Teen caught video taping movie

[Andrew Pratt]

Teen in 'Spider-Man 2' bootleg bust
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A teenager was arrested early Wednesday in a California theatre showing Spider-Man 2 after a projectionist using night vision goggles spotted a camcorder being used to make an illegal copy of the superhero sequel.

The 16-year-old could be charged under a law that went into effect Jan. 1 making the carrying of a recording device into a movie theatre a crime punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $2,500.

The Los Angeles District Attorney's office will review the case and decide whether to charge the teen, who was released to his parents' custody, said Sgt. Mel Amoroso, a spokesman at the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire Division.

The film industry's trade group hailed the arrest and credited its recent initiative to offer cash rewards of up to $500 to theatre employees who turn in moviegoers attempting to make illicit film copies.

"In theatres nationwide, there are now thousands of eyes looking for camcording-pirates and this incident proves that pirates who use these devices in theatres will be caught," said James W. Spertus, vice-president and director of antipiracy operations for the Motion Picture Association of America.

Camcorders account for 92 per cent of all illegal copies of films that are sold online and on street corners worldwide, according to the MPAA.

The teen, whose identity was not released, was among the throngs of midnight movie viewers across the U.S. who crowded theatres for the debut of the Spider-Man sequel.

According to the MPAA, the projectionist at the Pacific Winnetka theatre in the Los Angeles suburb of Chatsworth spotted a teen using a camcorder a few minutes into the start of the film. He and two others with him were removed from the theatre and turned over to the police.

[aud19]

The part I find hilarious is that people actually buy and watch these , grainy, shaky, out of focus, audio cutting out, jacket collar cutting off the bottom right side of the screen, piece of crap bootlegs?!?! 8O

I saw about 2 minutes of one a friend of mine purchased a year or two ago. Let's just say I first asked him if he actually paid money for it and then made a LOT of fun of him for wasting his money and politely asked him to turn it off :lol:

Glad to see the little SOB's get caught :T

Jason

[David Meek]

Glad to see the little SOB's get caught :T

I 100% absolutely agree with you! I hope they put the little sh** in jail AND fine him the max. Down in flames boy, down in flames.
:f>

[George Bellefontaine]

The whole thing is so stupid really. I agree that anyone watching pirated junk should have their heads examined. It's crap like this that is making such a big issue out of the right to make copies of movies, music, what have you, for personal use.

[Brandon B]

There's a bill in Congress now to make this punishable with 3 years in jail, 5 if they can prove intent to profit by it.

Rather absurd IMO. I'd lump this in with shoplifting, as far as severity of the crime.

BB

[Glen]

The part I find hilarious is that people actually buy and watch these , grainy, shaky, out of focus, audio cutting out, jacket collar cutting off the bottom right side of the screen, piece of crap bootlegs?!?! 8O

I saw about 2 minutes of one a friend of mine purchased a year or two ago. Let's just say I first asked him if he actually paid money for it and then made a LOT of fun of him for wasting his money and politely asked him to turn it off :lol:

Glad to see the little SOB's get caught :T

Jason

Yep. I can't believe people pay money for that stuff. If you wanna see the movie - it's only a couple bucks more to see it in a THX theatre. :loser:

I lump it in with the people who spend all kinds of time and money keeping their cheater cards going on their dishes. Stealing is stealing - lets show our kids some ethics. :wedgie:

[Burke Strickland]

I lump it in with the people who spend all kinds of time and money keeping their cheater cards going on their dishes. Stealing is stealing - lets show our kids some ethics.

Interesting discussion. Movie theft and satellite dish cheater cards are a lot like cable theft. I had heard about cable theft in abstract before, but now have witnessed it close up. It is not a "victimless crime" affecting only a large faceless corporation. It affects paying consumers directly. In this case, me.

My Road Runner wide band Internet sevice was out for several days. It turns out the reason is that a "friendly neighbor" was stealing cable off my signal at the area junction box and with his illicit connection, the signal wasn't strong enough to activate my cable modem.

The cable techs showed me the weathered signal splitter and cable they had confiscated and told me they sliced up the spurious cable coming from under the fence to the junction box, making it harder for the thief to reconnect. I just hope whoever it is who did the unauthorized conection doesn't retaliate by screwing things up out there even more. Their best course of action, of course, would be for them to call Time Warner and connect legally.

Burke

[Chris D]

Good discussion, and I'm pleasantly surprised to read some of these opinions. Cable piracy, movie bootlegging, and music file swapping all fall under the same category, but not everyone would realize that.

I have a big problem with those people that believe that media is inherently "public domain", that can be copied, shared, and redistributed according to anyone's personal desires. Someone used their time, money, and talent to create that media, whether it be a movie, music, a painting, television, or whatever. Unless it is specifically given by the creator to the public domain, anyone that claims that they "deserve the right" to distribute media is only trying enjoy the benefits of someone else's labor.

