Hollywood's new piracy nightmare: Cyberlockers

Speaking at a seminar for the Cinema Expo this week, Paramount Pictures COO Fred Huntsberry said that average Joe unauthorized movie downloaders are no longer Hollywood's biggest threat, with that spot being taken by "Cyberlockers," illegal subscription services.

Huntsberry says cyberlockers are usually run by mobs in foreign nations, which download hot pirated films, then sell them to the public in unlimited streaming for as low as $5 a month for a subscription.

"Cyberlockers now represent the preferred method by which consumers are enjoying pirated content," says the COO, via Reuters.

Cyberlocker businesses normally operate from Russia, Ukraine, Colombia and Germany, and most sties even have ads from such big-time names like Netflix, KFC and Samsung, which have unwittingly been placed there.

"Sometimes these sites look better than the legitimate sites," adds Huntsberry. "That's the irony."

Huntsberry warned that users of cyberlockers risk having their credit card information stolen.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 23 Jun 2010 21:49

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21 comments

DXR88

yep the real pirates, have real Swords, and aren't afraid to use them. there a real nightmare when its compared to helpless grannys grieving kids and a xerox machines.

23.6.2010 23:05 #1

KillerBug

Yeah...it sounds like a lot of work to prosecute that murderous mob boss...better to sue that single mother for her last cent.

23.6.2010 23:11 #2

Josipher

Originally posted by KillerBug: Yeah...it sounds like a lot of work to prosecute that murderous mob boss...better to sue that single mother for her last cent. and when there is no money left, throw her in jail..

24.6.2010 01:57 #3

scorpNZ

Was only a few months ago the gaming industry was blaming slack new game sales on the second hand market & that pirated wasn't the biggest threat,it seems the movie industry has now taken a leaf out of their book or should that be Osama bin laden's book,use any old excuse to go on the attack..lol..then again is anyone here really suprised that focus has changed...didn't think so

24.6.2010 03:28 #4

ZippyDSM

Its simple go after the ones trying to gain money from the trade of files....at least you have more legal ground to go after them.....

Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

24.6.2010 08:22 #5

mystic

oh no the reco act will now be used on web-mobs and all who download will be made men or ladies or children and even made granies (who could be tranies) oh this is so dumb lets blame illegal aliens those green skinned bastereds its thier fault ... oh wait wasnt it Al Gore who claimed to invent the internet.... then its his fault.. thats it riaa go after Al hes the one he made us do it... and nike they keep saying "just do it" come on wake up everyone with cloud computing the files are everywhere and some stuff is leaked and some stollen but when a screener gets in to the wild then its an internal issue that the riaa should look at not the webmasters how about a hidden vid on the screeners like a number file or video on a green screen thats in the movie that has ids on it...just a thought......

24.6.2010 09:08 #6

Mez

Anyone see the last 60 minutes. There is some enterprising bastard that is a manager for dead persons. He locates a legal heir for the different persons. Gets them to sign and agreement probably 10-20% of the take, then he sues persons that used his client's name, pictures, signature, etc. Their really is no law that allows him to do this but he will extract money from them.

These greedy bastards don't really care about morality. They just want as much money as they can acquire. Huntsberry, is in this category.

24.6.2010 10:19 #7

bluedogs

Huntsberry warned that users of cyberlockers risk having their credit card information stolen.

Actually mate these people are more sensible, more reliable and more trust worthy than you lot. I would trust them over you with my cc details.

24.6.2010 10:46 #8

Mr-Movies

They should expend their efforts on these type of pirates instead of targeting the average Joe as they put it. But unfortunately it is much easier to prosecute the average Joe rather than anyone in the countries the real pirates seem to orbit to.

I still don't get the downloading of movies as it is much easier to rent them from Netflix or Redbox and rip the movie yourself at a much higher quality then the majority of torrent DL's. The only time I can see DL'n a movie is when it is rip'd from the Theater prior to release to disc and again the quality is horrible, not worth keeping.

24.6.2010 10:56 #9

rick930

Originally posted by bluedogs: Huntsberry warned that users of cyberlockers risk having their credit card information stolen.

Actually mate these people are more sensible, more reliable and more trust worthy than you lot. I would trust them over you with my cc details. I had much the same thought when I read that last line. I've been screwed over on my credit card by "legitimate" companies, let alone the MPAA and RIAA with their overpriced merchandise that they sell legally in retail stores.

And to answer Mr-Movies question... sometimes you can get the movie well before it comes out on DVD, and in many cases these days even find rips of the Blu-ray version that are of far better quality and can be burned onto DVD.

