Teen Arrested for Recording 20 Second Movie Clip
Written by Ernesto on August 02, 2007Jhannet Sejas, a 19 year old girl was immediately arrested by the police after she recorded a 20 second clip from the movie “Transformers” that she wanted to show to her little brother. She now faces up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
Sejas was celebrating her 19th Birthday with her boyfriend in a local theater in Arlington. A few minutes after she taped the short clip the police came rushing in and took her into custody on the charges of “being a pirate”.
Sejas and her boyfriend were promptly escorted out of the movie theater, still confused about what just happened. “I was crying, I’ve never been in trouble before.”, she later said in a response to the trip to the police station.
Of course Sejas had no intention to sell the 600 millisecond clip, she wasn’t even planning to put it on YouTube. The only thing she wanted to do was show it to her 13 year old brother, who was dying to see the movie himself. Unluckily theater owners just introduced their new zero-tolerance policy since everyone can be a pirate.
Kendrick Macdowell, a representative National Association of Theater Owners said in a response: “We cannot educate theater managers to be judges and juries in what is acceptable. Theater managers cannot distinguish between good and bad stealing.”
Good and bad stealing? Nuts!, the guy obviously has no clue what he’s talking about. If all theater owners treat their customers like this they will start to lose even more money than they already do now. And guess who they will be blaming? Right, Pirates.
Sejas will go to trial later this month for recording a motion picture without permission, and is facing up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Seriously unbelievable.
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181 Responses
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Remeber when Jack V said that its theft unless each person in the room owned a copy of the DVD? Movie ticket for 12 bucks- well you are going out, and have a huge screen, and seats, and someon else cleans up. $25 a pop to watch the video at home, that is rediculous. I implore each of you, to contact your local BBB, get the contact information for the owner of your local cinema, and tell them that you would rather pay $25 a pop to watch the movie at home, where you are free to record a 20 second clip on your cell phone without being arrested. It shall be interesting when the studios start doing more simultaneous releases to VOD and the Internet. Archaic business models that do not fit the times, must either be adopted or will be abandoned.
[quote comment="141116"]Next week, the MPAA will require all movie goes be strip searched before entering theaters and will force those wishing to attend to watch the movie in the nude at gun point.
Pitiful.[/quote]
ooh, nude movie watching.
Transformers: The Movie has a worldwide lifetime gross income so far: $538,442,097 while more than 38 million Americans go hungry, including nearly 14 million children (this statistics are over the last five years). How do you justify this nonsense?
The poor become POORER while the rich (bullshit corporations) become richer and richer. Fuck that, the MPAA should pay US to go to the movies. Back in ancient history The Colisseum in Rome, the ancient Oriental Theaters, all free, all to make the masses happy, all to make them more productive; a happy mass is a productive mass. And I could continue giving points of interest upon this discussion.
Simply unfair. Piracy is just another way to survive in this rotten system. Actors go on the millions income a year while some people don’t even have money for basic needs; for example myself (a mental health professional , psychologist) I find myself struggling to even SURVIVE and I provide a much needed service in this sanity-forbidden country. Piracy is only another way to fair up the fight.
And to the above,
Laws don’t need to be justified to be enforced, they just need to be on the books. Justification is always a bias opinion.
[quote comment="141594"]God, I am so happy I live in Sweden. I recently used my digital camera to take a picture of the harry potter movie to make a joke about Voldemort not having any hair. I put it on a internet community and no one wants to put me in jail. Stupid american corporations…[/quote]
I also took picture from start of the simpsons movie where bart wrotes “dont download this…” and i had flashlight on…fuck i scared…but noone did anything…
Northern Europe :)
[quote comment="141627"]And to the above,
Laws don’t need to be justified to be enforced, they just need to be on the books. Justification is always a bias opinion.[/quote]
=’ (
The poor become POORER while the rich (bullshit corporations AND GOVERNMENT) become richer and richer.
I could’t describe Bush’s policy more straight!
“Public prosecutors refuse to collect IP address-related information from providers”
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/93759
Here in Europe Judge’s are starting to get inaf from the harassment of the MPAA and starting to refuse to give information of “pirate” downloaders!
So if you want to get away from the MPAA and be safe, and especially leave before US becomes fully police state, move to Europe:)
“Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?”
– Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience (1849)
once again, sooooooo happy to live in europe. all the thanks to my parents.
jai……. do you have a shotgun in your house to shoot all the kids that trespass your property? you seem that kind.
criminals..aaaarghh. :)
jailtime?! This is ridiculous. Every time you go to a movie from now on, pull out your cell phone just to f*ck with the theater people. Hold it up, like you might be taking a picture, but when they come to ask you just say you were looking for a signal. If everybody did that, they’d go crazy trying to talk to everybody, and just relax a little about the whole thing.
I WANT TO YELL AT RANDOM THINGS I DONT UNDERSTAND OR HAVE ALL THE FACTS ABOUT AS WELL!
