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British Movie Theater Staff To Wear Night-Vision Goggles To Combat Movie Piracy

Ewan Palmer writes: Movie theater across the UK will be required to don military-style night vision goggles in order to help crack down on movie piracy ahead of the release of potential box office smashes such as Spectre and Hunger Games. The initiative is part new measures to combat piracy as in recent years, pirates have found new and inventive ways to illegally record movies while using a smartphone to film through a popcorn box. Kieron Sharp, director general of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), said: "The bigger the film and the more anticipated it is, the higher-risk it is. We have staff on extra alert for that. James Bond is a big risk and we will be working with cinema operators and the distributors making sure we will keep that as tight as possible. We really don't want to see that recorded. They [cinema staff] are on alert to really drill down on who is in the auditorium and who might possibly be recording. They still do the sweeps around the auditoriums with the night vision glasses regardless of the film. But sometimes extra security is put in place for things like Bond."

5 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Or... let there be light! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1, Informative

    By "rely on" he could mean "rely on". Most cameras have a night-vision or low-light capability that relies on non-visible spectrum. Since the camera relies on IR/UV, then one could say it "relies on" it.

  2. Re:What is the incentive to the uploaded? by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 4, Informative

    I understand the incentive to watch a movie online but what is the incentive for someone to risk prison time to illegally record a movie and upload it to pirate bay? What is the uploader getting out of it? Back in the BBS there was a barter system where you could get credit by uploading something wanted that didn't exist yet but what incentive is there today?

    Altruism?

    Why do people volunteer to do anything? Maybe it's because they get some kind of satisfaction by helping people. Maybe they like the prestige of being a notable pirate. Maybe they think the media industry is evil, and they feel like they are making the world a better place by denying profits to them.

    I suppose it doesn't make sense if you think the only compelling reason to do something is for personal monetary gain.

    But there are lots of other motivations people can have other than money.

  3. Re:Or... let there be light! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    That's incorrect. Concentrated IR (eg a laser) will heat the internals of the eye, just like a visible laser. There would be hell to pay for everyone with an IR remote control and the Nintendo Wii/WiiU sensor bar. Non-concentrated IR is no more harmful than visible light. The ways to mess with the IR sensitivity in a camera is to make the IR light alternate between strobeing and solid from a LED bank in the ceiling pointed towards the seats at a 30 to 45 degree angle so it ruins the recording and can't just be compensated with a filter or software setting.

  4. this is not new by Ginger+Unicorn · · Score: 5, Informative

    i live in the uk and my local cineworld did this briefly about 5 years ago after a commandment from on high. The staff found it embarrasing and stupid and i remember seeing them wandering in with the goggles on and staring at us for a few seconds then walking off again. They only did it for a couple of weeks.

    This isn't new, and it isn't really a sustained procedure of audience monitoring. It's a publicity stunt to make people think they're being watched - make a giant fuss about how they're watching everyone in the dark and hopefully that will scare them into not filming the screen.

    They do it long enough to make people aware of it then stop again. Then in another 5 years make a big hoo-haa and break out the night vision goggles again for a couple of weeks.

    --
    (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
  5. Re:This is why I don't go to movie theatres by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    There is a major difference between CAM/TS/TC and SCREENER/WP releases that you don't seem to be aware of. Almost all popular movies have CAM releases. There are currently ~22 movies with no better release available than a CAM.