Star Wars Bootleg raids this morning (1 Viewer)

[oscar_merkx]

I think this is a very good, taking action against bootlegging
Head to the following story over at
DVDTimes
-Admin Note: I fixed the link. Enjoy
Oscar Merkx

 

[alan halvorson]

Link doesn't work. Now, if Ebay would get on the ball and get rid of all those Attack of the Clones VCDs clogging the laserdisc section and I suppose everywhere else.

 

[Nathan*W]

Here's a working link.

 

[Joe McCabe]

Nice move, but ultimately, it won't make even a small dent.

Episode 2 is ALL OVER the internet. Eventually, Hollywood is going to take drastic measures to prevent this type of stuff. The internet as we know it is about to change

 

[Ted Todorov]

Nice move, but ultimately, it won't make even a small dent.
Episode 2 is ALL OVER the internet. Eventually, Hollywood is going to take drastic measures to prevent this type of stuff. The internet as we know it is about to change

Well, I certainly hope that it isn't up to Hollywood to "change" the Internet however they please. Though they certainly are trying.
So far as piracy is concerned, a street vendor, on Wall St., across the street from the New York Stock Exchange where all the big Hollywood companies are publicly traded was selling shrink wrapped VHS copies of Attack of The Clones as well as pirated DVDs of other just opened films. Look, Ma: No Internet! If they can't control blatant piracy right under their noses, I don't think trying to cripple the Internet is going to help.
The only weapon against piracy was, is and always will be: a good product at a fair price released in a timely fashion. That may not kill piracy 100%, but it will marginalize it into insignificance.
Ted

 

[BrettB]

So far as piracy is concerned, a street vendor, on Wall St., across the street from the New York Stock Exchange where all the big Hollywood companies are publicly traded was selling shrink wrapped VHS copies of Attack of The Clones as well as pirated DVDs of other just opened films.

What the hell was Lucas thinking when he decided to wait until the movie played in theaters to release Clones to home video?

 

[Ted Todorov]

The following quote is from the link Nathan posted above:

The Bootleg I saw was anything but high-quality. It was a telesync, meaning it was recorded with a cam in a theater - the quality was horrible..

The NY Times had a rather funny article on these camcorder originated pirated copies of movies as an entirely different art form, only marginally connected to the movie in question. They include audience commentary tracks, family squabbles, the camera pointing toward the audience instead of the movie or showing only about 1/3 of the screen, MST3K like heads and hats at the bottom, etc. etc.

People who seriously watch these things must be the ultimate J6Ps.

Ted

 

[Chris Xolotl]

I remember watching a camcorder version of Return of the Jedi way back when. It was so funny and worthless. I can't imagine things have changed too much since then. It was like watching MST2K with all the heads and commentary.

The window between theatrical and home release has been shrinking for some movies as slim as three months (for real stinkers). So maybe this will help stave off some of this activity.

Sh(9 I need my caffeine..

 

[streeter]

For the last three years or so that movies have been readily available for download on the web, I have always been surprised that nothing has been done about this.

I am wondering, what prevents the MPAA from getting people who have these files on their irc servers arrested? Anyone know?

Also, how come storeowners outside of the US, especially in Asia, can simply sell bootlegs? Same for the people in Manhattan: why don't they get arrested?

If someone could briefly explain this, please. It will be much appreciated.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Michael, supposedly the copyright holder must make a specific complaint about each person/shop selling.

I was at a LARGE comic convention last weekend, and people were selling BTTF, Star Wars, Harry Potter, LOTR etc etc openly on the floor, despite the no bootleg clause in their dealer contract. I asked a cop to please arrest them, but he couldn't without a court order. Eventually my complaints to the con (and probably my call to the MPAA) got them to pull the hollywood boots, but of course the Asian stuff still remained. DC Comics told me they'd already called Warner, but they didn't know if the lawyer SWAT team would arrive in time, and that "next year we're going to be inspecting before the show and spot checking"

If I were Ebay, I'd just create a script that kills anything with "Star Wars" and "DVD" in the title. (Yes, it should look for the word "Phantom" to except things)

The bottom line is that Ebay is very careful to NOT be able to be implicated in the hordes of bootlegs that fester there. What the MPAA needs to do is form an Ebay monitoring squad, whose mission is to stop these sales. Sure they go up and down fast, but it's getting ludicrous

 

[Dave H]

Episode 2 is ALL OVER the internet. Eventually, Hollywood is going to take drastic measures to prevent this type of stuff. The internet as we know it is about to change

There is nothing Hollywood can do if some guy sneaks in a camcorder and records the movie at a local showing. This would be up to the theater. Hollywood can pressure the theater, but there isn't a whole lot they can do and I don't know what you mean by the Internet changing as we know it. Nothing can stop someone from putting up a bootleg copy somewhere. There are too many ways to go about transfering the movie to the Net. (Which isn't a bad thing because these other "ways" have many legitimate, practical uses for other things, programs, applications, etc.) They are going to have to live it with and enforce current laws.

