Projectionists Using Night Vision Goggles in Theaters

sam0ht writes "Los Angeles police arrested Ruben Centero Moreno, 34, after the projectionist used night vision goggles to spot his video camera in a showing of The Alamo. He has been charged under the new California anti-camcorder law, and could face up to 1 year in jail if convicted. The BBC reports that 'The MPAA has established a nationwide telephone hotline for cinema employees to report violations, and studios and cinemas are also investing in metal detectors and night-vision goggles'. Motion Picture Ass. Head Jack Valenti said he hoped it would 'send a clear signal such crimes will not be tolerated'. Clearly, the 'War on Copyright Violation' is following the successful strategy used for the War on Drugs, with significant resources of technology and police time mobilised to send violators to jail for a long time. Soon, copied films will be as rare as students lighting up a joint after their exams." The lesson is clear: stay out of movie theaters and you won't get arrested.

Comments

So?

[Oculus Habent]

To put it simply: Good

Taking a camcorder into a theater is breaking the law. If they can spot people with night vision goggles, that's great. They shouldn't be doing it.

Completely setting the MPAA aside, this is blatant copyright violation. It's clearly prohibited, and no one can reasonably feign ignorance on this. How many people reasonably take the camcorder for purely personal viewing with no intent to distribute the copy?

If it's for personal viewing, they can wait, spent $4 more, buy the DVD, and be legal.

Re:So?

[drmike0099]

Amen, you beat me to posting this. If anything, this is exactly what we want the MPAA to be spending its time and resources combating, not running around trying to get laws passed that prohibit legitimate fair use. These are the people that cost them actual money, and if they could shut them down, they would no longer be able to show that piracy is causing them so much damage that they need ridiculous legal protections that screw over people like you and me. Thank god they're doing this.

Re:So?

[mahdi13]

I agree, why are people getting upset about someone going to jail for breaking the law?
sam0ht seems to be a bit irate over this for some reason...if you are going to break a law, don't bitch when you get busted!
If you drive your car over the speed limit and get a ticket, it's not the cops fault.
If you do drugs and your parents catch you, it's not their fault
If you have sex in a public place and you get arrested for indecency, it's not the police's fault.

"If you do the crime, you better be prepared to do the time"

Re:So?

[Austerity Empowers]

You have your reasoning and you're entitled to it, however I think our limited jail cell space ought to be used for more significant crimes. To me, taping a movie on your camcorder is a misdemeanor offense, such criminals ought to have to go pick up highway trash for a few months and other "rehabilitating" punishments. Selling copies of said tapes to the public ought to land you in prison for a year or so, that's the real crime.

Re:So?

[frodo from middle ea]

Yes but is the one year in jail term , right ?

I mean, the only reason they have such severe sentence , is to serve an example to others and deter others from doing it. But is it legally or morally justifiable to make an example out of one offender , to deter others.

Even riot control police fire in air first and then use rubber bullets, they don't shot real bullets at random people , hoping it will deter other rioters.

Re:So?

[pete-classic]

I agree that camming is pretty hard to defend.

On the other hand The Law is not something handed down from God.

Ideally, it is a public agreement to restrict ourselves in certain ways for common benefit. In practice it more often degrades into power-hungry groups imposing their will on their fellow man.

Consider respecting your fellow man instead of respecting the law.

-Peter

Re:So?

[cgranade]

As I've said before, here as well as other places, then why isn't Ken Lay in jail? One year for a few hundred bucks that aren't even stolen directly? In the examples you gave, there are many points that you haven't addressed:

• You probably aren't going to go to jail over a speeding ticket, nor Ford is likely to give you the speeding ticket.
• It isn't universally agreed that one should go to jail over drug crimes... far from it. This is a very recent idea in law enforcement. For many, many years, there were no such laws. Besides, if you're parents catch you, then that can very easily be handled inside the family without causing the taxpayer expense of keeping someone in prison who isn't that dangerous!
• Define public place. Certainally, there are times and places where this would be inappropiate, but would you also be opposed to a couple (married, even!) having sex, at night, on a beach when no one else was there? Or during a camping trip? A national park might be considered a "public place." So, really, have we even established that the hypothetical couple has commited a moral offense?

Laws are not always right, nor are the associated punishments. Just because something is a "crime," doesn't mean that you need to go to jail for it. I hope I never see the day that people go to jail over speeding tickets.

Re:So?

