The Two Towers Hits the Net

tfreport writes "The Drudge Report is reporting that The Two Towers has already began to be file swapped online. This is four months before the movie is set to debut! An executive in New York promised if this is indeed part of the film that they would be punishing anyone and everyone that downloads the film or distributes it to the full extent of the law."

Comments

You'll only screw yourselves...

[bushboy]

Well, if you want to see a really shoddy quality movie on a small computer monitor with more than likely bad quality sound and some stupid warez logo covering part of the screen, your screwing yourself.

I'd rather wait 4 months and pay my money to see it the way it is intended ! - BIG SCREEN, dolby surround sound, comfy chair, popcorn etc.

Re:This is just pathetic...

[technix4beos]

The real question is this: "Where did the material come from in the first place?"

If this is legit material, than perhaps the movie industry should worry more about security than howling after the fact.

It's been said countless times, that the internet as broadcast medium could do far more positive things for the movie industry than harmful, if handled correctly. We all know how dense the people at the top are though...

I don't know what is more tragic. The fact that someone has the balls to smuggle this out, or the fact that the movie industry is too stupid to not capitilize on a medium that obviously their fans use daily.

Attributing blame.

[FyRE666]

Shouldn't the movie studios/recording industry pour all their efforts into finding the source of these leaked files rather than blaming everyone else on the 'net for their lack of basic security?

You know, simply NOT allowing their staff to send emails full of huge mpg files, or carry out CDRWs full of company assets would seem to be a good idea, would it not? It'd certainly be easier to stop this sort of thing at the source.

Imagine if the mints (places that "make" money - not the sweets) had security this lax? Everyone in the country would be a potential criminal. Mind you, the RIAA already think this, so...

Maybe the movie industry really *isn't* worried...

[SimplyCosmic]

... maybe they deliberately leaked it, knowing full well that the extra hype would only help the movie, the fanatics would still go to the movie theater to see it ten times and would buy all six versions of the DVD, even after seeing it from a downloaded P2P copy.

[ conspiracy mode ]

Additionally, intentionally releasing a relatively clean copy of a movie that they know will be heavily traded provides them a great bullet point in presentations to Congress about how those eterrorist hackers are trading complete movies online and legislation needs to be immediately enacted to give them full search-and-seizure rights to your computer.

[ /conspiracy mode ]

Re:Maybe the movie industry really *isn't* worried

[technix4beos]

You know what would be even scarier to contemplate?

If they leaked different sub-versions, each with a special "marker" in it to track how far they travelled online.

Think of the potential marketing statistics and numbers they could churn out the next time they want to justify exactly what you stated, namely how all the eTerrorists are infiltrating their industry and causing such a downturn in the economy... (my heart breaks... ;)

I'll say it again. The United States is NOT the center of the universe.

These people need to grow up, take a good look around at this world we live in, and realize that money doesn't solve everything.

Re:Useless

[acceleriter]

No, they serve no-knock warrants on two or three each in a few different countries, confiscate everything, jail the users pending trial, sue them and their parents (if applicable). This would be sufficient to scare of 90% of those 4,500,000 Gnutella nodes. And it's going to happen--have you heard the shoe-banging rhetoric Ashcroft's been spouting about NET Act prosecutions? And do you think other Western nations dare not tow the line?

Re:"The Two Towers"

[bourne]

Please expand on this. Who is "they", and what are your sources?

Following the attack on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001, and because of the similarity between the buildings' nickname, "The Twin Towers", and the movie's title, "The Two Towers", the director and producers briefly considered renaming the second movie in the trilogy. They eventually decided against it, Peter Jackson's main reason being that, "fans would kill me".

From IMDB, the Internet Movie DataBase.

Salivating Thieves: Stealing A Movie Not Fair Use

[reallocate]

For all you who imagine that electronic shoplifting is somehow different than walking into a local shop and pocketing a DVD, here's the text of the fair use clause from the U.S. copyright law. You will notice that "wanting to see a movie prior to release" is not listed as an example of fair use.

...the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include-

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

Re:Why do SLASHDOTers think is is okay to steal?

[NMerriam]

Anonymous civil disobedience (even in commercial ventures) is hardly a new thing to the United States. The Boston Tea Party is the most famous example.

There is no requirement in American law than a crowd of protesters sign in at the beginning of their march.

Re:Postest with the mostest?

[uncoveror]

If The Two Towers is really out there, it is because a studio insider put it there. No one else had access to the film. Why would they do this? To convince Congress Hollywood needs more protection from Piracy. I hope they don't fall for this rouse.