In today’s file-sharing world we might think in terms of Kim Dotcom against the U.S. Government or The Pirate Bay v Hollywood, but these copyright-related rivalries mean very little in the East. Indeed, today they have a much bigger battle to contend with. It seems that in the land of the rising sun the players in an anti-piracy campaign run by the movie industry have grown so popular that they have shifted into popular culture.

NO MORE 映画泥棒 (NO MORE Movie Thief) is an anti-piracy ad played in Japanese theaters to advise against the illegal camming of movies. Since its launch in 2007 it has featured two main characters. The first is Camera Otoko (Camera Man), a guy in a black suit with his head replaced by a camcorder. The second, Patrol Lamp Otoko (Patrol Lamp Man), is a blue-suited gentleman with a red flashing police light for a head.

Somewhat unexpectedly (or perhaps not) the odd duo have proven a hit with the Japanese. In addition to inspiring hundreds of pieces of neat and sometimes unsettling artwork they are appearing more and more in popular culture. Even the vibrant Japanese cosplay scene is feeding on their inspiration.

But now, thanks to a great spot by ITMedia.co.jp, the latest wave in the NO MORE craze is about to hit the streets. To commemorate the camming phenomenon both characters have been turned into action figurines by toy giant Bandai, each designed to be worn as accessories.

Currently Bandai are offering several different designs for 3024 yen ($28.99) a set, a steal for those with a deep desire to outwardly depict the camming of a movie and ultimately the arrest and imprisonment of the perpetrator. According to Google Translate, they also come with a snack that looks like gum, perfect for those on a diet looking to cut down on theater food bills.

Up next week, Bandai releases action figures of the entire original Pirate Bay crew and a double pack featuring Kim Dotcom versus Chris Dodd. We wish…..

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

What remains remarkable about FACT operations is how they are able to persuade the police to invest significant resources towards detaining individuals for non-violent crimes. This week witnessed yet another example of that ability.

Five undercover cars containing 10 police officers and officers from the Federation Against Copyright Theft arrived at a property in the West Midlands at 07:30 Thursday morning.

The person they were looking for no longer lived at the address but in the space of 15 minutes three cars, four detectives and two FACT officers had made it to the correct location.

Armed with an emergency search warrant issued out of hours by a judge, police and FACT officers entered the suspect’s home.

“This morning I was arrested at my home under suspicion of recording and distributing Fast and Furious 6 and a few other titles,” the arrested man told TorrentFreak.

After seizing numerous items including three servers, a desktop computer, blank hard drives and blank media, police detained the 24-year-old and transported him to a nearby police station. Despite the ‘emergency’ nature of the raid, no movie recording equipment was found.

“At the police station I was interviewed by the police together with FACT (Federation Against Copyright and Theft). During questioning they asked me about Fast and Furious 6, where I obtained a copy from and if I was the one who went and recorded it at the cinema.”

Despite police involvement, as in previous cases it appears they were only present in order to gain access to the victim’s property, sit on the sidelines taking notes, and for their powers when it comes to presenting crimes for prosecution.

“I was detained for 3 hrs 12 minutes, out of that I was questioned for approximately 40 minutes. One police officer and two FACT officers conducted the interview. The police officer sat back and let FACT do all the questioning, so FACT were running the show,” the man reports.

TorrentFreak has seen copies of the issued bail sheets. Surprisingly they do not state any law under which the man was arrested, instead referring only to “Miscellaneous Offense”, apparently due to the police being unclear on what to write down.

“The custody officer could not find the relevant charge, however I remember them saying it came under Section 17 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,” the man explains.

As can be seen from the snapshot of bail sheet shown below, conditions have been attached.

“Although I have been released on police bail until September 23rd I have been banned from entering any cinema in England and Wales, while the investigation is being carried out,” the arrested man concludes.

