Drive-in ‘Scene’ Movie Cammer Arrested
Written by Ben Jones on February 17, 2009Australian officials desperate to reduce film ‘camming’ have arrested and charged a man in Sydney with 18 counts of copyright infringement. Unusually, he wasn’t caught in the act, and the cinema was a drive-in. The man is allegedly a member of the well known scene group PreVail.
One of the up sides of drive-in cinemas is that people are free to talk inside their own cars, use their phones, and even smoke at will.
This privacy can also mean that spotting someone surreptitiously recording the movie can be hard. Tinted windows can make the use of night vision equipment futile, and cameras can be hidden or covertly installed in cars. The movie’s audio, piped in through the car’s audio system, can also prove a great direct recording source.
Perhaps for these reasons, the New South Wales police have arrested and charged a man from the south west Sydney area, in connection with movie ‘camming’. The police carried out a raid and searched his residence, with members of the anti-piracy lobby group AFACT assisting (!). Afterwards, they seized what is being described as ’sophisticated video camcording equipment’ (a camcorder) and computer equipment (most likely a computer).
The raid comes after a digital watermark, identifying the cinema, was found in some of the CAM and TS releases from the group ‘PreVail‘. Allegations are that the 26 year old man was linked to that group. However, no information on what ties the unnamed man had with the group has been made public, as a watermark would only identify the cinema that it was recorded at. Interestingly enough, two of the movie titles listed in the press-release have never been released by PreVail. “He’s Just Not That Into You” and “Marley and Me” were indeed released as a Cam version, but not by PreVail.
Of course, the arrests seem to have been prompted by (again) gross exaggerations of the facts by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) with the press releases talking about the great losses CAMs cause. It also comments how Scene ‘Top Sites’ sell their releases to ‘criminal groups’ who then mass produce DVDs for sale. Apart from scene groups often being very anti-sale, it’s unclear why criminal groups would pay for these releases anyway. A wait of less than an hour will enable them to get them for free online.
All things aside, if the man is a member of PreVail (a group that has ‘released’ more than 200 films in the last 3 ½ years) and is convicted, his sentence will not be a light one. With $60,500 AUS ($39,000US or €31,000) and 5 years imprisonment per offense, that can yield a maximum sentence of over a million Aussie dollars and 90 years in prison. In fact, he’s looking at a potential punishment greater than most murderers.
The 18 charges include possessing a device with intent to make an infringing copy, possessing an infringing copy for distribution, and distributing infringing copies. The case will be heard on March 12th at Blacktown Local Court.
On the plus side though, proving the bluster about financial gain will be hard. It appears to be how lobby groups prod police forces to act, even if the police are active pirates themselves.
Previously: 50% of Charges Against Pirate Bay Dropped
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41 Responses
VCRs and DVDs didn’t kill the movie industry, it expanded it. Find a way to profit from what people want, rather than punish them.
I sense a trend, that, if not reversed, will result in a 1984-like police state, all due to copyright.
i don’t know why people bother with cams
“possessing a device with intent to make an infringing copy”
how are they gonna prove that?
dickheaded lobbyist make me wanna paint the walls with brains.
If people want movies available the day they are released in theatres, then provide it. Set up a tracker with high speed servers do downloads are quick. Have a search engine front end to capture eyeballs and there is your revenue.
Some people will still go to the theatre and drive-in for the experience of going.
Some people will still buy the DVD.
Some people will download and watch on their home theater system.
Why not profit from all instead of trying to control it all for fear of losing some $$. If a site like IMDB offered downloads as well as DVD sales and had all movies ever made, as well as guaranteed high speed seeds for filesharing, and even direct downloads (some people will pay for that) I can’t see how that would not be a great revenue generator.
I suppose they are afraid they won’t make as much as they are now, but I bet they are wrong. Why would you want to be part of a private movie tracker which may or may not be seeding the movie you want and put up with speeds of 1 to 5 kBps when you could belong to one that offers 500 kBps or even 1 MBps?
The site that can attract the most users will be able to generate the most $$
Some people want it digital and they want it now. Provide it and profit.
OMG, i don’t download that because of the bad quality, it’s just futile to arrest them and put a bigger sentence than a raper who kill child life! Its not sound right to me.
who really cares… Obviously their information is flawed as usual.. maybe they did catch someone.. but, to assume that person is linked to any specific group without proof is ridiculous and show how much knowledge they have about what they are against… which is nothing!.. lmao
ts, telesync, cams, dvdscr should be avoided.. they pose a greater risk for the “ripper” and the quality is so low…
I shouldn’t be talking for anyone, but I’m just really into bluray rips. would rather wait 6 months for a release than watch it with low res and in stereo
@5
Just to point out, the three private trackers I use max my 100 Mbit/s connection. Most of the time I get about 6 MB/s, about the same as I got when downloading W7 beta from MS. Never had any more than 6 MB/s.
