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Recording 20 seconds of a movie can get you a year in jail

washingtonpost.com — A girl records 20 seconds of Transformers to show to her brother, gets caught, and faces a possible year of jail time.

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  • AscendedDaniel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+15Leave it to the MPAA (and its affiliates) to arrest fans for promoting their movies. This is clearly fair use. I hope she gets her lawyers fees plus extra compensation out of this.
  • sandymerc, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17That's just wrong on so many levels. So this 19 year old has to spend her hourly wage to pay for a lawyer to keep her out of jail because of 20 second movie clip? That's so stupid. Well, I just called Regal Cinemas told them that they just a lost customer, that I wasn't going to patron there theaters unless they dropped the charges..
    • allysongraves, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10They just lost me too.
    • Error601, on 10/10/2007, -10/+6I'm sure they're real scared about that.
      • longbow486, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4if enough people did it then yes they would be scared
        • raynar, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1But then The Bourne Ultimatum comes out today, and when the new Batman, all of these hard asses who boycotted the theaters will be lined up to watch
  • RonDeline, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13I just called and spoke to Teresa (she was real nice) and told her let folks at Regal know I won't patronaging their business until they drop this.

    Here's the customer service number: 1-877-835-5734 and the theater itself is 703-527-9730.
    • Error601, on 10/10/2007, -8/+5They'll probably play your call around the call center and laugh.
    • mt066, on 10/10/2007, -5/+2I'm going to make it a point to go there because this whole thing is stupid. normally I'd go to the AMC in Alexandria but I am going to change my ways to spite all of you.
  • RonDeline, on 10/10/2007, -5/+8I just called and asked for the theatre manager and told her the same thing. Until they drop this, they're going to lose my business AND I told her I was making this my #1 digg... haha! I can see her perplexed look on her face.
  • gossipninja, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13well i know some regal managers, I believe they get a 500 dollar or more bounty if they catch a cammer. I remember my friend (a manager) she told some asian family on holiday to put their camera away, i think he had it around his neck, and the manager above her was pissed cuz he wanted to cash in and get his money.
  • Error601, on 10/10/2007, -6/+3Yep...unfortunately the thieves makes things suck for everyone. It would be nice if I didn't have to lock my car too. You have to be pretty damn young to think this is a new thing. I remember people getting busted at the Empire Strikes Back premier.
    • physphd, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Doubtful, considering the movie premiered in 1980 and the first professional camcorder was Sony's Betacam in 1982 and the first consumer camcorder was the Betamovie in 1983 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camcorder Unless you mean they had the tripod, camera, and floor unit with the control electronics in the theater which would take up several seats in total.

      But even if you weren't mistaken, this is not the same thing. Nobody was trying copy the movie.
    • Error601, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Back it dem old days, we used 8mm bootlegs.

  • macewan, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10Boycott all Regal Entertainment movies. Send them a message.
    • reconbot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I'm cross posting because I don't know who to call. But it's not AMC, they're saying the state is prosecuting her now. It's not up to AMC what happens to her. Anyone know who to contact at the state there?
  • crackah, on 10/10/2007, -3/+12thats why you record 19 seconds
  • DarKnight90, on 10/10/2007, -8/+7This was already posted.http://digg.com/tech_news/Teen_Arrested_for_Recording_20_Second_Movie_Clip
  • stronglikedan, on 10/10/2007, -13/+6Inaccurate title. Should read "Being stupid can get you a year in jail".
    It happens all the time. It's called "thinning the herd". Doing a little bit of something illegal is still doing something illegal. I don't agree with the extent of the punishment, but Regal and the pigs aren't the judge.
    The judge will see that she's just stupid and wasn't being malicious. She'll get off. Good thing for her she's not black though.
  • scabbers, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Every time "the industry" ***** with one of my peers for minor infractions, I feel better about actually stealing their stuff.
  • Prometeus, on 10/10/2007, -8/+1How many times will this duplicate story be front paged?
    • zengonzo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Until you are driven off of Digg for the massive inconvenience of forcing you to comment on a story you'd already seen.
  • knicks555, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7there goes the system again, punishing someone who clearly isnt truly pirating a movie, and I doubt would even know how to transfer something to be able to pirate and sell this movie, and i doubt had enough memory to even record a substantial part of the movie.

    we're gonna punish average joe for petty ***** to the full extent of the law but if you're a murderer, 5-10 years is all you'll get.

    btw she's beautiful.
  • teh_techie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Jesus, she was about to get the theatre some more business... and now they've got the complete opposite!
  • sint4x, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1Amateur.
  • ryanwritescopy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6It is inconceivable that she would have been attempting to pirate a movie on a Canon Powershot. I have one of these, and you cant record more than two to five minutes of crappy 320x240 video. Even if she was trying to pirate the movie, no one would have purchased the copy.
  • mntbikeracer1, on 10/10/2007, -7/+2Oh so laws don't apply if you only break them for a short period. So If dudes only rape chicks for 20 seconds they are fine? You can go 120 on the highway as long as you only do it for 20 seconds? This is one of the dumbest arguments I have heard on here yet.
    • arewhyfour, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3You're comparing apples to oranges here buddy. Try a better analogy.
    • dmunkey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3i think the difference is the intent.
      • Superfreak77, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3and the outcome. recording a movie to make pirated dvds -she isn't.
        I was once told to put the camera away in a rockettes live concert. That was that, no confiscated, no gestapo, nothing. MPAA so powerful they should run police in every city.
    • raynar, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1"So If dudes only rape chicks for 20 seconds they are fine?"