And please don't give me the pathetic argument that bands, artists, movie companies, or whatever have "too much money" and don't need more profits off of their works, and your piracy doesn't do any harm. In some cases yes, the artist is stinking rich and may not notice the loss of $15 here or there. In other cases it's a starving artist that needs the money. IT MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE. Neither situation translates into your entitlement to someone ELSE's product.

So for all those that complained that Metallica was "being greedy" by not letting their music be file-swapped, I have no sympathy. Whether Metallica is richer than Trump, or just a grass-roots band needing every dollar, their music is THEIR music, and they have every right to do with it what they choose. That's not greed. That's just pure ownership. To claim that you are entitled to something THEY own is the basis for communism... and hopefully you can see beyond the buzz-word emotionalism of that statement to see the truth in it.

[Brandon B]

Good discussion, and I'm pleasantly surprised to read some of these opinions.

...

I have a big problem with those people that believe that media is inherently "public domain"

My bolding.

Are you referring to people in other threads places, or (mine being the closest post to this end of the spectrum in this thread) did you disagree with my post. Asking curiously to avoid appearing defensive.

I agree with your entire post. What I have a problem with is the media industries getting special draconian punishments enacted into law to preserve their outmoded business models.

You find a guy camcordering a movie. Arrest him. It's some teenager who's going to watch it himself, maybe make 5 copies and give it to his friends? Sure, fine him $2500. Maybe put him in jail or juvey camp for 2 weeks or a month, if there's enough reason to do so. (or instead if it's some kid whose family eking out a living).

It's some guy with a rack of 30 VCRs in the basement selling 100's of tapes a month a swap meets? There are existing laws to nail that guy to the wall already.

3 years for my first scenario though? That is ridiculous, as walking out of Walmart with 3 copies of the movie stuffed under your shirt sure wouldn't get you that.

BB

[aud19]

Definitely agree with that Brandon. Especially the "outmoded business models" As much as I agree with catching the criminals on the public end I think we should be doing something about the criminals on the business end too. There'd be a lot less piracy concerns if they'd simply sell good products at reasonable prices. Try not jacking up prices to pay for the millions you just spent on new copy protections schemes etc which will innevitably be beaten anyways. Why waste the money? Why charge me for it? I also take issue with the millions in profits that are made and given to the slimy executives and not the artists and hard working people who actually did the work.

Jason

[Brandon B]

Now I just don't know what to say about this guy.

BB

[Burke Strickland]

Now I just don't know what to say about this guy.

He's obviously not the brightest bulb in the candelabra. :>)

Burke

[Chris D]

I hear ya, Brandon. Fair punishments are always important. I'm just pleasantly surprised to meet all these other people here that don't agree with piracy either. I've run into lots of people that see it otherwise. (maybe I should say it's refreshing to read all these opinions?)

[Robbie]

Seinfeld :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Robbie

[Brandon B]

Now this freaking clown gets 3-1/2 years, with maybe 5 more added if he doesn't pay some restitution. Given, this is a british court, but this guy should be getting 10 years or so if camcordering a movie is going to get you 3.

BB

[David Meek]

I agree B, 10 years sounds about right - plus the fine. Bast*rd. :evil: I am glad they went after him and others. I'm very interested to find out if any of the other bootleggers in the sting were prosecuted.

[JOY DIVISION]

You walk around Chinatown in Downtown LA and you would encounter these hawks with DVDs still showing at the movie theaters, they even went high tech recently by having a compact dvd player to show the quality of the video,price ranges from $4 to $7 depending on quality talk about about marketing strategy, if ENRON did the same thing they'd still be in business :lol: :lol: Ironic as it is a few blocks down is Parker Center(Los Angeles Police District, Head Office) and heck go down to Garment District and you'd land yourself with a new Cartier or Breitling watches that are so fake you could get a dozen a wear each one for a week and dipose it and use another one on the next. All the namebrand(name it and they have it) are mostly knockoffs and sweatshop produced materials that cost less than Kmart would would sell Jackylyn Smith products. I'm pretty surprise though, I see alot of Blondes and Mexicans down there all the time,Tip: :lol: Good time to go their during the weekends the place is jampacked and crowded worst than our notorious I405, you not only sweat yourself but you get to rub shoulders and mix sweat with blondies just an amazing experience.Nice!!!huh!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[JOY DIVISION]

A good LA lawyer would have a good argument on this kids case. Remember with RIAA, copying music for personal consumption is not a crime as soon as you profit from it then it's considered a crime, but RIAA got so greedy and tried to lobby and ban copying of music illegal altogether. California laws are so weird that the rest of the nation gets caught up with the intrigue. Remember OJ walked, Wynona Ryder walked actualy she really did walk with a bag full of unpaid merchandise, Christian Slater partied with his jailers, Kobe just signed a big contract a sign that he will be acquited. I just hope they don't pardon Charles Manson. :roll: :roll: :roll: