Night goggles to beat film piracy

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 21:37:16 -0400
> From: Claudio Gutiérrez <gutierrezclaudio () terra cl>
>
>
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2949470.stm
>
> A security firm is using metal detectors and night-screen goggles to 
> search cinema-goers seeing Disney's latest animated movie
> release, Finding Nemo.
>
> Disney wants to stop people from illegally taping its underwater 
> adventure, made by Pixar Films, famed for Toy Story and Monsters,
> Inc.
>
> Blockbuster hit The Matrix Reloaded has already been pirated, with copies 
> available to download online less than two weeks after the
> film went on release around the world. A high-quality copy of the film was 
> being downloaded by hundreds of people each day via a
> website until it was taken down on Tuesday.
>
> "Most people think the extra security is just for terrorism reasons," said 
> security guard Robert Kendrick at a recent screening for
> the film in Oregon, US.
>
> The use of metal detectors and night goggles is still a fairly new 
> practice, having been most recently used in early screenings of
> X-Men 2 in May and more recently at Down With Love, starring Renee 
> Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. Security guards use the metal
> detectors to try to find digital cameras, and then monitor the audience 
> with the night-goggles for 25-minute shifts, to see if there
> are any strong lights coming from a video recorder. "These goggles magnify 
> the light and make the image glow," Kendrick said.
>
> Studios are very keen to prevent copies of their films hitting the black 
> market, denting box office takings.
>
> In April, a 33-year-old California man was arrested and charged with 
> illegally videotaping films - if convicted, he faces up to 26
> years in federal prison.
>
> "It's estimated we lose between $3bn (£1.8bn) and $4bn (£2.4bn) a year to 
> this problem despite strong anti-piracy actions by the
> movie industry," said Rich Taylor, a spokesman for the Motion Picture 
> Association of America (MPAA). The MPAA represents Hollywood's
> major studios including Disney and Fox.
>
> Preview tickets for Finding Nemo have a warning about illegal recording 
> printed on them.
> Cinema-goers are told that if video equipment is found on them they will 
> be denied admission, and if it is used it will be
> confiscated.
>
> To make Finding Nemo, Pixar's animators worked with new technology to 
> create a believable underwater kingdom. It focuses on a fish
> called Marlin who is looking for his lost son, Nemo, off the coast of 
> Australia.
> Pixar and Disney topped the weekend box office charts in North America for 
> the debut of each of their four co-productions, including
> Toy Story and Monsters, Inc.


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