Ohio Also Passes Law Against Recording In Cinema

madmancarman writes "Following California's lead, Ohio has also passed a law making recording in a movie theatre a crime. A first offense would be punishable by six months in jail and up to $1,000 fine, which is lighter than the legislation introduced in Michigan that would bring up to 5 years in jail and a $250,000 fine. The most interesting quote concerns a study by AT&T Labs: 'Their conclusion: 77 percent of the films came from insider sources, either motion picture companies or theater employees taping from the projection booth.' I searched Ohio Gov. Bob Taft's press releases, but couldn't find any mention of it."

Overseas

[oaf357]

Every bootleg I've ever seen has been recorded overseas.

If you want to stop copyright violations go to a foreign country and start busting the K-Mart and 7-Eleven equivalents that are selling LOTR and Matrix movies on store shelves while the movies are still in the theatres.

There is nothing wrong with this law, in my opinion. But, I find it an incredible waste.

Righty-o

[finker]

"Their conclusion: 77 percent of the films came from insider sources, either motion picture companies or theater employees taping from the projection booth." I happen to be a projection manager at a local movie theater (not for bragging rights, just to set the stage that I actually know what I'm talking about) and I can safely say that taping a movie from a projection booth is the most retarded idea I have ever heard of. Actually, I doubt any clued-in projectionist would want to tape a movie from the booth. Most modern projectors are noisy as hell, likewise with the heat which is why film will melt extremely fast if the bulb gets too hot. The glass between the booth and the auditorium is usually (in a good theater) soundproof. Also, there isn't any sound in the projection booth with the exclusion of the "cute" hum of X number of projectors cranking away. Basically what that amounts to is: nobody likes standing next to projectors. Ever. You feed the film, start the film, and get the hell away. Repeat. Lastly, where I work, I am usually the only projectionist at night. This might be different, but trying to keep 14 projectors running at the same time gets to be a real pain. Nevermind having the time to be dicking around trying to setup a video camera to record Hollywood's next trashy movie. Cheers.

I'm glad you searched Taft's press releases--

[AEton]

but did you also search the Slashdot archives [slashdot.org] before you posted this dupe? Check out the comments on that story for an explanation of why this law is super duper crazy.

Re:Waste of taxpayer resources

[Ralph Wiggam]

if only they had a monopoly on venues as well as production

They used to and they would if they could. They are forbidden by law. Actually, the studios are charging the theaters so much to show the crappy films they produce that the theaters have to charge 8.50 and 9 bucks just to break even.

-B

Illegal law

[cpt kangarooski]

Not in that it's unconstitutional in and of itself (though perhaps it does violate the Ohio Constitution) but rather because it's preempted by federal law.

17 USC 301 makes void any state law that is equivalent to any of the federally created copyrights. This Ohio statute sounds as though it pertains to duplication -- which is already covered in 17 USC 106, making it void, at least in regards to that portion of it.

Honestly, you'd really think that someone would've checked that sort of thing in advance.

yeah throw them in Jail

[Anonymous Coward]

we like Jail
no wonder USA has the highest incarceration rate on earth with 3.2% of the population in Jail [usdoj.gov] (2002)

The total Federal, State, and local adult correctional
population -- incarcerated or in the community --
grew by 150,700 during 2002 to reach a new high of
more than 6.7 million. About 3.1% of the U.S. adult
population, or 1 in every 32 adults, were
incarcerated or on probation or parole at yearend
2002.

A total of 3,995,165 adult men and women were on
probation at yearend 2002, representing a growth of
1.6% during the year. The adult parole population
grew 2.8%, rising to a total of 753,141 by December
31, 2002. Since 1995 the parole population has
been the slowest growing correctional population,
increasing 1.5% annually, compared to jails (4.0%
annually), prisons (3.5%), and probation (3.1%).

Over 4.7 million adult men and women on
probation or parole


so yeah throw those pirates in Jail !! (private profit making prisons of course)

Re:Waste of taxpayer resources

[Anonymous Coed]

Technically you've only shoplifted if you leave the premises with the item.

Not always. Many jurisdictions have laws regarding "concealment with intent to steal." So be careful if you think it's A-OK to pull that particular stunt just anywhere.

