AfterDawn: News

Film piracy is now a misdemeanor in NYC

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently just signed a legislation that will upgrade film piracy from a simple violation with a $250 fine to a misdemeanor that will carry a maximum of six months in prison and a penalty of up to $5000.

The signing comes on the heels of the MPAA claiming that 40 percent of camcorded films come from NYC movie theaters.



The MPAA says that piracy costs US film studios upwards of $6 billion dollars each year and a new study by the group notes that the New York movie industry loses an estimated $1.5 billion per year because of piracy.

"We're going to keep the heat on the con artists, so that the real artists who make up our film industry can continue to thrive," Bloomberg said after signing the law.

Bloomberg also said that piracy not only hurts the industry but the average New Yorker who is cheated out of his money for poorly made pirated copies.

The Mayor also noted that the New York Police Department has begun cracking down on the distribution of pirated films and a recent report showed that the police had seized 195,000 counterfeit DVDs and arrested 29 bootleggers so far in 2007.

The city's efforts have been appluaded by many groups in the entertainment industry icluding SAG, NBC, and the MPAA.

Source:
WTOPnews

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 6 May 2007 19:25

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• 28 comments

• Moomoo2

  Haha, I was in New York last week on a class trip and a friend of mine got scammed into buying a pirated copy of "Smokin Aces" for ten dollars... We were right in the middle of Times Square. Good times...

  6.5.2007 19:40 #1

• akaangus

  Quote:from a simple violation with a $250 fine to a misdemeanor that will carry a maximum of six months in prison and a penalty of up to $5000. So will the MPAA pick up the tab on the legal, court, and prison costs for people convicted of this "crime"? The answer follows...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  YEAH RIGHT!

  6.5.2007 21:47 #2

• cousinkix

  What a big joke
  
  Film PIRACY is a felony in the USA and that includes New York City. Thieves need to worry about getting caught by the FBI and going to those FEDERAL prisons for a long time. Mikey Bloomberg barely has enough room for the violent criminals serving time in his Ryker's Island gulag.
  
  Whats Next; a stupid NYPD WARNING! at the beginning of our new DVDs? Brain dead city councils pass stupid meaningless regulations that will do nothing! A New York City COPYRIGHT law is a joke much like conducting foreign policy. Next these idiots will try to run Bush's Iraq war from city hall.
  
  ROFLMAO! Ha, Ha, Ha...

  6.5.2007 22:18 #3

• sammorris

  It's an overkill reaction, but then I was genuinely taken aback by the statistic on how much it happens (if it's true of course). Downloading material is one thing, making a living of it and conning people out of their money at the same time is quite another.

  7.5.2007 02:42 #4

• Tralblazr

  What's the "con" i mean if ur buying a dvd off the street you would expect it's a bootleg i mean c'mon if u call that a "con" then i'd call u "not smart" . The only thing is that you would hopefully look for a good quality bootleg. Personally if the companies would lower the price of retail dvd/cd than they would put bootleggers out of biz. Who would buy a bootleg for 10 bux when you could buy the real thing for 10 bux. True? In reality if you buy a new dvd for 30 bux , that is the real "con" bootleggers should get a medal from the companie for spreading their propaganda anyway. Bootleggers with good quality merchandise should be touted as local heroes for bringing us movies we want to see but can't afford, after we buy overpriced gas and genetically modified food. Long Live Pirates!

  7.5.2007 04:33 #5

• rocky999

  "Bloomberg also said that piracy not only hurts the industry but the average New Yorker who is cheated out of his money for poorly made pirated copies". Maybe the answer is better quality pirated movies?

  7.5.2007 04:49 #6

• maynard1

  Mayor Bloomberg should get himself a "bootleg" copy of loose change second edition, re-evaluate his focus, and enjoy his wealth quietly.

  7.5.2007 05:55 #7

• clamUp

  I wouldn't have any problem with copyright enforcement if Copyright law was reasonable. The law lasting 100+ years, with no end to corporate million-dollar paid-for extensions in sight, is COMPLETELY unreasonable. It may as well last forever. The expiration and eventual fall into public domain is a carrot on the end of a stick. It'll never happen.
  
  What scares me is that it's only going to get worse before it ever gets better unless people stand up and do something.