[infinite9]

I think the problem is that copyrights are supposed to be a civil issue. If what you're doing is a copyright violation, they should be able to sue you. But inacting a criminal law for this smacks of corporate america controling the legal system. Also, the punishments for these sorts of things are usually way too harsh. For example, what would you have to do with your car to get a year in jail on the first offense? DUI? No. Manslaughter? That would probably do it. What about drugs... go to jail for a year on the first offense for possesion? I don't think so. But all you have to do is enter a movie theater with a camcorder and you're busted. It may be wrong to record movies, but this law is certainly unjust.

Re:So?

[Kenja]

Civil disobedience requires you to EXPECT and ACEPT the consequences of your actions in the hope that your persecution will enlighten others as to the injustice of the law you're breaking. It is NOT being surprised and pissed off when you get caught. That is just being a petty criminal.

Re:So?

[miskatonic alumnus]

Here we go again. STEAL??? For the N-thousandth time, copyright infringement is not STEALING. If it were, then we wouldn't need extra laws and extra terminology. It would just be called stealing, for which there is extant laws, terminology, and punishment.

I don't see what the big deal is, personally. These copies aren't high quality. A year in jail is outrageous. Just throw the bum out of the theatre and ban him. Why does the United States have this OBSESSION with punishment. It is not sufficient to slap someone with a little fine; we have to bankrupt them, throw them in jail, ruin their lives, all for a trivial little offense. What the fuck!!! Show some goddamned common sense. After all, there are so many laws on the books, I feel I can safely say that 100% of the people in the U.S. are in violation of at least one of them at least once per year. It could be your turn next.

Re:So?

[zod1025]

There *definitely* is a mismatch between what should be a criminal offense and what should be a civil offense. Clearly copyright violations should be civil offenses, as should anything dealing with intellectual property, because it's all make-believe anyway (no humans were harmed in the violation of this copyright!)

So fine the dude a thousand or a million or whatever, ban him from theatres, whatever. But jail time? Get real. Completely inappropriate.

Cam?

[lofoforabr]

In fact, I rarely get any camera recorded movies, because of the usual low quality.
Don't we all love TeleSync and (even better), DVD-Screeners?
IMHO, camera recorded movies aren't all that worth the download, are they?

Come on, use some common brain cells.

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

The lesson is clear: stay out of movie theaters and you won't get arrested.

The whole feel of the implied editorial of this write-up is that there is something sinister and wrong about using noght-vision scopes to catch people who bring a video cam into a theater. But remember, it is people just like this ASSHOLE who got busted, that give RAII and the motion picture Nazis the fodder to shoot down P2P. Come on, there is no legitimate "fair use" excuse for bringing a video cam into a theater and filming the movie. Exactly who is the "ass-hat" here?

Re:Come on, use some common brain cells.

[Ryan_Terry]

agreed.

Its about time people realize that the world was never meant to be a place full of free stuff to take whenever you want it. This idea that its your right to do whatever the hell you want, and when a mega corporation tries to stop you they are suddenly infringing on your god given rights is ridiculous.

The problem is the penalty

[rben]

I have no problem with the cinemas using night goggles to find people illegally recording the movie. That is clearly just a reasonable attempt to protect their investment. What concerns me is the sentence of one year in prison. With our prisons already busting at the seams, do we really want a violent criminal released from prison to make room for a guy who illegally filmed a movie?

The penalties given out should fit the crime. Using a camcorder to tape a movie is an economic crime and should be dealt with on that basis. Give the guy a fine large enough to destroy any profits he could make plus some more to drive the lesson home and keep the prison space for people who are actually a danger to us.

Another thought. I've seen new parents who carry camcorders with them everywhere. They stuff it into the kids diaper bag. Are we going to send them to prison because they forgot to take the camera out of the bag and leave it in the car?

It's sad when anyone decides that their personal profits are more important than public safety. It's worse when members of congress race to suck up to such people and enact legislation at their bidding.

Hmm...a question

[bonch]

What exactly is wrong with the MPAA not wanting people to film movies? That is, after all, a crime and is also immoral to a degree. Slashdotters have yet to legally or morally justify pirating movies.

Is it okay to pirate games and software? You know, stuff that programmers made? Can I pirate the fuck out of Doom 3 when it comes out? OH, THAT'S RIGHT--the subject of software piracy is never mentioned because Slashdot is made up of a lot of programmers and developers. Since software piracy would affect them, it's bad, right? They'll stick up for their hero John Carmack and tell you to buy the game when it comes out.

And why all the sudden is there an equation to the War on Drugs? It's completely irrelevant. Does that mean that Slashdot editors also believe drugs should be legalized?

