AfterDawn: News

Alleged drive-in cammer arrested in Australia

An Australian man has been arrested for allegedly recording movies with his camcorder at a drive-in theater. According to the Motion Picture Association (MPA), an organization representing movie studios around the world, the 26 year old was responsible was responsible for recording a number of cam movies made available by the release group PreVail.

Police seized camcorder and computer equipment in a raid. This equipment was allegedly used for recording recent movies, including “He’s Just Not That Into You”, “Marley and Me”, “Yes Man”, “Bedtime Stories”, and “Beverley Hills Chihuahua”.



They were acting largely on information collected by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT). AFACT is an organization comprised of companies in the Australian film and television industry.

The drive-in where the Cam releases were recorded was identified using digital watermarks added to many film prints before they're sent to theaters.

“Anyone thinking of illegally camcording a movie should be aware that the technology exists to identify them, track them down and take them to court on criminal copyright charges,” said Neil Gane, Director of Operations at AFACT.

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 18 Feb 2009 12:07

• Previous article

• SoundExchange misses deadline for webcaster royalty deal

• Next article

• Girl arrested for texting during school

• 16 comments

• engage16

  I never thought of camming at a Drive-In Theater... I guess that would be the place to do it... But its his own damn fault for not noticing the watermark on the screen...

  18.2.2009 13:56 #1

• nintenut

  Originally posted by engage16: I never thought of camming at a Drive-In Theater... I guess that would be the place to do it... But its his own damn fault for not noticing the watermark on the screen...
  Or for going to the same one over and over.

  18.2.2009 15:19 #2

• JonnyCabs

  Quote:But its his own damn fault for not noticing the watermark on the screen... We are not necessarily talking about a huge tv channel style watermark.......
  
  I remember about 2 years ago the pre-release of the "terminator" tv series "the sarah connor chronicles"
  
  This contained a watermark which was approx 12-20 pixels on ONE frame of the whole episode. Only obvious if you knew it was there AND exactly where to look.
  
  However, continually using the SAME theatre is a little on the OOPS side... :)

  18.2.2009 15:41 #3

• borhan9

  The stupid thing here is why would you do it in the first place and secondly the quality would be really crappy. Just imagine the sound and picture quality. He deserved what he got.

  18.2.2009 15:43 #4

• b18bek9

  they dont even have drive in movies out here anymore use to be fun but i can see why drive ins are closed down.

  18.2.2009 16:26 #5

• bomber991

  Originally posted by borhan9: The stupid thing here is why would you do it in the first place and secondly the quality would be really crappy. Just imagine the sound and picture quality. He deserved what he got.Picture quality might not be the best, but it would be better than most cams. It's a drive-in so you don't have to worry about other people walking and blocking your view. At drive in's they have little speakers you can put in your car, so you don't have to worry about other people talking and having their cells go off.

  18.2.2009 17:04 #6

• ThePastor

  The drive-ins out here broadcast the sound on a low power FM transmitter that lets the sound be played over your car stereo. This would be very easy to grab and would not have any ambient sound whatsoever.
  I hope his windshield was clean!

  18.2.2009 20:13 #7

• zdiggler

  I thought the noises and people walking in front of the camera is to bring you all the experience.

  18.2.2009 21:13 #8

• cyprusrom

  Originally posted by zdiggler: I thought the noises and people walking in front of the camera is to bring you all the experience.Haha, indeed, true Surround Sound!

  18.2.2009 22:34 #9

• cousinkix

  We used to have a Drive In theatre across town; but it closed last year. A run down low income housing complex was right next door. The tenents could have easily cammed both screens and recorded the low power FM radio audio signals from the comforts of home.
  
  A lot of illegal aliens live there. And guess which sub group of people likes to sell bootleg CDs DVDs at the flea markets. I've seen news clips of them getting busted by the police, RIAA and ICE at 11 PM...

  20.2.2009 05:54 #10

• cyprusrom

  Originally posted by cousinkix: ...
  
  A lot of illegal aliens live there. And guess which sub group of people likes to sell bootleg CDs DVDs at the flea markets. I've seen news clips of them getting busted by the police, RIAA and ICE at 11 PM...
  Haha! Okay, I cannot guess anymore, why don't you tell us which "sub" group of people sells bootlegged DVDs?
  My guess was that only people that are industrious enough, smart enough to find idiots that would buy a Cam DVD at a flea market...I commend that! So if the "aliens"( wonder what galaxy are they from) are the ingenious ones that produce the stuff, who are the idiots that buy their merchandise?

  20.2.2009 10:10 #11

• vballstud

  Ahhh... drive-ins. Brings back some very good memories. Still have at least one in the area.

  20.2.2009 10:39 #12

• c1c

  sad to get busted like this

  20.2.2009 10:54 #13

• looser_ur

  Camming a drive-in.............CAMMING ANY MOVIE THEATRE......................HOW GHETTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
  AND watching a cammed movie...........equally ghetto.

  20.2.2009 12:04 #14

• avoidz

  Most drive-ins closed because the value of the land increased so much, not because they were unprofitable. Most drive-ins were still doing good business when they closed up.
  
  I miss drive-ins :)

  2.3.2009 21:35 #15

• zorb43

  Originally posted by b18bek9: they dont even have drive in movies out here anymore use to be fun but i can see why drive ins are closed down.Yeah ... Because to many people were being bitten up by Mosquitoes !!!

  4.3.2009 17:50 #16