  7.5.2007 06:16 #8

• spydah

  This dont surprise me one bit. They fining people for walking down the street listen to the ipod or mp3 players. This article just follows suit with all the dumb things they are willing to waste money time and patience on. Again our GOV will to stoop low to do things that arent worth our time. We give them mofo's to much power.

  7.5.2007 06:38 #9

• Tralblazr

  @spydah , ppl have got fines for listening to mp3 players?

  7.5.2007 07:08 #10

• RuPtUrE

  Thanks for the logo of the MPAA above!! Im gonna use it next time i author a dvd and give some shout outs to them!! LMFAO@MPAA!!! See you next time like "Centropy" would say...ha!

  7.5.2007 07:32 #11

• RuPtUrE

  Originally posted by maynard1:Mayor Bloomberg should get himself a "bootleg" copy of loose change second edition, re-evaluate his focus, and enjoy his wealth quietly.Or maybe the copy of Spiderman 3 released by "MVS"...now thats worth downloading or buying from someone in the streets...even worth 10 bucks if you has me..lmfao!!!

  7.5.2007 07:35 #12

• spydah

  Originally posted by Tralblazr:@spydah , ppl have got fines for listening to mp3 players?Yes they have. Because a couple of high school kids got hit by a car listening to their ipod. They said they will fine anybody for walking around listen to their mp3 players in NYC.

  7.5.2007 07:55 #13

• Z3120

  Originally posted by Tralblazr:@spydah , ppl have got fines for listening to mp3 players?There was an article about this incident in NYC where there were too many casualties in car accidents when people who would walk across the streets would get runned over or something while listening to their iPods. To avoid this problem, NYC proposed a bill where if you're caught listening to any mp3 player, mainly an iPod, while crossing the streets, you'll be fine (forgot the amount) which they succeeded to pass; however, you can freely listen to your iPod when you're on the next block but not while you are crossing.
  
  Anyway, onto the article. This NYC incident reminds me of the numerous things they've or had gotten to succeed. Remember that incident with the special 'n' word? That and including the previous thing I said. In a news article I read, a week before that South episode of naggers aired, NYC was trying to pass a law that would prohibit the use of the n word. There are sure some weird legislation going on, but I doubt NYC is the only one because there were quite some weird ones back then too a decade or so ago.

  7.5.2007 08:08 #14

• MightyOne

  OH MY...
  
  VHS sales are down big time.
  Its not what it used to be.
  As time goes on...sales keep dropping....what could be happening ?
  
  This could be a tough one for the MPAA to answer.
  They might still be wondering why cassettes aren't selling anymore.
  
  Piracy always existed and always will. Piracy can be controlled if it prices are not outrages. Its a big savings for the consumer to go to piracy with the prices of today.
  
  It costs too much gas to drive to the video store and rent one now.
  
  Also...(my opinion) society as a whole seems to be leaning towards mp3 music. DivX Movies. I myself prefer to loose a bit of quality but fit 150 songs on an cd-r. When there becomes many different media types in which to distribute movies and music, Is it not logical that sales will DROP in specific areas. Its called DIVISION!

  7.5.2007 11:17 #15

• joe777

  I went to see Roger Waters perform The Darkside tour, in Arnhem holland saturday night past. He played some stuff from Amused To Death( solo album). Perfect Sense part 1 and 2. It explains this article
  
  "it all makes perfect sense, expressed in dollars and cents pounds shillings and pence, cant you see it all makes perfect sense"
  
  Oh and Us And Them was absolutely fantastic.
  The whole gig was mindblowing but you see the pun!!!

  7.5.2007 13:40 #16

• sammorris

  If the job's done right, there's very little noticeable difference unless you're using premium grade equipment, and the average consumer won't. Those who would probably insist on Lossless Audio and High bandwidth video anyway!

  7.5.2007 13:54 #17

• jinggoy

  Originally posted by Moomoo2:Haha, I was in New York last week on a class trip and a friend of mine got scammed into buying a pirated copy of "Smokin Aces" for ten dollars... We were right in the middle of Times Square. Good times...You got ripped off. It's actually $5.

