Unusually, however, the bill is unnecessary, as the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 (link) already criminalized this action, with much stronger penalties. The question then seems to be not what the act is about, but WHY?

Fortunately. The answer isn’t hard to guess at with some digging. Mr Cuomo, has, like the MPAA chairman Dan Glickman, strong ties to the Clintons. Cuomo was considering running for the US Senate in 2000, but allowed current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to run for that seat instead.

At the time, he was a Cabinet Secretary in her husband Bill’s, White House, serving as ‘Secretary of Housing and Urban Development’, during the same period that current MPAA chairman Dan Glickman was serving as ‘Secretary of Agriculture’. To some, that seems more than coincidence.

It is little surprise then, that the announcements for the law contain data from the MPAA’s 2006 LEK study as their only supporting evidence. A study which has not only been widely ridiculed (including by me), but which the MPAA has themselves undermined earlier this year.

Speaking out against the bill has been the US Pirate Party, calling it “a disgusting act of cronyism”. Ray Jenson, the Party’s operations officer , commented on the bill saying, “There can be no justice in this country, if a lobby group can effectively ‘buy’ former colleagues to propose laws like these.” The Party also hinted that they would soon be releasing a study, showing a more realistic view of the damage caused by ‘cinema camming’.

Whilst the law hasn’t been passed yet, the support shows that at least some of the millions the MPAA has pumped into its lobbying efforts have not been in vain. Meanwhile the chairman of the US Pirate Party, Andrew Norton, had this comment to offer. “In the end, no amount of laws will save the horse-and-cart that is the Entertainment Industry right now, from technological progress in this automobile age.”

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

The MPAA claims that New York is a pirate movie haven and with a claimed 43% of all camcorded movies originating from the city, it was just a question of time before Major Bloomberg’s and the MPAA’s anti-piracy campaign – coupled with new legislation – claimed its first scalp.

According to reports, police descended on the American Theater on East Avenue in Parkchester, after warning theater workers in advance that they were about to conduct a sting to arrest a known movie ‘cammer‘ at a sneak preview of the new movie ‘Transformers’.

After waiting until the end of the screening on Monday night, Kalidou Diallo, 48, was surrounded by seven plain clothes officers, arrested and subsequently charged with the new anti-piracy misdemeanor. He had been allegedly filming or ‘camming’ the movie, utilizing a hidden camera and digital recorder.

The manager of the American Theater, Justin Hill, said that the authorities knew that his theater was the source of the ‘cams’. “The movie companies … knew it was coming from our theater,” he said. “We were taking heat for it because we weren’t catching anyone.”

Under the previous law, getting caught meant up to 15 days in jail and $250 fine. The new measures signed in May 1, makes ‘camming’ a misdemeanor offense, which means that Diallo is facing a possible 6 months in jail, accompanied by a $5,000 fine.

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

I seriously wonder how they came up with these numbers, since it is not that easy to track down the source of a camcorder recorded movie (they can) but like they say “it’s an estimate”. But it wouldn’t be the first time that the MPAA makes up their own stats to justify their doubtful actions.

The impressive figures inspired the MPAA and the NYPD to pay some extra attention to the whereabouts of these pirates. They even teamed up with the Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) to track down the pirate networks, and bring them to court.

And to complete the circle, the City of New York announced that they plan to introduce legislation to amend the penal law. Convicted pirates then will face jail time up to one year, and up to four years in prison, for previously convicted pirates.

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