Police Arrest Man Camming ‘The Dark Knight’
Written by enigmax on July 20, 2008A man allegedly seen ‘camming’ the latest Batman movie has been arrested by police. Following guidelines, theater employees called the police after suspicions were aroused. According to the MPAA, many other movies have been recorded at this theater.
It was always going to be a big, big movie and it certainly didn’t disappoint, going to set a one-day box office record of $66.4 million on opening day, according to Warner’s head of distribution, Dan Fellman. No one, not even pirates are allowed to ruin this party.
Hindering piracy of the movie was always high on the list for Warner and it handed out night vision goggles in Australia in an attempt to thwart ‘cammers’ - people who record movies in theaters. In Australia ‘cammers’ are asked to leave if they are caught by theater staff, in the United States things are a little different.
According to reports, on Friday morning Eastglen 16 Theater employees grew suspicious that a man was recording, or ‘camming’ the “Dark Knight” movie. Following movie industry guidelines they called police at around 9:40pm, who arrived shortly after.
Lee’s Summit police confirmed that they found evidence that the 40-year-old man from Grandview, Mo. had recorded the movie so they arrested him. A few hours later the police went to the man’s house and conducted a search where they say they found pirate movies on DVD.
According to the MPAA, several other movies have been recorded at the Eastglen 16 theater, but at this stage it is not known if the man is affiliated with any particular group or was acting alone. Police have not released the name of the suspect.
Inevitably, and despite the best efforts of Warner, Rlslog reports that a copy of the movie has been leaked onto the Internet by a release group called “TradingStandards” who apparently ’stole’ it from a P2P group called ‘DEViSE’ who actually ’stole’ it from 2Bros - quite confusing. But anyway, by most accounts the quality is pretty poor and not worth bothering with at all, so Warner will be happy.
Considering the popularity of the movie, maybe this time it just has to be the big screen.
Previously: Speed Up Your Torrents, Tips from a BitTorrent Developer
Next: ISP Secretly Copies BitTorrent Tracker Data
131 Responses
Is it legal for police to search your house just because you camming a movie ?
Well, in the US, you can expect everything today it seems…
They probably treat you like any criminal or terrorist, if you’ve done something illegal, they search if you’ve done that before, in their records and your house…
(I don’t know if it’s really that way, I just heard that once, I’m not american…)
If they can prove “Probable Cause” than no. Freedoms in the United States are going down the shitter.
So videotaping a movie is now a CRIMINAL act, punishable not by civil suit, but by arrest and proesecution by the state? Really?!
“Hindering piracy of the movie was always high on the list for Warner and it handed out night vision goggles in Australia in an attempt to thwart ‘cammers’ - people who record movies in theaters. In Australia ‘cammers’ are asked to leave if they are caught by theater staff, in the United States things are a little different.”
This is precisely the attitude and behavior that explains why I have not seen a movie in a theater since 1998 and why I just downloaded and watched a CAM version of Dark Knight on Saturday night. I have no interest in paying $10 to be treated like a criminal by a bunch of minimum wage monkeys for a pseudo-mafia organization. I would really love to buy the bluray version when it comes out, too… but because of behavior like this - I won’t be.
If you want to kick them out of your theater, fine. However, you have NO right (or should not) to call the police, force them to give their information, send them to jail, etc. Why is this above any number of other crimes? Unless it’s a serious crime, I can’t just call the police and have them do everything for me. I have to get the person’s information on my own. Then I have to get a lawyer. Then I can take them to court.
Hell, there are a lot of very serious crimes which don’t involve arrest. I can’t believe that pointing a video camera at a screen is one that does.
Fuck the Patriot Act.
ANYTHING can be considered “probable cause” in America. Not only that, but our government has judged that it is acceptable for people to invade your house without a proper search warrant… and without ever even letting you know they have done so. And they can tap your phone without going through the courts (see recent behaviors by the whitehouse, etc). Hell, they can even disappear you. How much longer until a theater owner or MPAA lackey can just call the FBI and have you whisked away to a carrier outside of national waters to have you tortured and killed?
Doesn’t seem like it’s far off, does it?
While I hate the RIAA / MPAA (MAFIAA) as much as anybody here, I do disagree that if caught camming the only punishment should be that you are let out of the cinema, try looking at it from their side for a second, on the other hand i totally agree that the punishments are way to harsh, a balance must be found and till it is: its just going to piss of a LOT of people like me, poster #4: No, and others who would actually buy the disk later on but now wont because we feel like we are just feeding the monster and making it stronger while its on its way to eat us.
Personally, I dont think a cam can do this movie justice anyway.
Cheers!
M
http://www.eZee.se
What the hell do people find appealing about cams ?
To me they are simply appalling.
I’m probably not enough of a masochist to do to me something like watching cams, i’d rather wait for proper DVD rips.
Welcome in the worst than nazi police totalitarian state called the fucking u$a
Quasimodo- it’s the spirit that counts
They have always thought it was criminal, as you can see in this familiar example:
http://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fbiwarningxt8.jpg
I thought the cam was watchable.
“Lee’s Summit police confirmed that they found evidence that the 40-year-old man from Grandview, Mo. had recorded the movie so they arrested him. ***A few hours later the police went to the man’s house and conducted a search where they say they found pirate movies on DVD.***”
What the ****? That’s BS! If you get caught drunk driving they don’t search your house for booze!
:mad:
I hope he consented… If not, they would have had to have a warrant, and whoever gave the warrant is an idiot.
Probable cause, my bum, by the way. He wasn’t got in a robbery and they knew he might have been jacking jewelry before, or caught murdering people with weapons so they searched for more…
Hell, even if you get caught with illegal drugs they do not often search your house for them.