Re:Waste of taxpayer resources

[orionware]

"What do you think goes throught the mind of a projector jockey making $6-$15 an hour showing the same shitty movies over and over and over. Shit, the managers of the places don't make crap. And it's not like the industry doesn't brag about its money, that's all you hear about movies in the news, "record breaking weekend," "record opening," "biggest budget ever." I mean in a recession, a movie and dinner date is what? $50 to $100 depending on if you have drinks with dinner, you think the people working at the theater can afford that with their disposable income? "

What state are you in? In illinois the projectionists are union and they make between 22 and 26 an hour to press a start button, splice previews and commercials and take naps. The projectors maintained by outside firms for the newer chains becuase they are quite complex these days.

As for the managers.. I was one 10 years ago and was making 55k THEN.

It was an 8 screen Cinemark theatre and on a weekend we'd do 30k in concession sales easy.

Believe me, the theatres do get leaned on by the studios already. They will not have any trouble getting the theatre chains to help push their agenga.

Re:Watermarks...

[Anonymous Coward]

I doubt those were watermarks, rather it was probably the DTS time-coding which you saw. Being able to see it means the light apature wasn't fully in the projector, or was cut too large. Normally the apature is cut so that light only shines on selected portions of the film, and that way you don't see it.

There is a series of pink dots and dashes beside the sprocket holes on one side of the film. They vaguely look like morse code, and are used to tell the DTS player which frame is currently being shown on the projector. For 35mm film, DTS sound is kept on a set of CDs, so a method of synchronization is needed to keep the sound and picture together. Thats the purpose of the time code.

I would imagine any watermarking scheme would be more subtle than pink dots which could be easily cropped out.

Re:Jail???

[Niadh]

What's really nuts is that the punishment for doing this is worse than the one for a first offense DUI.

Untrue. In Ohio a first offense DUI is a first-degree misdemeanor that has the same punishment as this crime. The difference is that a first offense DUI has a mandatory minimum of 3 days in jail or a 72-hour alcohol safety traffic school, $250 fine, 6 points against your license and a 6 month license suspension (you can get work driving rights). Other than you're right. This law has no place in the books.

Re:Watermarks...

[anthony_dipierro]

I doubt those were watermarks, rather it was probably the DTS time-coding which you saw.

Read the second question on this page [suntimes.com], or do a google search on "cap code" dots [google.com] AKA "crap code" dots [google.com].

Re:Jail???

[Anonymous Coward]

"How can a theatre owner compete with someone selling bootleg copies for $1.00 a piece"

If you're talking about somebody taking a Video Recorder and sitting in the seats and taping the film.

Do you realize how poor the quality of this copy would be? I mean, if a theater owner can't compete with that, he needs to rethink the environment of this theater.

I'm not advocating copying movies; far from it...but lets be serious... people taping movies in theaters are not a serious threat to the economic livelihood of the MPAA or the theater owners.

Re:Waste of taxpayer resources

[Anonymous Coward]

(i work retail) pasing the last point of sale is is considered intent and commiting the acutal crime here, when we know it's going on, we just wait for them to walk out the first of two doors or where ever we have those sensormatic towers posted, and you're done.

It's a crime that punishes itself.

[The I Shing]

I have to weigh in on this one.

I have a friend who routinely downloads camcordered movies off of IRC channels and such.

He thinks he's putting one over on the establishment somehow, like he's getting the full theater experience in his basement for free.

He'll spend all night... ALL NIGHT... trying to download a movie like "Shaft" or "Spider-Man" and then sit there gleefully watching it in its miserable handheld camcordered glory on his 17" computer screen.

He actually said to me, when Spider-Man was in the theaters, "Hey, dude, don't bother going to see Spider-Man in the theater. I've just downloaded it! Hee hee hee! Come over and watch it!"

And I replied, "You know what, dude? Given a choice between sitting on some rickety uncomfortable discarded old wooden dining room chair in your basement, watching a camcordered version of Spider-Man on your scratched-up 17" computer screen while you fill the air with cigarette smoke, pausing the movie every twenty minutes to go upstairs for more beer, or paying about six bucks to catch a matinee of a big-screen, Dolby Surround-Sound version of Spider-Man in a smoke-free, quiet, comfortable stadium-seating high-back chair envirornment, which do you think I'd pick?"

Needless to say, I went out soon afterward and saw Spider-Man in the theater, and enjoyed it pretty well.

Downloading or otherwise watching camcordered movies is, in my opinion, a crime that punishes itself.

Camcordered movies look and sound like hell.

You want to see a movie? Please do yourself a favor and just go to the damn theater, pay the pittance they're asking, and see it there, the way it was meant to be seen.

Roger Ebert said years ago that "If it's on TV, it ain't a movie," and I can't imagine what he'd say about what camcordered movies look like on a computer screen. I think he wouldn't even dignify it with a comment.