      20 seconds?? What is he, a marathon man?
    • ronaldinho, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1There is no such thing as fair use in rape. There is, however, with recording films/music. Read up on your laws first.
  • Ninja337, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Once my world history teacher got into a fight about Voltaire and freedom of speech with a Regal Cinema manager who complained to him that he was sending kids to see a rated R movie
    • catalysis, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3My history teacher said there are lots of black people in africa.
  • dmbrooking, on 10/10/2007, -6/+3Wow.... I read this expecting to see some girl who was maybe 12 or 13 taping 20 seconds... not a 19 year old. A 19 year old should know better. Now, a year in jail would be overkill but what do you expect the theatre to do? They see someone taping the movie, they don't know if it is 20 seconds or the whole thing she is taping - they have a protocol they follow and that's what they did.

    How bout instead of always jumping on the MPAA (who I agree is a pain in the ass) we have some accountability for breaking the law. If I go into 7-11 and steal a candy bar, I may not deserve to go to jail for it but I still stole something.

    Fact is, she is 19, she really should know better.
    • zengonzo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2A ***** year!
      • Superfreak77, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2she stole nothing. she cant sell what she recorded, and what she recorded isn't anywhere nearly a facsimile of the original. im not saying theres no crime, but there certainly isn't financial gain, damage of any kind to the owner, nothing, theres no damage. Only further promotion of the movie!, here the losers are the plaintiffs, if she plays her cards right
  • krnldmp, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3If I were in a cinema making a fair use clip and somebody tried to arrest me I would cause Holy Hell. Somebody's nose would have gotten busted with the camera. At least jail for that is legal.
  • dkern, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8This is really stupid. The movie has made over 500 million dollars. Give the bitch a DVD of Transformers. Putting her in a concentration camp is just way too WWll for me.
  • inspiradventure, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1I think the punishment she is receiving is too harsh but in general a point should be made against piracy.
  • SmilingJess, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2This is just mind blowing. The entertainment industry should have seen this coming. Their lack of foresight as to the popularity of digital media and the global network provided by the web has led them to practicing gestapo like tactics.

    I think it serves them right -- there has to be a few smart people behind that Hollywood machine.

    Get with the program, get ahead of the curve and stop making little girls cry!
  • RonPaulsiPhone, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2She's lucky. I wish I were arrested wrongfully for something because of a large corporation with deep pockets. You guys act like she's not going to sue the crap out of them.

    On the other hand, who's dumb enough to take out a camcorder in a movie theater? That's just asking for trouble.
    • nathron, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Not everybody follows all the MPAA / piracy crap on digg. To the average person, recording 20 seconds of a movie to show to your little brother would seem totally harmless.
  • Superfreak77, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1what about all the clips online!? picking on one customer who actually DID spend money to view the blessed opus and she gets this?! Obviously the theater and-or producers want to make her an example for others, but this isn't justice:
    Being judged by the past actions of others isn't the way to apply justice. "here, 10 years jail to you for something you derive no financial gain for, but others have, so you YOU pay".
  • Fabozz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4At one year per 20 seconds, recording all the good parts of Transformers would net you seven weeks in jail.
  • BradMcGonigle, on 06/08/2008, -1/+2I took a picture of Harry Potter on IMAX...**runs to delete it!**
  • quantumcore, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0The one thing that gets me most whenever anything about piracy comes up is statements like this:

    "Movie pirating cost the industry $18.2 billion worldwide in 2005, the last year for which figures were available..."

    No it didn't. If everyone who'd downloaded a movie would've gone out to buy it otherwise, then it might have come somewhere near that amount. As it happens, I highly doubt that's the case. And now it seems that people filming 20 second clips of movies are being included in those figures as well? I wouldn't be surprised if the actual figures were under a billion. I'm all against people making mass illegal copies of movies and making a profit selling them on - but 20 seconds?! The trailer gives you about double that amount!
  • reconbot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well it's not AMC, they're saying the state is prosecuting her now. It's not up to AMC what happens to her. Anyone know who to contact there?
  • yamyogurt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Yeah, I downloaded that 20 second clip the other day, premium work.
  • ronaldinho, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1OK, the girl was stupid for doing this in plain view, but if she put away her cam after only 20 seconds, then the cinema should lay off. Seriously, what the hell is she going to do with that 20 seconds? Also, haven't any of you heard of the 30-second fair use law? Now if she goes over that 30 seconds or even filmed the whole movie, then she deserves to get busted accordingly but she didn't. If I was the manager who was afraid of someone bootlegging, I would have waited to see if she passed that 30-second barrier and then bust her if she did.

    Regal is NOT getting my business until this is resolved correctly.
  • gboone, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1okay, better analogy than anything else, I only stole the rubber off the tire of that car and I swear, because I did such a ***** job of stealing it, no one was going to buy it, I swear. can I be off the hook? Still not perfect, but intellectual property and real property are inherently a little different.
  • crankharder, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0One of the worst theaters in the area. Movies stop in start there when their workers forget to change the reel. In the last 5 years or so it's happened to me 3 times. One time I had to get up and get help. These guys suck :(
  • dkern, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Ya know whats really ***** up? Creative Artists Agency, William Morris Agency, ICM- Talents Agencies and their producers in association with the Studios will steal your ***** script! Just ask Sophia Stewart who wrote Terminator and The Matrix. She won her case and its is one of the biggest settlements in history. Same for the recording industry. They will rip off everyone they can- whenever they can- then they cry like whiny little bitches when the table is turned on them. LMAO!!!!!!!

    btw, Transformers was a piece of *****! I could eat a can of Kodak and puke a better movie!

    ***** Hollywood!
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