Looks like “Camming” is a worse offense than dealing drugs.
WTF?
I think it’s time for an over-the -top advertising campaign that lets everybody see how ridiculous this is getting.
BURNING A CD IS JUST LIKE RAPE!
CAMMING A MOVIE IS WORSE THAN MOLESTING A CHILD!
RAMPANT DOWNLOADING OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS COMPARABLE TO THE HOLOCAUST!
MP3 IS THE DEVILS COMPRESSION!
AXXO IS THE JEFFEREY DAHMER OF DIGITAL DISMEMBERMENT!
BITTORRENT IS THE AIDS WITH A DASH OF ANAL CANCER!
etc,etc.
Your CAPSLOCK button broken, goof?
Anyways, I hope they charge that guy with the heinous crime of making shitty releases available on BT sites. CAMs are for jackoffs.
This site is getting more retarded by the minute. I just got back from watching the dark knight in Imax. Man was that movie great, anyone who wants to watch a cam of a movie as good as that is a retard.
I download as much movies as the next guy but people who like cams for good movies such as this and don’t wanna support it are just douchebags. You want more good movies? support good movies then and pirate the crap out of bad ones then.
Just spamming “FUCK THE RIAA HAHAHAR LOLZ” on every topic makes you look as a intelligent as a retarded 12 year old. Go back to torrentspy or something where most of you idiots come from (sucks they took it down now, all the idiots come to other sites)
cams arent thaht bad if u want to see it during the hype…
Yep its true, America sucks huge cock when it comes to police. (I should know I live here and I just got f*cked over)
But on the bright side.. it was just a cam.. big whoop. DVDrip is all thats important.
@17 I always watch a movie in the theatres not because the cam is shitty i just like to get out sometimes…I don’t try to support anyone.
I’ll go and see the movie in the cinema £10 for the lazy boy chairs and free refills on coke / popcorn! however I will download it, I dont see why I should have to pay for it once I go to the cinema to see it? maybe they should rethink there approach and maybe give a DVD of the movie once you go and see it in the cinema? That way if you dont go to the cinema you can still purchase it to see it.
@ 17, although I agree with you, it is NOT good to support the movies you like by paying for it in the usual way. Just because you support one movie and not another does nothing to help the change, it only makes there side stronger. I perfectly understand you wanting to see it in imax, and sadly theres no way to see it in imax and support the movie more directly.. you have to give your money over to a greedy piece of shit industry. Its the same kinda thing as downloading a bands music, paying for there concert and buying a tshirt. You supported the artist directly, and the shit heads who didnt do a thing for you (The Music Industry) didnt get any money. Win Win scenario.
Just don’t buy the DVD.
This is amazingly retarded. Until they rewrite the laws (not far off, I’m sure) to say that businesses can establish their policies as criminal code, the BEST parallel they could draw would be to claim that taking their intellectual property = shoplifting.
And even if you buy that, they still fail - because he hadn’t left the premises.
It sickens me how often people in the US confuse company policy with the law. Even cops now, apparently.
Listen for it, and it’s disgusting how often managerial types will tell clerks and/or customers that something is “illegal” when they mean “against company policy.”
I dearly hope this guy sues for false arrest. He has a good case, and hopefully it’ll become news and dissuade similarly-minded “do what the guy in the suit tells you” cops.
i would gladly pay to see this movie, but i cant because they start it 1 month LATER here in germany and i won’t wait that long, sorry
Hah! Look for FRAGMENT (that’s the group’s name i believe) release. It’s much better than TradingStandards or DEViSE or 2Bros. It should be somewhere on the pirate bay…
As for cammers, i can’t say i like the guys. They’re tempting me to watch the movie in a poor quality rather than wait for a proper release. My thoughts: if you want it fresh, go to the theater. If you’re making early release - at least do it in a proper way: team up with the theater worker and make a direct copy.
I live in the United States (sadly) and I go to a lot of premieres, usually for free, but if you are gonna try to cam you might as well be raping a baby. Srsly. The MPAA has their hands deep in the police force’s ass.
easy way to combat piracy!!!!!!!studios to release new films on the net via good quality streaming with some sort of copy protection so they cannot be downloaded and pay to watch it online,how easy is that!!!.nobody would want to watch a crap cam then.how long is it gonna take them to realize this???its not about not paying to watch the film with most people,its about availability.a blockbuster is released,alot of people would like to watch it in the comfort of there own home,what choice do you have???wait six months for the dvd,which no one wants to do.so where do they look??torrents!!!!.simultaneous release of the films at the theater and on the net would stop piracy by a great scale.
@28
if the movie reaches your screen, it CAN be copied… there is no way around that, and no foolproof copy protection scheme.
Awesome.
@29
what about some sort of reference number small and on the screen so if it ends up on the net,they know who purchased that showing of the film??
@29
but then again your probably right!!!but i still think its the best option to combat piracy and give the people what they want.
“It sickens me how often people in the US confuse company policy with the law. Even cops now, apparently.”
There’s no confusion, under current US law camming a movie is a CRIMINAL offense thanks to the “Family Entertainment and Copyright Act”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Entertainment_and_Copyright_Act
(I am NOT posting comments too quickly! This is the only comment I’ve made today!)
I only wish there was something we could do to help the poor bastard. Our scene supoorts the most from acts like his (and honestly, when was the last time any of us cammed a movie at a theatre and put it on the Bay), and now he’s the one suffering.
unfortunately in the US we have the Patriot Act which is a Load OF BULLOX
trading standards ALWAYS steal from p2p…..personally i dont think that alone deserves a nuke (as long as its labeled) the rules need to revised, cuz after all, theyre all stolen from some source
Rekrul: Wow. I didn’t realize the day I spoke of had already come to pass.
