites)).

Camcording has become a very potent source of piracy. A great majority of the films that show up on the Internet for download are a result of camcorders, according to MPAA spokesman Matt Grossman.

Typically, according to the MPAA, movies are filmed by camcorder during the first few days of their U.S. release, then distributed in digital form worldwide on file-sharing networks and other online outlets. Overseas labs then use the pirated films to create illegal DVDs, which are distributed en masse on street corners around the world.

In 2003, the MPAA seized 52 million discs worldwide with an estimated cost of $3.5 billion.

The MPAA is funding the program. The reward amount is up to the MPAA's discretion and is based on several factors, such as whether the suspect was apprehended and the timing of the piracy in relation to the movie's release.

"Theater employees are increasingly vigilant about individuals who surreptitiously set up camcorders in their theaters," NATO president John Fithian said. "This program will give every theater worker added incentive to take action against pirates and help protect our industry from this scourge."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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quote: Dennis Benjamin

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A great majority of the films that show up on the Internet for download are a result of camcorders, according to MPAA spokesman Matt Grossman

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Thats funny. All the movies I download seem to be screeners. I need to try harder.
 

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Posted by Dave Ganoe (Member # 53) on 06-22-2004, 02:12 PM:
 
How about a reward for turning in those selling the pirated movies on dvd? With cap code they should be able to trace where it came from.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-22-2004, 03:15 PM:
 
$3.5 billion and they offer $500, eh? Oh yeah. That and the fact that it's the studio screeners that is the REAL problem!!! Although I am firmly against piracy, all these constant attacks and insults toward theater personnel really makes me want to start renting out tripods at the concession stand.

When is that old coot Valenti going to retire so we can get someone in there with a brain?
 

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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 06-22-2004, 08:01 PM:
 
OOPS! Double post.
 

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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 06-22-2004, 08:03 PM:
 
I have to support Brad entirely on this one. He is 100% correct!
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 06-22-2004, 08:19 PM:
 

quote: Brad Miller

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...old coot Valenti...

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funny... in the article they don't reference on how to collect the bounty. maybe we are supposed to sell the video recorder that we confiscate!

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Sure they do. It states right there that if you find a bootlegger, you can make $3.5 billion.

Isn't there some sort of infrared flood light that can be projected onto the screen that would be invisible to the audience, but wash out any digital camcorder image in a bright white haze? I've noticed that I can see my remote controls LED when I take a digital picture of it.

-Adam
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-28-2004, 05:48 AM:
 
The use of infrared "jamming" has been considered, but there are ways for a criminal to circumvent it.
 

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Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 06-28-2004, 10:16 AM:
 
yeah....$500 bucks doesn't seem like much...especially since they have to be arrested and everything has to be proven. How hard would it be for them to format the tape when security was coming up the stairs?
 

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Posted by Nate Lehrke (Member # 1460) on 07-03-2004, 05:56 AM:
 
Got these amazing window decals the other day. Can't wait to put them up


 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 07-03-2004, 01:03 PM:
 
There are ways for criminals to circumvent everything. If there's a lock, they'll pick it. If there's a code, they'll crack it. It's all human nature, and the desire to get at stuff we're not supposed to.

You tell the kid a million times to keep out of the cookie jar, so you put it up high. But every time you look, the stool is missing.

That window decal is detestable. Is it 8x10"? I would rather use window space to promote movies I am showing, to WELCOME my customers and sell my PRODUCT... not push the agenda of some dirty old man who didn't retire fast enough. If that shows up at my theater, it's "accidentally" getting thrown out.

=TMP=
 

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Posted by Nate Lehrke (Member # 1460) on 07-03-2004, 06:14 PM:
 
It's postcard size.
 

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Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 07-04-2004, 12:20 AM:
 
Fantastic. I"ve been looking for a sticker to compliment my no pirates decal. I haven't been too woried about people downloading movies while they were at my theatre, but thanks to the MPAA, i'll be on the lookout for that too.
 

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Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 07-04-2004, 10:05 AM:
 
The majority of bootleg DVD's that I've seen were crap. The image wobbling around as the cameraperson moves and breathes,and lots of talking to people around them in the theatre.

Alot of our rent-to-own customers have lots of them. Most of the ones I've seen are recorded on white DVD discs, and most will not play on some DVD players. Naturally, when they wont play, the customer blames the player, so I make an unneeded service call to show them it is not the fault of the player.

I've tried to lay my hands on a copy so I could report it here. The customers wont let me have a bad copy, or anything else.

Screeners? Maybe they dont make it to western NC, at least to the projects, anyway.

One dupe of Bad Boys II was so badly done that I started to get queezy just sitting in front of the 55" screen as it bobbed and weaved on the screen. Customer claimed that the movie was made that way. REALLY?!
 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 07-04-2004, 02:18 PM:
 
Bruce -- Next service call, you should say you must confiscate the disc as it is a violation of the MPAA's anti-piracy law, and nab yourself that $500 reward!

=TMP=
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-04-2004, 02:52 PM:
 
Bruce, buy some blank DVD-Rs with "white top" and just swap them when they aren't looking. Yeah it could be argued that such a tactic is illegal, but it's not like you are taking their DVD-R. You are just taking the content which you then turn over to the MPAA.

I got those new stickers in the mail the other day. "Rated I"??? Could we get any more pathetic with this? I felt like I was reading a sticker for a video game. Stupid! I refuse to put such moronic signs up. They went into the trash. Come out with something a little more relevant and not cutesy and stupid and I'll post it.

BTW, the same sets of locks are used over and over. Every time you run a screening, log the combination. After a short while, you will amass the master combination list. Yet another pathetic attempt by the studios and another false sense of security on their part.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 07-04-2004, 08:19 PM:
 

quote: Brad Miller

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Bruce, buy some blank DVD-Rs with "white top" and just swap them when they aren't looking.

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if the project boys found out about what he was doing, he could wake up dead some morning... ;(

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quote:

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MPAA LAUNCHES NEW PHASE OF AGGRESSIVE EDUCATION CAMPAIGN AGAINST MOVIE PIRACY

Campaign Expands Current Efforts to Deter Consumers from Illegally Downloading Films

Washington, DC, June 15, 2004: The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) today announced a new phase in its ongoing public education campaign to deter illegal movie downloading.

The new phase will feature ads in daily newspapers and consumer magazines across the country, as well as in more than 100 college newspapers. It will also include reaching out to parents, students and local groups to explain why movie piracy is illegal, how it impacts jobs and the economy and the consequences of engaging in illegal trafficking. Additionally, in the coming months, anti-piracy messages will appear in motion picture theaters across the country...

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 07-06-2004, 02:43 PM:
 
Too bad whoever wrote that press release doesn't understand the proper meaning of the word "impacted". (Sorry...personal pet peeve.)
 

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Posted by Frank Jerkic (Member # 2446) on 07-15-2004, 05:13 AM:
 
Cant these Criminals download movies direct from the satellite or even get a copy from the hotel/motel and sell perfect copies?

Catch ya ron
 

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