This article fits all the attributes required for being propaganda. Even the juvenile "Ass. Head" remark, which does nothing to intellectualize your argument.

Try all you want, but making a desperate connection to the War on Drugs, calling him an Ass. Head, and pretending it's some sort of bad thing that they used night vision goggles to spot a camera (the pirates are using high-tech gadgets, so what is wrong with the theater doing the same damn thing? I don't expect any answer to this...) in order to arrest him for doing something illegal, is not going to change the fact that you're wrong if you think movie piracy is okay and that everyone should just "accept" it. I'm sure people will bring out the tired old "the MPAA needs to find a 'new business model'", which is something Slashdotters love to say. Except that these business majors never mention what the new model is supposed to be other than giving away shit for free. Yeah--that'll work.

Re:Hmm...a question

[rjelks]

I'm more concerned about them busting people for "outside food." I mean really, I could get a steak dinner for the price of their popcorn and a drink!

Re:Hmm...a question

[Mr. Slippery]

Is it okay to pirate games and software?

Please don't use the same word to refer to robbery and murder on the high seas, and copyright violation. It's not just inaccurate, it's stupid.

And why all the sudden is there an equation to the War on Drugs? It's completely irrelevant. Does that mean that Slashdot editors also believe drugs should be legalized?

Don't know about editors, but anyone with a lick of sense can see that after three decades, the War on (Some) Drugs is a failure in every way. Hard drugs are readily available in any urban area, our prisons are overflowing, our society several times more violent, and our liberties eroding.

The comparison to the current push for a War on Copying is that both unauthorized copying and drug use are widespread non-violent activities. They are both impossible to stop, but both Wars require gross invasions of privacy and civil liberties to continue their futile attempts at enforcement.

Except that these business majors never mention what the new model is supposed to be other than giving away shit for free.

I've been suggesting for years that a model similar to that of songwriter royalites should be applied - copying is free (just like singing a song), profit-making use rquires royalties. Other models have been proposed, you apparently just haven't been paying attention.

As usual, slashdotters missing the bigger picture.

[ph4s3]

Wow. I can't believe how many "don't take a camera into a theatre" posts there have been. It seems most people are, yet again, missing the point.

Several things here warrant serious attention...

1. Criminalization of acts covered by civil law
   • Last I checked, violating copyright was a civil issue. This law seeks to make a criminal case out of a clearly civil case.
   • It also acts as criminalizing the 'contract' that you enter into with a theatre, namely not bringing in outside food/drink or recording/flash devices. If one part is now criminal, why not the other?
   • The theatre has every right to make its own rules and kick people out violating them, but that is a distinctly civil law/contractual issue.
   • Why in the hell are we granting the power of the state, i.e. use of force, search and seizure, to movie theatres and studios? Talk about jack booted thugs.
2. posession of a recording device != copyright infringement
   • Just because I have a camera with me does not mean I am violating copyright. Perhaps I had it earlier in the day, couldn't get home, and won't leave it in the parking lot to get stolen. That should be my perogative, at the discression of the theatre if they authorize it.
   • Even if being used, that still doesn't mean I'm violating copyright, i.e. I'm recording an audience's reaction to a film or something. This law doesn't make provisions for that case, which would normally be granted by the movie theatre. Even if the theatre says it is okay, the law is still being broken.
   • If not true, then everyone that ever bought an optical drive for their PC should be arrested under similar laws for the potential of violating copyright law. This law is no different than outlawing posession of VCRs, DVRs, CD-R/W, DVD-R/W due to their potential use.
3. Ignoring real piracy sources.
   • The last time I looked, screeners where the most common dupes out there, not camcorder versions of the movies.
   • Why is the industry criminalizing what some schmuck does in a theatre that doesn't lead to wide spread piracy?
   • Why is the industry ignoring the real sources such as screener copies and digital copies of the reels that go out to the theatres?
   • There is no possible way you can convince me that the DVD quality copies with liner notes available on the streets of Hong Kong one day after the movie's release are from a camcorder of some guy in LA. How ridiculous.

Personally I couldn't care less about what goes on in theatres. My wife and I haven't been to the movies but maybe once or twice in the last six months since we started using NetFlix (which rules, by the way). However, this law and it's enforcement seems like just another encroachment on individual freedom instead of the policing and punishment of actual illegal criminal or civil activity. I mean, why do the hard job of policing the activity, when you can make the tool illegal and make your job 100 times easier.