more on BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping of Star Wars On Day of Opening

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: May 23, 2005 1:02:27 AM EDT
To: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Cc: lynn () ecgincc com, dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File  
Swapping of Star Wars On Day of Opening



On May 22, 2005, at 8:11 AM, Lauren Weinstein wrote:


> I find this scenario regarding the new "Star Wars" film unlikely in
> the extreme.  Do we seriously believe that there was some sort of
> problem for Lucasfilm in terms of not getting enough free PR "buzz"
> and income potential for the film, without secretly releasing a
> "pirate" copy?  The media has been saturated with "Star Wars" for
> weeks, if not months!  Let's try to keep the conspiracy meter within
> reasonable bounds.


    I would agree with you notion of keeping the conspiracy meter  
dialed down except for several curious things about the workprint  
that appeared on the Darknet.  They are:

o    The workprint came out in DVD format.  You could take the file  
and burn it directly to a DVD.  This is not usually the case for 'pre- 
release' films like this that show up on the Darknet.

o    The workprint was processed to downgrade its resolution and  
aspect ratio.  By this I mean is was not the quality that you would  
expect from a true workprint.  The aspect ratio was also 4:3 instead  
of the normal 16:9 for a print like this.  A workprint that was  
simply stolen would have been full rez and aspect ratio.

o    The workprint showed up on the Darknet about 12 hours before the  
first midnight showing of the film last Wed. night.  Just enough time  
for a reasonable number of copies to be downloaded  and the word to  
get out to the Darknet community that the film was available.

    So, like I said, nothing conclusive enough to label it a  
deliberate move by Lucasfilm to build buzz for the film, etc., but  
enough to at least raise my eyebrows a bit.

-- Dewayne


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