  7.5.2007 17:11 #18

• sammorris

  THAT much? Lol

  7.5.2007 17:13 #19

• Moomoo2

  Quote:Originally posted by Moomoo2:Haha, I was in New York last week on a class trip and a friend of mine got scammed into buying a pirated copy of "Smokin Aces" for ten dollars... We were right in the middle of Times Square. Good times...You got ripped off. It's actually $5.Heh, were you the one sellin'? =P

  7.5.2007 17:54 #20

• jinggoy

  Quote:[quote]Originally posted by Moomoo2:Haha, I was in New York last week on a class trip and a friend of mine got scammed into buying a pirated copy of "Smokin Aces" for ten dollars... We were right in the middle of Times Square. Good times...You got ripped off. It's actually $5.Heh, were you the one sellin'? =P[/quote]No not really, but me living in NYC I know the prices and such.

  7.5.2007 18:03 #21

• webe123

  Originally posted by Tralblazr:What's the "con" i mean if ur buying a dvd off the street you would expect it's a bootleg i mean c'mon if u call that a "con" then i'd call u "not smart" . The only thing is that you would hopefully look for a good quality bootleg. Personally if the companies would lower the price of retail dvd/cd than they would put bootleggers out of biz. Who would buy a bootleg for 10 bux when you could buy the real thing for 10 bux. True? In reality if you buy a new dvd for 30 bux , that is the real "con" bootleggers should get a medal from the companie for spreading their propaganda anyway. Bootleggers with good quality merchandise should be touted as local heroes for bringing us movies we want to see but can't afford, after we buy overpriced gas and genetically modified food. Long Live Pirates!
  Sorry, but I don't see a bootlegger or ANYONE who PROFITS off of selling something that is not thiers as "heroes"!
  
  p2p is different, there is no money in real p2p....unless someone is stupid enough to "buy" a p2p client like limewire pro or use a pay service in some kazaa scam. But then again,that is not real p2p, it is a ripoff.
  
  But to say someonme is a hero for bootlegging a movie is going a little too far.

  8.5.2007 00:40 #22

• borhan9

  This in no way is going to stop the piracy. You can try anything it will continue it was a right given to our fore fathers :)

  8.5.2007 01:24 #23

• Jlhfit

  Blah blah........so basically let see if I understand this.. They "lose" 1.5 bil a year.. Isnt that the profit of say 1 movie really good Hollywood hit... Im still spending money though.. On black Dvd's and CD's, so I m not "technically" getting it "free"....

  8.5.2007 12:30 #24

• GernBlan

  Like the mayor of any US city is going to know whether a DVD is an original or poor quality bootleg. Give me a break. Con artist? What con artist sells bootleg DVDs? I mean, they would be a con artist if they fooled Wal-Mart into buying 10,000 copies of their bootlegged movies. Someone buying bootleg movies on the streets of NYC isn't a con victim -- they're called customers, and probably happy customers at that.
  
  Wait a waste of legislation. How about we spend less money worrying about bootlegged movies and focus more about national security? I don't think Al Qaeda was targeting the bootleg movie vendors that setup shop in front of the World Trade Center. How about we worry more about Crack sales instead of DVD copies? How about we worry more about child porno rings or AIDS or even lesser problems like the overwhelming obesity statistics?
  
  Sigh...another sleepless night for me! I just know I'm going to be up all night, worrying about all those poor movie studios suffering because of all those bootlegged movies being sold on NYC streets. Someone pass me a tissue...I just can't take it anymore! Sniff...sniff....

  12.5.2007 19:39 #25

• sammorris

  Oh no, they're using terrorism to aid the piracy cause. "Piracy funds terrorism" - haven't you seen the slogans?

  13.5.2007 13:00 #26

• davidlucy

  i wouild not pay 10 bucks for a pirated movie and yet i would like to see the city try to get that five grand from these street hawkers half of them would rather spend time in our gulag than give hollywood that cash so mr.bloomberg kiss that one goodbye.

  13.5.2007 13:55 #27

• Gnawnivek

  Originally posted by rocky999:"Bloomberg also said that piracy not only hurts the industry but the average New Yorker who is cheated out of his money for poorly made pirated copies". Maybe the answer is better quality pirated movies?Good point Rocky :)

  14.5.2007 06:44 #28