(”Until they rewrite the laws (not far off, I’m sure) to say that businesses can establish their policies as criminal code”)
America has the best politicians money can buy, eh?
(And yeah! It does that to me too sometimes for single comments, XP)
Anon 27: “if you are gonna try to cam you might as well be raping a baby”
No shit. Three years for first offense? (per Rekrul’s link)
In many states, that’s LESS than you would get for raping a baby.
Nevermind me, I’m trying to deserve my name. More. Not less.
That’s what I get for typing while agitated.
I’m not sure which is more laughable, the Family Entertainment & Copyright Act Law or its acronym.
Haha, now he is going to rot in jail, what a dumb4ss!
Here’s some high definition samples from The Dark Knight:
http://tinyurl.com/the-dark-knight-HD-sample
You can’t came the dark knight, this is going to be the best movie off the year, dont accept a shit copy made by some 40-year old virgin who gets his jollies caming movies, probobly poor quality bad sound ones at that.
Camming is Cool. Problem is the video quality always SUCKS. I dont even bother wasting my time downloading anyomre cause the quality ALWAYS sux.
JT
http://www.Ultimate-Anonymity.com
Thank god they were focused on the guy camming the movie, I was busy selling crack in the 3rd row.
@42
Go die in a fire!
Hey, if you paid to watch the movie, you should have the right to record it for personal use. :(
It won’t be long until the police start kicking down people’s doors and invading their homes when they get a speeding ticket.
I don’t even see how this ‘camming’ is illegal, unless he distributes the copies to others. Is one not allowed to film what one experiences in one’s life.
I’m getting quite nervous about the police telling us what things in the world we can and cannot record.
This guy should have been asked to leave the property if they didn’t like his activity, and should been arrested for trespassing if not, but there should be know way he should have been arrested (and have his home raided) for merely recording something he was seeing with his own eyes.
Sadly in the last year or so legislation was passed in congress that INDEED DOES make “camming” a criminal offense that subjects you to arrest. I do not know the name of the bill but I am guessing someone who does will post it.
you guys are all idiots
its stealing. if i dont pay for a bag of chips, i get held and arrested by cops
why should camming a movie and putting it on the net not be treated the same way
ok so i will concede that the search of his home was too far, unless there was a search warrant involved but i doubt that they’d get one this fast for a cammer.
plain and simple he should at the very least had his camera confiscated and held overnight. he is part of the problem i dont see movies in theatres often, cuz the prices are ridiculous.
that is my nick, well it was usa1, nice change dont ya think? well the usOFs can kiss my ass, as i am getting out and living somewhere else asap, this place has gotten worse and dont have any sign of stopping anytime soon, alot of other countries are better on the freedom then we are now, and the future looks bleak at best, so what is new? i could go on but ill let the next poster take over where i left off!
u$a1 aka-usa1 dont ask, its a very long story and doesnt have anything to do with what you think it does. NUFF SAID!
Here’s some high definition samples from The Dark Knight:
http://tinyurl.com/the-dark-knight-HD-sample
Camming the latest movie is not the way to support copyright reform.
@49 Logan
If you had a “device” to make a copy of the bag of chips would you still get arrested then? NO..
Only the movie and music industry has the power and will to arrest people making copies of their work.
That device is built into computing, everything you do digitally is affected by that device.
It might not be impossible for sutch a device to come in the future for the real world. They already exists in some form or another, rapid prototypers and printers etc.
Should a man not be entitled to record his experiences so he can share them with his wife who has been hospitalized for years?
Should someone who has an “electronic eye” implant be forced to take it out before entering a theater? Some allows you to use USB sticks to record onto ;)
So he would in that case be a criminal for being able to see..
There are things that are wrong and right, for personal use it should all be alright, but commersial as this guy intended is ofcourse wrong.
But the rules affect the ones who shouldnt be affected. you cant take your kid to a theater so you take the theater to your kid using the technology we have today, i see only good in that.
Should people be locked up for taking fotos of signs and other things out in the world that are copyrighted exactly the same as anything they show in a theater? ofcourse not. So why these different worlds with the same rules? why is copyright enforced in some places and not in others, why are penalties for copyright violation greater in some cases then others?
Why is everything that has to do with the movie and music industry so mutch out of proporsion compared to everything else?
Greed and Corruption, its been going on for years, and years of pressure will make progress for laws and bills, friends and foes, power and greed..
And its not stealing you smuck its infringement, its not like he stole the role and ran off.. He recorded his experience witch should be fine and allowed, it is allowed here as far as i know, no bills or laws making it criminal to record once experiences.
How he was going to use it was the real crime, not recording it. There are ways to prevent sutch things without imposing limits for the rest of the population, or discriminate people with modern “electronic eyes” who can make recordings.. Thats just like disciminating a handicapped telling him to pull his leg off before entering a cinema, completely wrong imo..
@ Chris Taylor Jr
How can they pass sutch shortsighted laws?
Electronic eyes, and stuff that can record sound and video are everywhere these days, even in peoples bodies.
How can one say they are criminals for using their implants/body parts? Discrimination indeed..
sorry your not allowed to use your eyes in here! your brain copies and stores the information!1 That would be fair for us all, and its true. Should the ones with photografic memory not be allowed at cinemas once technology can restore images from our memory? It will happen one day, but hopefully the music and movie cartels will be gone by then and replaced by some other greedy and corrupt monopoly..