I will say that I do NOT believe anything of this bootlegging will affect ticket sales nor DVD sales to any significant degree. The quality of these bootlegs can't even come close to watching this in a movie theater and the offical DVD comes with a much better transfer, extras, etc. that ANY fan will buy.

 

[Greg Rowe]

I am wondering, what prevents the MPAA from getting people who have these files on their irc servers arrested? Anyone know?

Wehn you download something via IRC the file never touches the IRC server. An IRC server only "relays chat" (Internet Relay Chat). If you download a file from a fellow IRC user you make a direct connection to that users computer completely bypassing the IRC server. This is also the case for DCC (direct connection chat).
If someone distributes a copyrighted material they have broken the law. New laws are not needed. Napster should have never been shutdown - their users broke the law, not napster. Special laws are not needed, existing laws cover the problems the MPAA faces.
Criminals uses roads to travel, should roads be eliminated? Leave the internet alone!
I also agree that what needs to be done, especially for music, is to provide a superior product at a good price. I don't buy CDs because they cost too much, I also don't download copyrighted music. I would buy CDs if they were cheaper though.
Ranting done - for now

 

[Matt DeVillier]

Now, if Ebay would get on the ball and get rid of all those Attack of the Clones VCDs clogging the laserdisc section

glad to see I'm not the only one extremely pissed to see such spam (and rampant bootlegging). On a slightly related note, ebay needs better categorization of all their media - and a better way to prevent things from being posted in incorrect categories.

 

[Butch C]

Same for the people in Manhattan: why don't they get arrested?

The average NYC cop is not gonna waste his time and effort to arrest a perp for 'copyright infringment' (he'd be laughed out of the station house) just so the guy could get a desk appearence ticket and start using one of his other SS#'s from there on.

Did you ever see a wanted poster in a NYC police station?

14 a.k.a.'s and 12 SS#'s per person.

 

[Kai Zas]

Come on, people! Why are you guys protecting hollywood that much? Haven't you noticed those people are filthy stinking rich? They can afford to loose that little bit of money. I get sick when I hear what those people make. It makes me sad to think about the reasons why most of them make movies, and wheter they are silently laughing behind my back about it.

I buy a good deal of dvd's (about 300 over the last 2 years). But I've also seen a fair share of divx movies. Heck, I consider them to be a sort of sample to the DVD. I don't have time to go to the cinema. But my broadband internet connection and my Easynews account assure me of the latest movies. And I buy what I like.

This may sound blasphemous to most of you, but I've bought Star Wars IV, V and VI on DVD. Mainly because Lucas won't release them. When I was a lot younger (I'm 25 now), a friend of mine had ET on tape. This was during that ET-free period between the theatrical release and the first broadcast on tv one enchanted christmass on the BBC. We watched that betamax tape a lot! To me, these arn't crimes. I will be the first (or at least among the first) to buy these titles once they are released.

Please, don't get me wrong, but we're all guilty of a little piracy here and there. And piracy will always exist. There's no way you can change or govern the internet to stop it.

And heck, if people want to ruin AOTC for themselves, let them go right ahead! I did with the Phantom Menace (although in the end there wasn't that much to ruin). I'll never do it again.

 

[John_Berger]

*sigh* Here we go again.
When someone can prove to me that every bootleg copy is meant to usurp the purchase of the real thing when it comes out or to replace the need to go to the theater, then I will whole-heartedly advocate the stomping out of piracy. But AFAIC, this bitching and moaning about the selling of really crappy copies of a movie is silly.
There is no replacement for the real thing. I know that. You know that. And I'd like to think that anyone with half of a brain knows that. But if someone buys a crappy video, that is not proof-positive that the same person will not see it in theaters and will not buy the real DVD/video when it comes out. I would like to think that at best the crappy version is just a stop-gap until the real thing comes out on video or DVD. Granted, that's not going to be the case with everyone but I hope that it is the case with the vast majority.
Now, someone making a profit off of it, that does cross the line. But just because someone buys or downloads a movie does NOT mean that he (the purchaser) has no intention whatsoever of buying the DVD when it comes out or even seeing the movie in the theater.
This issue is NOT black-and-white where one download or bootleg purchase always and forever equates to a lost sale. I do wish that it would stop being painted as such.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Maybe they should frisk people and install metal detectors at theaters?

 

[Kai Zas]

Maybe they should frisk people and install metal detectors at theaters?

I hope you forgot the smiley.

 

[John CW]

It's true that people do that, but they're generally hard-core HT addicts like ourselves! I'd happily buy a bootleg DVD of the second series of Twin Peaks, but I'd also be first in the queue when they're officially released, trust me!
There's always some hyprocrisy and outright lying when it comes to Hollywood (or any major company) complaining about bootlegs. They always say "we lose x billion a year to copyright theft" but anyone with two braincells thinks: "What's the guarantee that all those people who picked up a bootleg for a TENTH of the price would have paid FULL price if they were to anyway??". Bootlegs often allow people to "experiment" and get to see stuff they wouldn't normally think was worth their money.
There obviously IS losses due to bootlegging, but I seriously don't think it's as bad as people say.
Anyways,
~ John

 

[Greg_S_H]

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