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FACT appoints sleuth to tackle in-cinema copying

by Bob Crabtree on 4 July 2006, 10:59

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UK film distributors are funding the appointment of an investigator who'll be trying to help prevent the copying of films within cinemas - something that's typically carried out with camcorders.

The new Theatrical Investigator is a former police officer said to have spent five years working for a media company "in an investigative capacity". Although, the post is funded by the Film Distributors’ Association (FDA), the sleuth is working for The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), the trade organisation set up to protect the film and broadcasting industries against illegal copying.

FACT says that the threat from in-cinema copying in the UK is increasing because more major movies are being released simultaneously worldwide - with the highest risk being in the first few days after a film’s release. Presumably, then, the problem had been largely confined to the USA where most block-busters films had been released first.

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Posted by Atomic - Tue 04 Jul 2006 15:32
Oh come on, how many ‘pirate’ dvds are filmed in cinemas these days?

They are ripped digitally and in higher quality than a camcorder…
Posted by Agent - Tue 04 Jul 2006 15:40
And i wonder how much this person will get paid to watch entire length films, and take a quick glance around for any red lights in the cinema when they remember.

If they dropped all copy protection methods (and lets be honest - they have all been broken within no time), and non-scene like this and put the money into directly discounting the films to a cheaper retail price, they would have much less of a Piracy problem (which is considerably smaller than they wish you to believe)

We get absolutely hammered on DVD prices here compared to other places in the world.

I hope their own greed staves them.
Posted by chrestomanci - Tue 04 Jul 2006 16:08
Atomic
They are ripped digitally and in higher quality than a camcorder…
The thing is, move companies save costs by preping the DVD release at the same time as the cinema release, wich opens an easy avenue for copying.

Diseney probably finished the DVD masters for Pirates of the Carabean months ago, so that may have leaked. If not there is probably a pressing plant in china making thounsands of coppies right now, and the chances of none of them leaking is about zero.
Posted by Stoo - Wed 05 Jul 2006 12:25
Well, the movies are usually distributed on dvd to reviewers for cinematic releases anyway (dvdrip), or it's a studio insider with direct access (dvdrip or telecine), or a guy at the dvd duplication plant (dvdrip), or a guy in courier office who distribute the cinema film reels (telecine), or a guy at the cinema with direct access to the film reels (telecine again).

The “cam” versions tend to originate from overseas, so this wouldn't make a blind bit of difference anyway..

It's like those stupid anti-piracy adverts you get on retail dvd's - it won't change a thing as it targets the wrong people entirely.

Oh well, at least someone gets a fairly cushie job :)
Posted by Bob Crabtree - Wed 05 Jul 2006 13:55
As a point of clarification, the original info from FACT says,


…the investigator will be tasked specifically with liasing with the UK cinema industry to help educate, prevent and protect against copyright theft from camcording and other forms of digital recording.

So, the sleuth will be doing a bit more than just setting traps for people with camcorders.

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