I never watch cams, but don’t be jackasses and try to tell us the guy got what he deserved. Honestly, this movie broke records for the biggest opening weekend, and you’re still going to side with these rich fucks? The MPAA, just like the RIAA, needs to be boycotted for hijacking our legal institutions and terrorizing their own customers. Fuck these criminals.
“its stealing. if i dont pay for a bag of chips, i get held and arrested by cops
why should camming a movie and putting it on the net not be treated the same way”
What about if you took a picture of the bag? That would be closer.
guys .. there’s a flaw in the movie.
batman wants to get the “bad” guy
from hongkok. he asks FOX if it can
be done. fox suggest a solution.
but the guy flying the skyhock plane
surely then knows who batman is?
I typed up a response to this and it was taken away so I now see our right to free speech is at the editors desktop to be deleated at his will, so on that note I will not post any more comments here ever nor will I ever log back in to this site I will however go where they do not sensor a mans words even when he dosent use any profanity of any kind like this site did me.
Its going to make it to p2p sooner or later. SOmeone up in the projection booth is bound to not give a f*ck.
[its hard for me to say im sorry]
Has anyone realised that because they caught him camming one movie he could be guilty of supplying other movies - hence the need to search his home and computer?
I’m from another country, but it seriously sounds like all you guys ever do is dump on the police. “They do too much - where is our freedoms” followed shortly thereafter by “They did nothing - where is our protection”.
Give them a break! And stop defending someone who was obviously breaking the law!
@ no. 55 - taking a photo of a bag of chips is nowhere near close. You’re paying to watch something, reproducing it and letting other people watch it for free, thereby stealing from the people who created the visuals in the first place. Taking a photo of a bag of chips doesn’t make it available for other people to eat.
I just viewed Dark Night, I give a lots of credits to the Director and the Script writer specially the part of the Joker “How everyone sees live, what everyone expect from everyone and what the live game is”.
http://www.mercadeoporinternet.com
i don’t eat a movie.. do you.. I think the pic of the bag of chips is a great example. A movie is simple 24 images a second with audio.. nothing more or less..if I watch a Star Wars movie can I use the force? If I watch Finding Nemo, so I need scuba gear? If I watch a racing movie, do I need a helmet? Watching a bag of chips does not feed me. If watching a movie was a thing you can take with you, something that was unique and physical, I would film a feast and feed the world if they would only watch..
you guys like to take things to literally
its about an experience, like you all said
a bag of chips is not meant to be viewed, the experience is eating them, therefore your point about taking a picture of that is invalid
a person paying to see a movie is going to experience a visual story. if you record that story, which is copyrighted, thats stealing. if u copy a book word for word, that is also stealing. we call it plaigarism.
a person with an electronic eye doesn’t qualify, simply because he/she wouldnt be able to watch the movie, so thats invalid. maybe technology will allow for it in a few year. but nonetheless the answer is still no to denying people with electronic eyes because there would be human rights violations, potential lawsuits. no theatre manager would deny that. then he gets caught bootlegging and then u get elec eyes banned from theatres. it only takes one person ti screw it up for the world
a woman in the hospital also isnt justified because the movie is only offered in a theatre. they pay studios for these movies, so that they are available exclusivley in their theatres. if the woman cant make it there for whatever reason, its really her problem.
there is no justifying recording a movie in a theatre and distributing it online. if a person records a device it HAS to be assumed he is going to distribute it online.
the reason movie and music are so heavily enforced is because they are the ones taking the biggest losses from piracy, in case u havent been noticing.
ok heres the real clincher in my ramblings…
when u pay for a movie ticket, you pay to watch it, u dont own the rights to it. therefore u cant do what u want with it. no reproducing it is included. so no camming. i should just delete everything else i just typed out lol. i fail
@ 53
You’re retarded, electronic eyes? Thats the weakest argument I’ve ever heard. Electronic eyes aren’t everywhere, if anything they’re barely ANYWHERE. the first person to have electronic eyes was in 2000, and it was made to help him walk around, not to watch a movie.
I live in Lee’s Summit and saw the movie in the same theatre…our cops here are real tools.
This is probably the most action they’ve seen in months.
You idiots. Of course camming a movie is illegal in the United States. Have you ever actually read the FBI warning in the beginning of a DVD? Those same statues apply to a movie shown in a theater. This guy is going to a Federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison and not a State penitentiary as a result.
No doubt about it, camming = theft. Piracy = theft. So me = thief, but at least I know what I am.
this article is about camming the Dark Knight and the effect it has on the industry
http://www.slyck.com/story1717_Cam_Release_be_Damned_Dark_Knight_Smashes_Records
A man is caught video recording a movie … how exactly did the police manage to obtain a search warrant for the man’s home … where’s the probable cause?
If they fund the production of a movie (really expensive, esp. one like Batman) then it’s their RIGHT to capitalize on it however they want and at whatever price they want.
Currently they monetize their product by selling the experience of seeing the movie. All a DVD is is a license to show that copy within your home.
To #23, it is not company policy to call the police but the MPAA. Having worked in the projection booth for nearly 3 years now, i would say great job to the workers who caught this guy.
Granted prices are high, but so is running a 5k watt bulb and few thousand watt sound system each showing.
If everyone thought like #4, then movies would not have near the budget and look like a sci-fi special. So yeah continue not buying tickets, continue burning dvd’s, and taking the work of hundreds for free because we know your not selfish for it, the movie industry is. Face it #4 you are a greedy dick; no better then the MPAA lobbyists who got the laws to pass congress. #4 your reasoning is flaw and only an excuse for you to be able to make yourself feel better about seeing this movie for free, like a crack addict who steals from a house to support his addiction. You are stealing my paycheck, my ability to live and go to school.
