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UK Copyright Group Tells Cinemas to Ban Laptops
Sockatume writes "Cinema chain Cineworld now has a policy banning anyone from carrying a laptop into a theatre, even if it is not used. The management claims that this is an anti-piracy move on the advice of the Federation Against Copyright Theft, the much-mocked source of all kinds of dubious anti-piracy statements. When it was pointed out that the laptop had no camera, the management made a temporary exception. For customers, the message is clear: leave your laptop in the car. For pirates, the message is clear: there is more money to be made slinking around cinema car parks looking for laptop bags."
It's funny they had no problems with mobile phones that certainly have good cameras now a days, but with a laptop. Oh well, maybe that changes soon too.
I'm just waiting them to take off our eyes while in movie theatre.
Important caveat, neatly snipped from the start of the post.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Banning laptops in a theatre to stop people from recording movies in a theatre makes about as much sense as banning people from drinking if they possess a valid drivers license because they could decide to drive home (the irony that one actually usually uses a driver's license to prove one's legal drinking age notwithstanding).
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
While it seems like a rather silly policy, why on earth would people be taking their laptops into the movie theater? Are there that many occasions when people don't go home prior to going to a movie?
I certainly wouldn't want to hear the clickety-clack of someone typing behind me while I'm trying to watch a movie, any more than I want to hear the 12 year old telling his friend "okay, in about ten seconds this guy is going to jump out...".
#DeleteChrome
You don't need a laptop in a theatre. You need the laptop for whatever you might be doing before/after watching the movie.
Or maybe conveniently located rentable lockers will start showing up at the theater, which you can pay to store all your potentially infringing devices. Dump your laptop, phone, and any pens or pencils which may be used to write down dialogue. Also, when you leave the theater, please make sure to stop by our convenient memory erasing station, so that you don't carry unauthorized memories out of the theater.
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
I tend to walk to the cinema. I've also known people travel by bus and train. This is not the US. People don't all drive everywhere.
From summary: For pirates, the message is clear: there is more money to be made slinking around cinema car parks looking for laptop bags.
What? Sigh. Once again, all together now: Piracy is not stealing.
So that advice is for thieves, not pirates. But wait, there's one more oddity in the same sentence: "more money" - which assumes that money is made at all by piracy. It's sad that even among the IT elite (/.), such myths are propagated.
L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers.
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The rest of us will forego the spanish inquisition, the extortionate prices and the hassle in general of getting parked and bothering to go to the cinema, we will instead sit at home watching our bootlegged copy, pausing it to go to the loo and still have the poeple walking infront of the screen, laughing and coughing.
Actually I feel like doing piracy vs cinema:
Cinema:
Pros
Cons:
Piracy:
Pros:
Cons:
Well, where I live, we have subways, bus, and a great transportation system. I don't need a car, and yet I travel with my laptop. And I see a lot of people doing the same in the bus and subway. So much for sarcasms huh.
For customers, the message is clear: leave your laptop in the car.
I have a better answer: When they ask you to put your laptop in your car, ask for your money back and leave. Is it really worth being treated like a criminal to see that movie right now? Customer service matters. If the proprietor of some establishment is a dick, don't give him your money.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
I wonder if this has more to do with the Twitter effect (see Brüno) than stopping piracy.
It seems rather implausible (to be generous) that someone would try to illegally film a movie using a crappy webcam on your average laptop (particularly if they manage to do it with the laptop in the bag). If you think about how a laptop is likely to hurt them financially, the reason should be pretty clear.
Where I live we have trains, bus, and a great transportation system. I don't need a car either, I walk. I have never seen anyone bring a laptop to a movie theater, ever. So much for sarcasms [sic].
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"After a short time a small boy appeared. Sorry I said, I want to see the manager.
It turns out the small boy was the manager."
Yeah... that kinda makes you sound like a prick. Waving around a BBC ID like it makes you special and somehow exempt from the rules everyone else has to follow isn't the most endearing quality either.
many small laptops can fit inside large coat pockets. anyone with a backpack may have a laptop. no one walks on the sidewalk with their shiny laptop cradled in their hands unprotected. so of course you don't see anyone carrying a laptop to any theater: they're securely under covers 99% of the time
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Maybe that's because they leave them in their bags instead of holding them up in the air and waving them around while shouting "Hey, everybody, look at my laptop!"
Just a thought.
Unless you were trying to say that you have never, ever seen anyone bring a bag more than 30 cm wide into a movie theatre, in which case I would have to ask you just what kind of movies legally bind people enjoy.
Aside from the obvious absurdity of someone trying to record a movie with their laptop -- how much of a problem are off-screen recordings for the movie industry? I may be naive -- but I really have a hard time imagining someone saying -- "I was gonna go see this movie in the theater, but I have a copy that someone recorded with a video camera in the theater! This is just as good! Now I don't need to go see it!" Am I missing something here, or are these anti-piracy groups really that dense?
Actually what they are afraid of is: " I was gonna go see this movie in the theater, but I have a copy that someone recorded with a video camera in the theater and now I know it sucks! I'm not going to waste my time and money going to the theater to see it." (see also someone else's comment about twits tweeting how bad the movie is).
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
Thanks, but if the babysitter I hired is telling me my house is burning down and/or my kids are in danger, guess what: I'm answering the phone regardless of the "inconvenience" of that bright light in your eyes.
+3 Insightful, my ass. How about -12, remarkably fucking stupid.
No piracy, problem solved.
First of all, the chances of that happening are extremely low. Second, if it was happening there is nothing you could do about it from the movie theater. That's why you hired the baby sitter. If you're really so worried, you could just not go to the movies in the first place.
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