Whats the name of this shit-theater (or chain) anyways? They should post that so people know who not to give their money to!
“Sejas said she had no intention of selling the 20-second film clip.”
Why on earth someone would try to sell 20sec clip when the whole movie is in internet with much better version!?!?!?!?
@ Jai
It’s not about this case in particular, get this into your measly little head: I’m sick and tired of people like you advocating the mighty leaders ( yours NOT mine! )
It’s about this fucking capitalism, it’s about fair use, it’s about justice, it’s about that bloody American government that’s trying to buy the whole WORLD for fuck’s sake! Got my point now??? Piss off!
She recorded part of the film without permission, so she did break the law, but since she only did it to show her brother and it was only a 20 second clip, probably on a phone, so its ridiculous that they’d even consider a $2500 fine or jail. If they want to punish her ban her from the cinema chain ( I doubt she’ll be going to them again anyway) , or give her a couple hours community work. Its not like the movie companies need the extra money.
I’ve got to tell you, I’m two minds about this.
On the one hand, I have no problem with P2P sharing, as I do it quite often.
On the other hand, having worked as a manager at a movie theater, I understand that the people there are just doing their job. Anyone can throw that kind of excuse, even people with cameras. If someone recorded the whole thing on a camera, got busted, and said, “I’m recording it for my mom, who’s paralyzed and in bed all the time, but really wants to see it.” Should they be released, too? No. Theaters have a set procedure for dealing with stuff like that because if they start letting people off and not doing it, than they either get sued by the MPAA when someone else in the theater says they saw someone taping the movie and the theater didn’t do anything, or they get more people doing the same thing.
And just because a law is ineffective, it doesn’t make it any less the law. How many people speed every day? Millions, I’d guess. Try getting out of your next speeding ticket by telling them they obviously don’t catch enough people at it, so it shouldn’t be the law.
Well things like that happens in a Gestapo country where Jesus-Nazi George Bush rules.
[quote comment="141697"]@ Jai
It’s not about this case in particular, get this into your measly little head: I’m sick and tired of people like you advocating the mighty leaders ( yours NOT mine! )
It’s about this fucking capitalism, it’s about fair use, it’s about justice, it’s about that bloody American government that’s trying to buy the whole WORLD for fuck’s sake! Got my point now??? Piss off![/quote]
That’s exactly what I’m talking about: The liberal anti-American ideology.
You just proved it. In fact, you’re willing to throw out justified laws in order to insult the American government, which has done nothing illegal in this situation.
Get it through your measly little head: you’re wrong.
[quote comment="141644"]once again, sooooooo happy to live in europe. all the thanks to my parents.
jai……. do you have a shotgun in your house to shoot all the kids that trespass your property? you seem that kind.
criminals..aaaarghh. :)[/quote]
No, not at all.
I agree, that this case is asinine!
But you liberals seem to think that stealing other artists creations is justified, when it is not.
[quote comment="141626"]Transformers: The Movie has a worldwide lifetime gross income so far: $538,442,097 while more than 38 million Americans go hungry, including nearly 14 million children (this statistics are over the last five years). How do you justify this nonsense?
The poor become POORER while the rich (bullshit corporations) become richer and richer. Fuck that, the MPAA should pay US to go to the movies. Back in ancient history The Colisseum in Rome, the ancient Oriental Theaters, all free, all to make the masses happy, all to make them more productive; a happy mass is a productive mass. And I could continue giving points of interest upon this discussion.
Simply unfair. Piracy is just another way to survive in this rotten system. Actors go on the millions income a year while some people don’t even have money for basic needs; for example myself (a mental health professional , psychologist) I find myself struggling to even SURVIVE and I provide a much needed service in this sanity-forbidden country. Piracy is only another way to fair up the fight.[/quote]
It’s called capitalism, and it’s justified. If you don’t like it, leave the US. I’m sure you’ll enjoy China.
One thing has NOTHING to do with another. The bottom line is: a person has a right to protect his/her creation.
ok she did something wrong, for doing that and given the fact the she used a cellphone camera and not a camcorder, the appropriate consequence would had been to kick them out of the theater . simple as that, you take a pic or record with your cellphone? you’ll get kicked out. because we all know that she will not sell footage from a cell phone! who is going to want to pay or watch a grainy piece of movie clip. look at the facts and take action from there. this people make me sick trying to make a difference by overdoing things. give a year of jailtime and that big fine to the ones trying or recording with equipment capable of reproducing footage that can be used for pirating not seconds from a cellphone 1080p high definition camera…..not. tupid laws
How about cleaning up your theaters with unwanted patrons first? The movie theaters have gotten worse each year. They do nothing about people talking, cell phones, babies, unattended children acting like idiots. If I pay $20 dollars to see a movie everyone is going to shut the hell up or I want my money back. Thankfully Netflix, HDTV’s and HD DVD’s came along, and those great copies of movies from Thialand, never have to go to a theater again!
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