There are a lot of jackasses here. How’s this for the truth?
A) You pay for the movie and watch it in the theatre.
B) If you want to make a statement and ’steal’ the movie instead, be fully prepared for the consequences.
And for the dumbass who said that they don’t go this far out of their way to bust people for pot and booze….a single joint in your house doesn’t run the risk of leeching tens of millions of dollars from the people who rightfully deserve those profits. Put down the manga, go to your local Junior College, and take a basic business class for God’s sake.
Fuckin’ morons.
So lemme get this straight…it should be okay if someone goes in and tapes a movie? You guys are a little too extreme. I admit that I sometimes download movies but I’m really waiting to see this on IMAX when I get the time. I’ll bet that the cops had more than a hunch..they probably looked over tapes and everything before getting a subpoena to search the house. I am also a hypocrite in that I download movies…but in this case…the guy should definately get busted.
The Eastglen 16 Theater employees need to watch their back. You’ll get yours, scumbags.
“@ no. 55 - taking a photo of a bag of chips is nowhere near close. You’re paying to watch something, reproducing it and letting other people watch it for free, thereby stealing from the people who created the visuals in the first place. Taking a photo of a bag of chips doesn’t make it available for other people to eat.”
But to steal something from the people who made it I would have to take something from them. What thing did they use to have that I now have?
“You are stealing my paycheck, my ability to live and go to school.”
I’m stealing your paycheck? Well, of course if by watching a cam version of TDK I was stealing your paycheck, wouldn’t I now have more money? If you used to have it and I now have it…
Yeah… I live just outside of Lee’s Summit, MO. They had the sting set up for that guy at least 4 hours ahead of time. The MPAA guys were there all walking around when I saw a 5:15 showing.
I was going to see this, but this sort of thing leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Ironically I’ll just get it online now. Where’s the anger here guys? This movie earned $155 million in TWO DAYS. I don’t think this guy’s life needs to be ruined, because what he did obviously affected… jack shit. (Though don’t you wish it did, considering how disproportionate the legal penalties are?)
Can’t do the time, don’t do the crime
:O Shocked when I saw “Lee’s Summit” police.
I’ve been to that movie theater.
Well they need to make examples of these criminals, simple as that. BTW how many cams do we need online? Why not just do it once in a lax or accepting place? I downloaded a small screen version from TPB of less than 200 Mb, and even that is watchable. The movie’s dark anyway which isn’t really conducive to hi res.
If you think this situation is bad, in Australia people are not arrested yet for that, but if you spin the wheels of your car, or zip around too quickly, they can now arrest you, cancel your license, and get this -confiscate your car. But the best part of all is that they were considering destroying the vehicle, but as that wouldn’t be profitable, decided they should sell it instead and keep the money! Can you believe that? I’m not joking, it’s true. And they’re doing it. This reduces the road toll is the wild claim.
Another thing they do is put mandatory alcohol breathalyser locks on vehicles owned by people caught drink driving, at owner’s expense of course. Of course, a small amount of alcohol is no problem, but none is permitted without full license. They’ve always persecuted young drivers, but they’re overboard about it now.
Quite a few industry trolls and/or brainwashed people on this one. If I use a videocam in public am I infringing someone’s copyright? No, that’s what they’re designed to do. Do I need permission to film or photograph a building, which is owned by someone else? Again, no. A film is not even real, it’s just play acting. If I pay to watch it I should be able to record it, as I would a DVD or CD I bought or hired or lawfully borrowed.
Do you realize most of us will not or would never pay to watch in a theatre, so nothing is lost. Many who see a cam will go to a theatre anyway if they like it, since there’s no DVDrip apparently. But I can wait, having seen the cam.
The best business model is the “Church business model - donations.” People spend money on religion all the time for donations, so why can’t that be the case for culture and arts?
The point is that we shouldn’t go to the movies and pay their fare - instead, we should just download it, judge for ourselves how much it is worth, and donate to the original artist based on our own judgment on the movie and on the character/personality of the original artist.
“it only takes one person ti screw it up for the world” (sic)
Yeah, _you_, you tardlet.
Keep on sucking down the propoganda - fuck thinking for yourself, eh?
Are you suggesting we pay to
see a movie simply because it
is popular.
I will not contribute to their box office plundering.
Shame on you enigmax.
No. He’s suggesting we see it ‘cos it’s gonna be a rockin’ good flick - & a huge dolby screen is always gonna be better than an early cam. =]
HTH
HAND
kthxbai…
if the MPAA was smart,(which they are not) they could cut out piracy just by giving people what they want and that is movies as soon as they are released.. for example they could print 25 digit unique codes on your ticket stub that would let you download the movie (in that digital copy format) when you get home from the theater.pay $10 more for your ticket and get to download it afterwards sounds good to me
@ puck firates
Sorry, but there is NO evidence that a cam costs anyone thousands, let alone millions. Did you perhaps forget about the US Pirate Party’s study, which examines this? When the full study’s released at the end of the month, whats the betting that it won’t show any link? (and it’s using the MPAA’s data).
Until now, we’ve only had MPAA claims, with nothing to back them up. The claims would be more easily accepted, if the MPAA published data to prove it. If the claims were so true, so obvious, and so clear cut, why can’t they produce data to back it up?
The guy who did that was an idiot. Anyone with a brain would have read about all the anti-piracy measures that Warner Bros. was taking because of all the hype This movie has. That guy was stupid.