Earlier this year FACT revealed that the Film Distributors Association had handed out cash rewards to more than a dozen cinema workers who managed to disrupt the work of alleged movie cammers in UK cinemas. Despite the successes, not a single individual was prosecuted. They will be hoping for a better result from this week’s arrest.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

One of these countries is Australia and local anti-piracy group AFACT has been very active in addressing this problem. During February we reported that Australian officials had arrested and charged a man in Sydney on 18 counts of copyright infringement, after it was alleged he was a cammer for well known ‘Scene’ group, PreVail.

New South Wales Police and AFACT (on behalf of the MPA) carried out a raid on 26 year-old Craig Farrugia’s residence on February 13th and seized “sophisticated” video camcording and computer equipment after watermarks on movie releases by PreVail allowed investigators to discover the cinema they were cammed in. Among others, the equipment was linked to cammed versions of Bedtime Stories, Beverley Hills Chihuahua, He’s Just Not That Into You, Marley and Me and Yes Man.

Presiding over the trial, Magistrate Keady said that Farrugia was “part of an organized criminal conspiracy,” and went on to say that the movie industry was “entitled to the same protection of their property as are householders whose house is broken into and property removed. It is a property offense similar to that of larceny.”

Since release group Prevail had released more than 200 movies onto the Internet in the last 3 ½ years, it was expected that Farrugia would be taught a harsh lesson by the court if found guilty. Each offense (that’s each camming offense) could have earned Farrugia a $60,500 AUS ($39,000US or €31,000) fine and 5 years imprisonment.

However, the Blacktown Local Court in Sydney surprised everyone, not least the MPA. Although Farrugia pleaded guilty and was convicted, he was fined just A$5,400 (US$3900), placed on an 18 month good behavior bond and set free.

AFACT Director of Operations Neil Gane said that the case had been a success and that the outcome would prove a deterrent to others but the boss of the MPA in the region was entirely more realistic. “While we are pleased with the very prompt closure of this matter, we are disappointed in the sentence meted out by the Court as it has failed to recognize the damage this particular crime can have on the industry.” He added that he hoped in future sentences would be tougher.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

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.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

During his plea hearing he confessed to being involved in the sourcing and distribution of movies and software. He also admitted organizing and aiding others to ‘cam’ movies still in theaters. The list of movies includes titles such as ‘Cars’, ‘Monster House’, ‘Firewall’, ‘Click’, ‘The BreakUp’ and sundry (forgettable) others. It’s claimed that the movies were then uploaded to servers for other users to download, after they had paid Madhani cash to do so.

For the camming, he’s looking at 3 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and two years of supervised release. Unfortunately, this offense doesn’t carry the longest sentence Madhani faces – we’ll come to that in moment.

From the plea agreement, Madhani appears to be something of a jack-of-all-trades. He admits to being a ‘cammer’ – that is the willful using or directing others in the use of an audio/visual recording device to ‘cam’ or record a movie, currently protected under copyright law.

The most interesting part of the plea is where Madhani further confesses to being a ‘ripper’ by admitting to the circumvention of DVD Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Before making a new ‘master’ from which to take further copies or before uploading to the internet, Madhani removed information from the DVD such as the title, numbers and other markings which identified it as a copyright works – so-called copyright management information.

These actions put Madhani in breach of the DMCA but interestingly, he’s the very first person to be charged for simply removing so-called ‘copyright management information’ from a DVD. Previous cases were all brought for the bypassing of DVD copy-protection mechanisms.

Breaching the DMCA is a serious offense in the US. Just by changing the data held on a DVD, Madhani is facing 5 years in prison plus a $500,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Madhani also admits to being a ‘racer’, i.e working hard to be the first group or individual to release new movies or software onto the internet for others to download. There doesn’t appear to be any specific punishment for this offense although in the future, the Intellectual Property Enhanced Criminal Enforcement Act of 2007(.pdf) will surely have it covered.

Sentencing is set for Monday December 17, 2007 in San Jose, California.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.