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Remember that Seinfeld episode where Jerry bootlegs a movie and does such a great job he becomes a legend amongst the bootleggers? Well now he would have a lot more to worry about had he been caught. Secretly videotaping movies in a New York City theater may become a misdemeanor under a bill approved by the City Council yesterday. Prior to this bill, it was only a $250 fine, a slap on the wrist compared to the new fine of $5,000 and possible jail time (up to six months).
Just as illegal music downloading is costing the music industry money, movie bootlegging cost major film studios more than $6 billion in 2005. According to the Motion Picture Association "90 percent of pirated films are generated by people who record them in theaters and then sell the duplications for mass reproduction or post them on the Internet, sometimes just hours after the movie has premiered." New York is a major source of these bootlegs with 43% of the illegal movies coming from here.
Bloomberg supports the bill and is also pushing for a state bill that would classify theater videotaping as a misdemeanor and make the second offense a felony. Last fall he also began using public nuisance laws to go after the owners of buildings where film piracy is organized, which has also resulted in the confiscation of millions of dollars in counterfeit clothing and handbags. Guess we'll stick to Netflix.
Photo via Duggy's flickr. Check out the "Crappy Bootleg DVD Covers" pool.
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Jesus H. Christ on a pony is he kidding?
Here's how you stop it. Go down to Canal street where every single DVD is a bootleg and tell the police that instead of just ho humming and walking past them, start confiscating / trashing / arresting the people selling the stuff right under their stupid shoes.
Seriously.
All the laws in the world won't mean crap unless the ones you have are enforced (think... How many times have you seen some schmuck driving with a phone up to his head?)
First off, the police have to start doing their job. Why is someone selling pirated bootlegs allowed to be ignored? If I went down to the same street corner and tried to sell loose (marijuana) joints, I'd be arrested in a heartbeat. So basically, the police need to wake up and start enforcing the laws!
DVD, DVD, new DVD
I always thought it would be hilarious to shoot some improvised scenes with your friends and a camcorder, and then package it up as a bootleg.
City Council seems to have an awful lot of time on their hands. . .
CD DVD? CD DVD? CD? DVD?
$5,000 and possible jail time? This country has it's priorities seriously screwed up.
Way to parrot MPAA talking points. The 6 billion number was if every single bootleg copy that they claim was sold (which is just a guess anyway cause no one has any idea how many bootlegs are sold) turned into a full-priced movie ticket. Which is a load of crap. I would suspect that a majority of theatrical bootlegs are tickets that would never be sold: people are willing to spend a couple bucks on a cheap bootleg they can watch at home, instead of dropping 11 bucks to go to the movie theater.
But anyway, the MPAA basically just makes up that number. And of course you go and repeat it, which gives validity to it.
This is discrimination against Chinese people.
We should be allowed to sell bootleg DVDs!
Why should we have to subsidize the enforcement that solely benefits a single industry?
They should create and pay for their own security and enforcement.
Does this mean ticket prices will go down?
Does this mean I'll have to go see Firehouse Dog in the theater?
People actually buy crappy copies of movies that were taped in the theater? Movies are out on DVD in like, 6 weeks anyway.
I'm not sure that people knowingly buy copies of movies that were taped in the theater. With the state-of-the-art packaging these bootleggers use, it could look "legit" on the outside and end up containing footage from someone's home movies on the disk (as someone above suggested).
I agree that it's ultimately the entertainment industry's burden to bear, not taxpayers. Yet, I would point out that mass entertainment - for better or worse - is one of a few industries left in which we as Americans rule the roost. I'm amazed when I travel by the breadth of reach of American entertainment, especially with regard to animated films. Kids everywhere seem to know who Lightning McQueen is.