@ 69 Mylar, stop whining like a MPAA fanboy.
“If they fund the production of a movie (really expensive, esp. one like Batman) then it’s their RIGHT to capitalize on it however they want and at whatever price they want.”
No Mylar dude , like @ 81 said, we should watch the movie and decide how much to pay for it. We are the FANS, after all, so that is our RIGHT. In the old days there wasn’t enough technology to allow everyone to pay different amounts, so the movie INDUSTRY set the same price for everyone. Now it is Web 2.0, baby, and everyone can download the cam and pay whatever they think is right, or pay nothing.
Also, just because a movie is “really expensive” to make doesn’t always mean it is any better, so your argument that they can charge whatever price they want makes no sense.
The new model of paying what the consumer thinks is right SUPERSEDES the old model of paying what the pseudo-mafia organization demanded. Supersedes means the new, cheaper/free model is more LEGAL and more RIGHT , look the word up, you Microsoft fanboy.
I don’t get you people. He was stealing. Just because you don’t like the business practices of a company does not give you the right to steal their property.
The police do search the houses of suspected drug dealers. If they catch you dealing drugs, they will obtain a warrant and search your home for more.
This guy was obviously recording it to make a profit, not unlike dealing, and they searched his home to see if he had other illegally recorded movies. Which he did.
And just because there may be worse laws to be broken, that doesn’t mean police shouldn’t enforce ALL laws.
This has nothing to do with the Patriot Act, this is not stomping on our rights as citizens. If you don’t want to watch a movie in a theater for any reason, wait until it is legally released on DVD. Stealing it by watching it online is never justified.
Some of you people on here are so disrespectful. Not everyone in here is rich, and these days you need to be to take you family to the movies. For me and the kids…
$40.00 Movie tix for 4
$5.00 for the huge popcorn
$5.00 for the big drink
Thats 50 bucks for a 2 hour movie.
Biggest rip off in America..
“just because there may be worse laws to be broken, that doesn’t mean police shouldn’t enforce ALL laws.”
Did he break the law? As it’s written, yes.
Is the penalty grossly disproportionate? Judge for yourself based on these “first offenses”:
Steal several million dollars from thousands of people - do probation, maybe a year.
Rape a child who’s a member of your family - do probation, maybe a year.
Record a few seconds of a movie on your cellphone - do up to three years.
The only real crime in America is stealing from the rich. Is stealing from the rich right? Absolutely not. But it’s punished in a grossly disproportionate manner.
“No Mylar dude , like @ 81 said, we should watch the movie and decide how much to pay for it. We are the FANS, after all, so that is our RIGHT.”
You people have no earthly idea what rights are, do you? Where in the bill of rights does it mention the right to see a movie, or a play, or listen to music that you didn’t pay for? Someone created this movie and deserves to be paid for it when you watch it. Just like when you do work you expect to be paid for it.
“Sorry, but there is NO evidence that a cam costs anyone thousands, let alone millions.”
This is just as disturbing. If you watch a movie online that you did not pay for, you are stealing. The company is not getting paid for its products or services that are rightfully due them under basic property ownership laws. Just because the film made $160 million this weekend does not change that fact. They are due every penny for watching that movie just like you are due every penny for the work you do.
Let me pose this question to you. Someone steals your cell phone. Well, they only cost a couple hundred dollars and you make tens of thousands of dollars a year. Why should you care?
There is much more at stake than camming, the police would need a warrant for the search..
I Really do not understand why anyone will take a risk of being caught recording a film with a cam.
( Do they sell it ?? ). I mean cam versions of movies are so bad most of the time than in my opinion are not worth to watch let alone being sent to prison.
However I notice that a lot of people download cam versions. Maybe is a matter of taste or desperation. Do you really have to watch a movie that early that you can not wait for something better to appear.
I also see that the penalty is way out of proportion in comparison with other crimes. It sucks to have a Judicial System that takes money from big corporations in exchange for changing laws and manipulating circumstances and people to obtain what they want. ( They power of the old mighty DOLLAR in action.)
“If I use a videocam in public am I infringing someone’s copyright? No, that’s what they’re designed to do. Do I need permission to film or photograph a building, which is owned by someone else? Again, no”
Right on @80. You can cam whatever you want in life, and you don’t need permission. My ex-girlfriend went postal when she found out I’d videotaped us doing kinky stuff in my bedroom, and is threatening to send the police to confiscate it. Riiiight - she doesn’t want the cops to see that stuff.
“I don’t even see how this ‘camming’ is illegal, unless he distributes the copies to others. Is one not allowed to film what one experiences in one’s life.” Exactly @47. A few of my friends have enjoyed my cams, but I didn’t charge them, so nothing commercial.
Thanks for the support guys. Peace, out.
WTF …. Stupid American’s
of course its legal. if you get busted with a large amt of drugs they search your house too. fair? No. Legal? completely.
96, perhaps you should spend some time learning the difference between “plural” and “possessive” before you call anyone else stupid. That kinda deflates you.
ok,
so if your willing to pay for it,to watch it online via streaming,because of not being able to make it to a theater,why are they not doing this as an option to combat piracy???thats why so many films are pirated in the first place!!!!
“If I use a videocam in public am I infringing someone’s copyright? No, that’s what they’re designed to do. Do I need permission to film or photograph a building, which is owned by someone else? Again, no”
This is a horrible analogy. A building’s revenue generating stream is not “people looking at it” like a movie’s is. It’s the rent it generates from occupancy. A movie is a story. When you pay for that you are paying to experience that story. If you do that without paying, you are stealing.
