January 2, 2004
Crackdown In Cinemas
At a recent showing of «Big Fish», several moviegoers at a local theatre held up camera-equipped cell phones and took snapshots of the screen. Doing the same with a video camera will soon be a crime. Along with other several states including California, Ohio has at Hollywood's urging passed a law that lets police arrest people for videotaping movies in theaters, reports CBSnews.
According to some experts, the movie industry should really be looking at it's own backyard, as a recent AT&T Labs study found that three of every four movies leaked on the Internet came from industry insiders.
Figures disputed by the MPAA, who says the researchers used flawed data.
"The movie industry says its internal analysis last year found that 92 per cent of recently released movies found on the Internet came from camcorders".
The industry estimates pirated movies cost it $3.5-billion annually.
Ohio's bill, signed in December by Gov. Bob Taft and taking effect in March, gives movie theaters the right to make a citizen's arrest if they suspect someone is making a pirate copy of a film".
Related articles:
-- Will You Be Arrested The Next Time You Bring Your Camera Phone To The Movies?
-- Five Years In Jail For Putting A Movie Online
-- Leave your picture phone outside the movie theater
-- Bag and body searches at screenings
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