Choose your trackers more wisely next time, sir.
@#8 DVDscr are mint . Noob . Most TS are great these days . Nothing like the old maven TS’s but not horrible.
Just to play devil’s advocate for a moment– what IS in it for these scene cammers?
I have a hard time believing that someone would go to all the trouble and expense of tinting vehicle windows, purchasing tickets, acquiring “spy” video equipment of decent quality, and investing the time necessary to capture/rip/convert/upload these cams for nothing but the right to say “FIRST!”
What gives?
This is fucking stupid to imprison a person for such acts. Copyrights are ruining peoples lives. It needs to changed! and quickly!
*adds 1 more reason to pirate..*
598583272 + 1
:)
what this article forgets to mention is:
a) person 3 cars over to the right was raping children
b) someone was doing lines off the dashboard 3 cars to the left.
c) someone robbed the concession stand at gunpoint.
d) cheap hoes making their rounds
…and the CAM guy is looking at decades of imprisonment and massive fines? glad I live in a half sane country.
CRIKEY!
“Police state”.
Roze is finally smelling the coffee.
We can all agree that the digital realm is literally transformative and will continue to be the central realm of creation and the medium of choice for the transport of data for the foreseeable future.
Someday, digital will be like the covered wagon, but for now, it’s the point.
We can also agree that anything digitized, anything at all, is inherently intellectual property. It can be open source, creative commons or locked up with DRM but in every case, it was created somehow by some entity and by it’s nature, it is IP. But just because it is in tangible does not make it “imaginary” property. It will belong and have value to SOMEone.
Pirates are determined to create the equation….. Digital=Free and/or Freely distributed.
So the issue appears to be that either there is to be no security for data or databanks, no monetary value for anything digital and consequently, no ability for government to use the network and no financial incentive for industry to ever digitize anything, or, government and industry has no alternative but to take on the challenge of control and security to preserve the digital realm as valuable to business and government, at the cost of our privacy and freedom online.
This is the choice that pirates appear to wish to require. And I doubt very much if government is simply going to roll over and hand this remarkable domain over to anarchy. In the longer run, this goes very badly for pirates and indeed, anything illegal online, and an internet police state is likely the government response. Sound government always responds this way to anarchy, and the losses of privacy will historically be viewed as the fault of the piracy itself.
“We can also agree that anything digitized, anything at all, is inherently intellectual property.”
No, we do not agree on that. Copyright is not inherent, but rather government-imposed, and it is not property either. It is a government-imposed monopoly.
Pirates are not imposing the internet police state. The industry is, and the industry must be fought.
and just like the pathetic and pointless war on drugs.. the government will have a very hard time locking down the internet.. if not completely futile.
You always talk as if a policed internet is an inevitable future.. and although I can see the government attempting to lock it down.. I do NOT however see this as a unstoppable force.
One thing you need to remember, is that the internet would still be completely porn if it wasn’t for pirates.
The very reason why the internet is so great is because of pirates and copying. Our dream has always been to have free information readily available at any time.. complete communication of data in real time.. no lines drawn.
When you start drawing lines.. you start separating everyone yet again. The internet knows no boundaries, ethical or racial differences. It is a free world, and me and countless others will fight to keep it free. No one will gain control, no one will monopolize it, no one will enforce there pointless rules.
It will remain neutral.
So first the MPAA try to say sharing is stealing, then they say piracy is worse than MURDER! What is the net coming to?
that’s unfortunate.
This is a bit off topic, but what is happening with pc software is a purchase is made, game played, then sold on ebay for two thirds of the price, next seller sells it again for two thirds and so on. A large number of users get to play the game and the company only gets one sale. And it’s absolutely legal. How long before they are trying to ban resale on the grounds they are losing business?
valter – they ARE already trying to kill the resale market, with some success. No matter that the ability to resell a good is a basic consumer right.
More and more games have to be ‘activated’ online, re-activated whenever hardware changes, and you only get so many activations. Run out, and you can only get another *if* the company is still going, *if* they still support the game and *if* you can send them proof of purchase. The latter may well be a problem for any secondary customer.
(Oh and realistically a game might be resold twice at most, your infinite reselling chain is unrealistic.)
90 years in jail for camming a movie thats bulls*ht. Valter you are absolutely right.