“”I don’t even see how this ‘camming’ is illegal, unless he distributes the copies to others. Is one not allowed to film what one experiences in one’s life.” Exactly @47. A few of my friends have enjoyed my cams, but I didn’t charge them, so nothing commercial.”
Well, right there you admit to wrong doing. If you allow your friends to experience this story without paying the copyright holder, than they are stealing.
well, quite some years ago the douchebag Herbert Groenemeyer (douchebag because this tool signed some propaganda of the MAFIAA in germany lately!) wrote a song in german titled “Kino” (Cinema)
it was about a sick psycho guy that loves to sit in the cinema and watches all those murder and action films and then one day he stabs someone in the cinema himself with a knife.
Next we know those camming pirates will act like real pirates and weapon up themself beside the camcorder with a sword or something like that.
When will we see swordfights gunshootdowns of Pirate Vs. Ninja pigs in Cinemas?
bad boy bad boy
what you gonna do
what you gonna do
when they come for you
http://www.lees-summit.mo.us/content/department_police.cfm
im glad to see not everyone posting here has lost their minds.
filming one’s personal experiences, thats for stuff like family events, a trip to the zoo, tourism, stuff where you and your friends are in the shot. PUBLIC places…
a theatre is private property and thus, u need permission to record anything on their property.
and to the fool who was going on about his RIGHT to pay whatever price he wanted…thats soo wrong
however;
i have the right to call u an idiot
videotape me saying that w/o consent and ill sue YOU!! lol
So bootlegging is safer than buying drugs from random people?
Wouldn’t camming a movie basically be the same as recording something on the VCR? or DVR? Shit I don’t know but all of this is screwed up.
A movie ticket is $16 in Denmark, more expensive even in some other countries.
Where does the money go?
Film makers (not studios) should release their movies directly on HD video-on-demand for $1 per viewer and cinemas should be independent and charge a maximum of 3$ per screening, a third going to the cinema and the rest to the film makers.
qik is perfect for this - I would pay $1 to see “dark knight” streamed from a mobile phone :-)
I was at Lee’s Summit’s Eastglen 16 theater for the midnight premier of The Dark Knight; presumably when this man was caught. The story neglects one thing. There was a MPAA sanctioned “Copyright Enforcement” individual weating a black MPAA shirt scanning everyone entering through the ticket line. I perceived this as being treated like a criminal by the MPAA. He was not sanctioned by the police, otherwise he would have had a LSPD escort with him. He was standing just to the left of the ticket tearer scanning everyone entering. He also periodically entered every theater and meticulously scanned the audience. As I was watching him, I though of calling him out just out my spitein hating the MPAA and its tactics, but I also thought about how this was close to being searched when entering the airport. There was no public safety hazard. There was no danger at all.
Why is the media ignoring this fact? I don’t like being treated like a criminal when all I want to see is a damn movie.
To quote Peter Finch as Howard Beale in 1976’s “Network”:
All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad. You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!’ So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, ‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’ I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’
You figure out why I chose this quote.
“and to the fool who was going on about his RIGHT to pay whatever price he wanted…thats soo wrong”
Is that all you can say? “blah blah blah blah, you are wrong and I am right, blah blah blah blah”
As if you’re persuasive at all.
The fact is that the church business model is far superior to what they have here. People should be deciding the price, not some artificial industry-set price.
You know whats really sad…all of the people who are bitching and moaning about getting arrested for copying movies with a cam. Its against the law its been against the law for many years. If you cant spare 10 bucks to go see the movie then maybe your the same idiot the complains about gas prices yet you still drive a suv…
Smart move, Americans. Like you don’t have SERIOUS issues to deal with - like terrorists, corruption, poverty, failing health-care system and the rest of the world hating you. Yeah, spend your money and resources on people ‘camming’.
O’er the land of the opression and the home of the STUPID.
@109
Getting arrested is a big deal, believe it or not. Or would you prefer to be arrested?
“Sparing 10 bucks” here is not the issue. It never was. The issue here is about getting arrested for it. It is outrageous. Don’t give me that bullshit about “it’s against the law.” The law is against morality. Morality is the higher law. This person has never violated any morals. And yet this immoral law is imprisoning him unjustly. This is the outrage.
@#8
Dood, it’s a shitty movie. A shitty, shitty movie. Why do people get all uppity about shitty movies? Gawd, free the byte already.
@ 107… Agreed. They are so into their little cloak and dagger pantomimes they can’t see clearly anymore, the big media goons. Why anyone remotely normal would subject themselves to seeing a frigging movie under threat of (take your pick): scolding, arrest, detention, torture, search and seizure, hazing,denigration is completely beyond me. I won’t pay them one cent ever again. Not at the theatre, not at WalMart. You hear that studio suits?!!?
I am going to pointedly make sure you never receive my money, my family’s money, my friends money. I am going to actively erode your market potential. I am going to enjoy dropping the dime on you to anyone who will listen. On the bus, at the mall, FB, MySpace. And when I’m done doing that, I’m going to D/L it all anyways and watch it for free. And then you’ll be really, really mad. And won’t that be delicious???
This has nothing to do with the Patriot Act. The man is a criminal. They clearly had probably cause to search his house. And in fact they found more illegal works. He should spend some time in prison to reflect on his life as a criminal. Then, perhaps, he can get an honest job and not leech off the efforts of honest people.
It’s good to know the police are protecting us.
“The fact is that the church business model is far superior to what they have here. People should be deciding the price, not some artificial industry-set price.”