But to respond to the article in question, this just goes to prove that the RIAA and MPAA are wasting their time. You cannot combat the entire world, and these days picking on the single mom is causing them headaches in court because it turns out you CAN beat them in a courtroom. They were stunned several years ago when this turned out to be the case, and since then lose 10x more cases than they actually win. And even those they win often get turned over on appeal or in a retrial. What the RIAA and MPAA should do is save all that money they waste on illegal file tracking, fake security companies, and in pushing legal action, and instead learn to make better products, and price them so that people want to buy them more often than download them. In turn they should also do something about the WAY overblown prices at the local movie theaters that are driving people away from the big screens and are instead pushing them online to find the same movie. Clearly there is no requirement for executives to have a brain or real business sense, because they have proven for some years now they have neither. These are probably the guys who got all those C grades at business school. :P

24.6.2010 12:18 #10

Mysttic

Its a matter of principle; if the movie industry actually stopped producing crap in hopes of making a quick buck, maybe people would be more eager to hand over the $. And lets be real about this, even most movies aren't even worth seeing once, so why pay for something you know you gonna take home and end up shutting it off half way?

Now I not saying dl every movie out there for the sake of dling a movie, but even those that are acclaimed block busters can suck to your individual standards. As there are bad movies to the mass that can be really great to an individual. Not everyone can afford to pay out $ for every rental or purchase for every thing out there; so why would you. Sometimes its not about quality, but the value of the $ for that quality; what may seem petty and small to the $ for some people, is not so for the majority who live in poor land.

Then again, movies are but a recreation, its not something we need, dl or no. It won't be the end of the world if piracy were to stop, and it won't be the end of the world, if people stop wasting their hard earn $ on shit media.

24.6.2010 12:21 #11

DXR88

Scifi exclusives movies are awesome, they make Hollywood look good.

24.6.2010 13:51 #12

nonoitall

Quote:"Sometimes these sites look better than the legitimate sites," adds Huntsberry. "That's the irony."
Yeah - with the irony being that Hollywood could learn a lesson in marketing from these sites. No unreasonable prices or DRM? Sounds good to me!

24.6.2010 17:20 #13

pmaestro

Quote:Huntsberry warned that users of cyberlockers risk having their credit card information stolen. misleading comment. notice he doesn't say customers have had their credit info stolen, and he doesn't say that credit info thieves are targetting that site.

"users risk having info stolen"

give me a break. it's like telling your kid, "Don't eat my chocolate. You might get sick." no correlation between the two, but kids aren't the only ones dumb enough not to see through this rhetoric.

24.6.2010 21:12 #14

lawe1

On this piracy gig... I've always believe that when I purchased something it belongs to me and therefore I can do what I want with it but it seems the movie industry and whoever says we can not share their precious videos even after purchasing it.That in essense is saying we are only renting it and have no rights on it.The comic book industry would have love to hear this back in the day when we traded comic books,milk covers and what have you with anyone and everyone.

24.6.2010 23:17 #15

KillerBug

"users risk having info stolen"

Ignoring the fact that I would trust a crackhead before a movie exec, these locker sites are actually put together well, making it virtually impossible for hackers to steal this information. This is in stark contrast to many legitimate sites, where private information is often available without a password, by use of a back door. As for theft, legitimate sites certainly take the cake there...some sites like the PSN will only let you download once...and will remove the movie from your download list to keep you from downloading it again.

25.6.2010 05:30 #16

dEwMe

Originally posted by KillerBug: ...I would trust a crackhead before a movie exec... I think the movie execs ARE crackheads!!! Wouldn't that explain a lot?

Just my $0.02,

dEwMe

25.6.2010 10:03 #17

KillerBug

Originally posted by dEwMe: Originally posted by KillerBug: ...I would trust a crackhead before a movie exec... I think the movie execs ARE crackheads!!! Wouldn't that explain a lot?
I guess it would make sense, and here I just figured they were sadists.

25.6.2010 23:31 #18

19877891

If movie companies dropped the price of a DVD to about $15 instead of $40-50 then I would buy the original. Until then I will stick to buying them for $5 pirated.

I also know because of those informative little clips on original movies that I support terrorists. And I will be bored by the time the movie starts.

26.6.2010 21:03 #19

phobet

Originally posted by KillerBug: Yeah...it sounds like a lot of work to prosecute that murderous mob boss...better to sue that single mother for her last cent. Yeah, the mob boss has the money to fight them, not to mention they can make the lawyers an offer they shouldn't refuse.

The single mother, 9 times outta 10, is just trying to make ends meet.

25.5.2011 18:38 #20

Mez

Lawyers run the business now. In the olden days the persons running the media shows built them from scratch. They were extreamly smart and savvy. These new folks only know how to suck blood. If they aren't getting enough just suck harder. They are a one trick poney.

26.5.2011 11:37 #21

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