Smuggling camera into movie theater can get you arrested

610 WTVN Radio ^ | January 2, 2004

[flutters]

Ohio has passed a law that lets police arrest people for videotaping movies in theaters. Governor Taft signed the bill last month and it takes effect in March. The film industry is trying to prevent piracy and they have several methods to fight it, including bag searches for people entering movie houses. But some say Hollywood's tactics could backfire. A recent study found that three out of every four movies leaked on the Internet came from industry insiders. That led the Motion Picture Academy of America to temporarily stop sending ``screener'' tapes and DVDs to Oscar voters.

[flutters]

I've never seen anyone videotaping movies in a theater. That's just silly.

[lormand]

go to alt.binaries.divx for all of your hacked movies.

[hollywood]

However, it is apparently a common enough 'crime' that it was once done in a Seinfeld episode. Art imitating life?

[weegee]

What's a camera? Cell phones today can capture pictures and some still cameras can even capture moving images.

Bootlegging has occurred in the film industry for 100 years. They used to take Melies' and other directors' silent films and slap their own credits on them. More enterprising studios stamped their name on the intertitle cards so that the text would all have to be edited on the pirated prints.

I guess this is just an effort to stamp down on the competition in the marketplace of bootlegs. Just like real concert bootlegs that are sold come from the soundboard, not smuggled cassette recorders.

[Revolting cat!]

It's been done for years. The resulting product, DVD or VHS, is actually better than the original, because, at least in the case of unamusing comedies, it has a laugh track!

[weegee]

What's next? Arresting people for bringing their own candy into a theater?

[Trust but Verify]

Kramer also once smuggled a latte into the theater under in the waistband of his pants.

[Alberta's Child]

This issue is a very interesting one, because it illustrates the hard truth that capitalism and a free society can really only exist when people place a value on virtuous behavior. Once the number of people in any society with no upstanding moral values exceeds some kind of critical mass (maybe 5% to 15% of the population?), the entire social order starts to break down. This "critical mass" is the point at which people who would otherwise be law-abiding and virtuous realize that the entire system has been turned upside down -- when they see that people pay no price for lawlessness, but pay a heavy price for virtuous behavior.

[CindyDawg]

Why bother? You are going to probably spend over 20 dollars to see a movie. You can wait and buy it for under that a few months later and watch it at home. I hardly ever go to the movies anymore. I wouldn't want them searching my bag though. There would not be any movie camera and I could easily explain the gun but the baggie of popcorn and the McDonald's cheeseburger might be a little harder.

[weegee]

The question remains, is it the duty of the police to arrest people for this behavior? The theater owner has the right to evict any patrons that he wishes to (and he can call the police to intervene if they still won't leave).

It used to be up to the movie studio to prosecute the man for any copyright violation. Now cities will have to pay for the prosecution.

Hollywood and toy companies have also gotten US customs agents to check for "contraband" like imported versions of movies (Disney has been cracking down on importation of legally released unedited versions of Hong Kong action films). There was even a limit on the number of Beany Babies that could be brought in luggage (no more than 2 of any doll).

[Revolting cat!]

I dunno, Hong Kong with its fake Rolexes, off the books extra runs of brand name products, pirate CD's, DVD's, and what not, has been doing fine. With all that, no one rides the subway without a ticket!

[hollywood]

That, too, was probably art imitating life, where people try to sneak in 'outside' food and drink all the time, which the theaters don't like. The fact that it was a latte in the pants was just to spoof/characturize the food and drink smuggling that's done all the time in less obtuse ways.

[weegee]

When I saw a preview screening last month they ran the metal detecting "wand" over us (I'm in Texas).

At ButtNumbAThon last month they banned all laptops (previous festivals had cleared the theater for camera sweeps).

Keep making me feel like cattle (even at free screenings) and I'll just stay home.

[weegee]

Midnight movies are great for sneeking in beer/liquor and pizza!

Pizza boxes aren't easy to bring in, but it can be done.

[Revolting cat!]

It gets worse, 15 or so years ago, the crooks at the RIAA bribed enough crooks at Congress to ban imports of any audio recordings that were already available in similar releases here. For example, you couldn't import or sell the original British albums of the Beatles. There was hardly any peep of protest in the country at the time.

[CindyDawg]

Yeah. It's just getting too expensive and restrictive. I may be older than you but I would like to see drive-ins back. Nobody cared what you brought in. Now days they would probably search your car though:'(

[weegee]

Here's a moral question. Is there any harm in sneeking into a "free" movie? Either jumping screens or faking the preview pass?

The passes already declare that they do not guarantee a seat. There is no financial loss to the studio/theater and the film will still get its "word of mouth".

The only preview I have been to in a long time that filled every seat was Kill Bill Vol.1.

[cake_crumb]

If you PAID to get into the movie theater to watch the movie in the first place, how it it different from taping a movie off a cable channel at home? You PAID for the cable and/or PPV so you could watch the movie.

[Spok]

What really concerns the industry are those who smuggle in pop and candy. The concessions are the profit centers, and they'll probably use piracy as a pretext to shake down patrons for contraband junk food.

[leadpenny]

That's right. "Kramer made me do it." :)