June 22, 2004
US cinema reward to stop piracy
In an article related to Hollywood's piracy-paranoia, the BBC reports that cinema staffers in the US are being offered up to $500 to catch people recording movies on camcorders.
"The reward scheme is being run by film studios and movie theatres in a bid to stop piracy, which costs the industry billions of dollars each year.
[ "The MPAA estimated in 2003 that the movie industry loses $3 billion annually to piracy, and that's not even counting Internet downloads of bootleg films, by far the fastest-growing segment". ]
Other anti-piracy moves include staff wearing night-vision goggles to see if customers are recording films."
Camera phones and video phones aren't doing much harm at this point - you can only view short clips. But still, the potential for ill use exists and can only get worse as technology improves.
Related articles:
-- Harry Potter and the wizard idea to foil cinema pirates
-- 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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