bootlegging Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The nomadic DVD peddlers in Chinatown and other urban areas seem virtually unstoppable, but that hasn't kept Hollywood studios from launching various attempts to prevent movie piracy. Boing Boing reports on the rumor that at least one theater has been silencing the soundtrack in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull throughout the film in order to mess with potential bootleggers trying to record the thing. If true, it's got to be one of the most brain dead attempts at security since the rise of quart-sized bags. When you really get down to it, most two-bit criminals with camcorders in their laps don''t really care if the quality of the movie they're recording suffers, since the resulting product will already feature lo-fi video, the overlapping sounds of laughter and other audience reactions, and silhouetted cameos from patrons venturing to the concession stands or taking bathroom breaks. With all that, the intermittent exclusion of music doesn't sound like a major concern for the bad guys.

Studio anti-piracy measures are notoriously ill-conceived. Premieres and all-media screenings often force critics and even the filmmakers themselves to undergo intense evaluations before they're allowed to enter the theaters, while films open to the public, where pirates are more likely to show up, don't take any precautions. Granted, multiplexes wouldn't help their business if attending them felt like entering an airport terminal, but that doesn't mean there isn't a better way to prevent the crimes from taking place. Anyone care to offer some ideas?

[Via Movie City News]

It's kind of funny. At TIFF last year, I went to see Death of a President. My belongings were searched and we had to wait for all these mysterious, suited types to scan the audience with fancy eye-wear to look for movie pirates before they'd screen the feature. It was almost like James Bond merged with immigration. These days, efforts like this are topped with the L.A. Law variety of pirate-fighting where people get nabbed here and there and everywhere for uploading and distributing the copied movies. In all of this hub-ub and effort, you'd think that they'd have started with some basics.

Since Gotham is a great source for pirated flicks, as it screens a lot of them before they get sent elsewhere, I was surprised to find out today that New York City was only doling out a paltry $250 fine for illegally videotaping movies. However, new legislation has now been passed that increased the fines to $5,000, which can be matched with 6 months in jail. And the efforts aren't stopping there. Variety reports that Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants further action -- undercover investigations and inspections and using a nuisance abatement law for the owners of buildings where the movies are copied and sold. To top that off, there's currently a bill in the New York State Legislature to up repeat bootlegging offenses from a misdemeanor to a felony. Finally, years after this started to become a big deal, the bases are being covered. Do you think this will be enough to scare away bootleggers, or will the punch of this punishment fall flat?