Illegally Recording Films Can Get You Almost Two Years in Prison
Filed under: Exhibition
We've seen the ads countless times. Piracy is theft. If you steal a movie, you're no better than a thief. So on, and so forth. But what actually happens if you do?As The Hollywood Reporter posts, heading to the theater and recording two films can land you nearly two years in prison. Michael Logan had recorded two films in a theater in Washington, D.C. -- 28 Weeks Later and Enchanted. Granted, the "MPAA says forensic analysis indicates Logan could be responsible for illegally recording more than 100 films from January 2006 to January 2008 in four states and the District of Columbia," but he was only found guilty for two.
Man, I would hope that he did record more -- not to suck it to the studios, but for the simple fact that it would suck if those were the films you got sent to prison for. I'm not saying that they're bad, but if I was getting sent to the slammer for a film, I would want it to be something really great.
Perhaps we'll see a revamp of those commercials in the future. I know tons of non-pirates who think the ads are a big joke, but maybe the message could be relayed a little better if stories like these were used. Weigh in below!
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-29-2008 @ 3:22PM
Kurt Munro said...
1 camcorder thief caught out of 500,000 (random guess).
Brilliant... not.
It's similar to those stories you get every so often of "illegal downloader fined $x". They don't stop anyone.
Reply
10-29-2008 @ 3:34PM
Astin said...
There's also the situation of the law differing from place to place. For instance, in some places it's not illegal at all to record a movie, as long as it is for PERSONAL use. If your plan is to redistribute, then that's a crime. Of course, it's usually assumed that anybody recording is doing so in order to pirate, but that's only because that's generally the case.
Reply
10-29-2008 @ 3:49PM
colby said...
Jerry: "I don't care about Brody. I was up on 96th Street today, there was a kid couldn't have been more than ten years old. He was asking a street vendor if he had any other bootlegs as good as Death Blow. That's who I care about. The little kid who needs bootlegs, because his parent or guardian won't let him see the excessive violence and strong sexual content you and I take for granted."
Reply
10-29-2008 @ 4:32PM
Kevin said...
Thats exactly where I was going with this to. Well played.
I've never understood the defense of pirating films or music. Sure, Iike free stuff as much as the next guy, and I downloaded my share of illegal stuff of Napster back in the day, but when I did it I knew that I wasn't supposed to be. Why do people think its okay to take copyrighted material that other people put in hundreds of hours and (in the case of big movies) tens of millions of dollars to produce? I think people look at it as a situation that they enjoy, so there is a degree of cognitive dissonance in that they want to do it, but don't want to feel bad about doing something that is clearly wrong, so they try and say its fine to do. As for Kurts comments, do we really only enforce laws that we assume will prevent future incidents of lawlessness? I would say that if knowingly break the law you can't be upset when the government punishes you for it.