Well that 90 years/million dollars figure is likely the maximum sentence. I do have to wonder what makes this guy so different from the one who cammed The Simpsons Movie in 07 and got off with only a $1000 fine though.
i think they should build a cage around the planet, jail everyone whos involved in sharring copyright content
looked over the cams for marley and me
no PreVail release
the ORC cam has theater seat in the lower right hand corner so wasnt done at any drive-in
LTT cam release is the only other cam i can find……..hhhhhhmmmmmmm
so if he didnt get caught in the act, do they record your number plate, personal information about people who go to the theatre and spy on everyone ? would be interesting to know why they turned up at his house, did they check who has internet conections afterwards and likely suspects ?
“Interestingly enough, two of the movie titles listed in the press-release have never been released by PreVail. “He’s Just Not That Into You” and “Marley and Me” were indeed released as a Cam version, but not by PreVail.”
Yes, but that probably means PreVail was beaten to it by another group.
“…It also comments how Scene ‘Top Sites’ sell their releases to ‘criminal groups’ who then mass produce DVDs for sale. Apart from scene groups often being very anti-sale…”
The fact that scene groups are anti-commercial usage mean precisely nothing as that are not associated with top-sites directly. Traders (or couriers) are the ones that take releases from release site dumps to topsites and some topsites most certainly do have “pay to leech” accounts – which some trackers amongst others use.
“With $60,500 AUS ($39,000US or €31,000) and 5 years imprisonment per offense, that can yield a maximum sentence of over a million Aussie dollars and 90 years in prison. In fact, he’s looking at a potential punishment greater than most murderers.”
That’s true, however I seriously doubt that any judge would sentence using that maximum penalty for each offence – that would be ridiculous. He’s probably going to face some years in jail though and hefty fines.
Holy shit. The australian police actually caught someone doing something?
So if all the charges sticks, he would’ve been better off killing the officers trying to arrest him, destroying all the copying equipment, then turning himself in for murder. lol.
just wondering if the police payed the mpaa for the movies they downloaded or just stole them considering its not one law for the few none for the police “identifying the cinema, was found in some of the CAM and TS releases from the group ‘PreVail‘.”
What rubbish they will never sentance him to 90 years. I also find it hard to believe that he would be PreVail’s only source/cammer and is responsible for 200 XviD releases.
Take the DoD case for example when the Australian Co-leader was sentanced to 51 months in America.
Mr Idiot, be glad you are using internet with anonymacy.
If “pirates” were retaliating as hard as you and the scumbags lobbyists are intending to do, you would live your last days by now.
No jail time for this person, can’t prove the camera was for recording at the drive in when it’s in a car.
NubCakes…oh sorry i’m mean reasoned mind, you’re about to die out with the rest of the dinosaurs.
2010 is the beginning.
Cinema where the offences were made
http://www.greaterunion.com.au/cinemas/cinema.asp?Cinema=6
http://www.drive-insdownunder.com.au/australian/nsw_blacktown.htm
i’ve been there once…think it was to see Crocodile Dundee in LA
i just realized you have to type a name, unlike last week when you could just leave it blank like other sites *4chan*
Only n00bs watch CAM’s and TS’s.
1080p FTW.
10ch.org says-
I sense a trend, that, if not reversed, will result in a 1984-like police state, all due to copyright.
~~~~~~VERY TRUE~~~~~~
@Sweden
” Just to point out, the three private trackers I use max my 100 Mbit/s connection. Most of the time I get about 6 MB/s, about the same as I got when downloading W7 beta from MS. Never had any more than 6 MB/s.
Choose your trackers more wisely next time, sir.”
Care to give any clues which trackers these are?
@5
Your a retard… However I think its sad that you can only download at 1-5kbps are you on dail up?!?! lol.. What private tracker are you using :P Demonoid?!? lol get SCC, GFT, TL, ScT, etc and then say that its slow! I get a minimum of 700kbps at SCC, GFT, and TL!! Most of the time I get 800kbps-2mbps anyways.. When I use my seedbox i dl at over 10 mbps.. so thats slow huh?? All I have is cable internet and I get around 1mbps on private trackers!! lol
@40: Can I stamp ‘EPIC FAIL’ on your forehead? You, sir, are an idiot.
@15 Reasoned Mind
“And I doubt very much if government is simply going to roll over and hand this remarkable domain over to anarchy.”
Government can not “hand over” that which they do not possess. Cyberspace has never been the property or domain of governments or corporations. Nor will it ever. It has, is, and will always be the great equalizer, the leveling of the playing field. It is owned by all and the fact that you equate ownership by all/ownership by none as anarchy exposes you as one who has no reasoning mind because you automatically assume dominion by, and subservience to, governments and corporations. You, sir, are the typical mindless drone preferring to live on your knees letting Big Brother do your thinking for you. And it is time for you to wake up and unplug. A free man reasons and thinks for himself.
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