No, that’s a terrible business model. Churches, by and large, do not have many overhead costs like film production and exhibition does. Also, churches don’t pay taxes.Lastly, people tithe their income because they literally have the fear of God in them. They believe their payments here on earth will affect their time in the afterlife. People pay because they fear what will happen if they don’t. Movies don’t have that fear associated, so there’s no guarantee they will get paid at all.
Or, conversely, how would you like your employer to pay you based on how much he wants to pay, and not some artificial “minimum wage?” Everyone sets their price, that’s the first rule of economics.
@ #81
there is nothing more to say then thats wrong
because it isnt a right blah blah blah blah you fail, stupid
This problem is very much tied to the digital age: The ability to copy a work without spending actual resources or commodities means people will question the value of the actual work: As scarcity decreases, so does value. Thus many people go to the movies or a concert for ‘the experience’. This experience is valuable, so it is valuable.
The MPAA partly realizes this, the RIAA doesnt…
lol you guys are pretty funny. This has nothing to do with the patriot act what so ever. Also camming movies has always been illegal and people have been doing it for a long long time. I remember my dad bring home a horrible copy of ET back in the day. The guy who made it got arrested the same way this guy did. And they searched his house because they figured he was distributing them (probable cause). I like cams to be able to watch movies during the hype and crowds, though so far most of the Dark Knights are horrid.
“Thus many people go to the movies or a concert for ‘the experience’. This experience is valuable, so it is valuable.”
Cool value! When i was younger the expericence was the fresh hot popcorn and the even for then times amazing sound and this BIIIIG picture.
Nowadays the experience is about being stripped searched by some idiots with M.P.A.A. shirt and next week in the premier screenings have your body cavities checked too?
Wow that is a valueable experience…
… for some moviegoers that are also in SM and clinicsex or what?
We have laws in the US…. live by them or LEAVE!!!
KILLLLLL THE BATMAN
As much of a DVDrip snob I am, I think DARK KNIGHT is the rare case in which Hollywood will noticeably BENEFIT from cam piracy.
Reason? Because I got off my ass and out to a theatre to see it, and now I’m simply not going to pay for another theatre experience of that movie until I can thoroughly analyze the thematic elements of the script that were transferred to film. One more viewing will not help me with story appraisal, as that requires much control over the viewing experience (ability to replay/skip segments). In ANY theatre, I am primarily appraising image, and despite being at poverty level, I will GLADLY do that at least twice more (pay $10 for a single feature screening!!!!) for The Dark Knight but ONLY if I can have the complete experience I want, which REQUIRES that I appraise the film simply for its dialogue execution and pacing; if I want the proper visuals, I know I must view this film on a proper screen again (preferably IMAX) which means that even a DVDrip won’t cut it. But I’m not shelling out a chunk of the pittance I have for a compromised experience of what *MAY* be one of the only decent graphic novel adaptations the studio system has produced in decades. The only way I can know if this is a film worth paying for again is to have access to a cam version.
Just one?
Even after a cam release has been made on the internet?
Jeez, talk about closing the gate when the horse bolted long ago.
“I don’t get you people. He was stealing. Just because you don’t like the business practices of a company does not give you the right to steal their property.”
He was not stealing. He did not take the movie from anyone, he just made another copy of it.
“We have laws in the US…. live by them or LEAVE!!!”
Why does America hate freedom so much, anyway?
All you IDIOTS who say that it is stealing are F’N SNITCHING FOOLS and thats the bottomline cause I said so.
Let me see some MPAA IDIOT at a theatre I go to and I will personally walk up and ask em are they ready to be a hero for STUPID crap?
Furthermore IF I ever decide to go to a theatre and cam a movie I’ll be taking my 9mm Glock with armor piercing rounds with me in case some minimum wage loser decides he wants to be a hero for the MPAA because If Im going to get 3-5 years for camming I may as well shoot the SNITCHING loser and anyone else associated with them but not kill em that way the 3-5 years will be justified for shooting SNITCHING BITCHES!!!
I won’t pay them one cent ever again. Not at the theatre, not at WalMart. You hear that studio suits?!!?
I am going to make sure you MPAA LOSERS never receive my money, my family’s money, my friends money. I am going to actively impact your bottomline. I am going to enjoy dropping the dime on you to anyone who will listen. I’m going to continue to Download it all off the usenet anyways and watch it for free. And then burn DVD’s of all the movies I download and sell them to friends and associates to further finance my internet and usenet activities like I have been for years already and all the while laughing at you F’N FOOLS who think that I should kiss your asses or go to prison. I will go to prison when they pry my cold dead hands from around my Glock and then I wont be going to prison I’ll be going to meet GOD who will welcome me to Heaven with OPEN arms and 100 fine ass young virgins for making everyones lives on earth more enjoyable with all the stuff I gave away for FREE on the usenet and torrents for over 5 years now. SO think about that all you MPAA supporters!!!
And then along comes the DVDSCR like what happened with 300. Lol.
I find somebody with a camcorder in my theatre, getting handed over to the cops would be the BEST-case scenario.
Yes, if you willing give up your freedoms they can do everything you say, just as Hollywood has conditioned. In my house, however, I have a gun and gladly shoot intruders.
But in the US it's legal to shoot someone who's trespassing, right?
Hooray, loss of freedoms backfires on the authorities :) (and if they don't have a search warrant or official reason to be there then it's probably trespassing).
I have no idea what you're saying but I did catch "look at it from their side". The way I see it, RIAA / MPAA have WAY more money than I do, and they should spend it on helping the movie industry, rather than persecuting us financially unfortunate.
Responses are closed
All remaining responses will continue to be archived. Use the TorrentFreak forums if you want to discuss something.