Foiling Cinema Pirates

minesweeper writes "According to this Associated Press article, in fighting the piracy of advanced-screenings of movies, Hollywood has deployed agents with night vision goggles and placed metal-detectors at theater entrances. Nevertheless, video cameras are still being smuggled in and the recordings smuggled out and onto the Internet. Now, the latest attempt to fight piracy will be to show the movie with a particular flicker, imperceptible to the viewer in the theater, but making any video recording unwatchable. Quoth the article, 'Cinea LLC, which created an encryption system for DVDs, and Sarnoff, a technology research firm, are developing a system to modulate the light cast on a movie screen to create a flicker or other patterns that would be picked up by recording devices...'"

Comments

Darn it!

[Alan Holman]

Darn it! They shouldn't create that flicker, because what if some of the more sensitive of us DO notice it while watching movies in the theatre? What if we don't notice it, but it gives us an unexplainable headache which renders movie theatres unbearable, thus useless to a small percentage of people who previously enjoyed films? If they ever make a movie of the first five of my BANANA CHAN tv scripts, I don't want that flicker, because it'd render the movie unwatchable to a large extent of people who can only afford to watch bootlegged movies! -- that's not a point made in good morals, I know, but the Dreamcast version of SHENMUE 2 wouldn't have been able to be played by me, due to my financial situation, if it weren't for pirates whom I'm sometimes acquainted with; therefore, piracy is the poor world's primary source of cool literature, such as movies and video games, err...again, not a point made in good morals...or is it? I guess my main point, which isn't in
god morals is: I've never pirated a movie before, and it'd be a shame to have the opportunity taken away before I get a video camera...maybe I should just shut up, eh? It's my birthday, so don't arrest me for my counter-culture opinions :)

I had a mouse

[CrazyJim0]

Simpsons owns.
Comic book guy getting kicked out of the movie theater because he brings his desktop with him.