It’s About to get Harder to Bootleg a Movie

videocameraLittle.jpgFound this interesting little story over at Wired News that will make getting those horrible looking and sounding bootleg copies of movies. It seems there are 2 new pieces of technology being used in some test market that will make life a little more difficult for those who like to bring home video cameras into the theater. Wired gives us this:

The company’s anti-piracy offering comprises two technologies. The first, PirateEye, detects camcorders and pinhole cameras in the act of bootlegging movies, according to Trakstar. The remote-controlled device looks like a mechanical replica of Darth Vader’s head. Perched on a stand directly below the movie screen at the front of the theater, the small black box shoots brief, almost invisible pulses of light at the audience. Offending camera lenses bounce back a telltale reflection that the device senses, then records on a digital snapshot captured with a built-in digital camera of its own. If the machine spots a suspected pirating camcorder in the audience, it then sends out an automated alarm to in-theater security or law enforcement.

The second part of Trakstar’s system is a forensic audio-watermarking technology called TVS. The TVS device sits between the theater’s cinema processor and audio-amplification unit, and generates inaudible sonic tags that can later be used as evidence to trace the date, time and theater at which a pirated file originated. The watermarks can be unlocked and read with the help of proprietary software keys. The system relies on multiple forms of security, including wireless GPS sensors that trigger the unit to flush the watermarking algorithm from its memory if the TVS box is moved from its designated location.

Sounds like pretty cool stuff. The only thing that makes me feel a little uneasy is the idea of a video camera contantly watching me in the theater. Or do we automatically give up any right to privacy when we walk into a public place? Feels a little Big Brotherish to me. Anyway, it’s a good article and you should head over to Wired to read the whole thing.

Comment with Facebook

12 thoughts on “It’s About to get Harder to Bootleg a Movie

  1. Am I the only one who thinks this little attempt to stop film piracy is a direct infringement upon ones rights to privacy? And not that I support it by any mean’s. It’s the same basic concept that was implemented in Tampa, FL a few years ago with the digital recorded monitoring of passersby on the streets. Do you really want to think of the fact that somewhere out there, someone will start a blog containing personal information of a person that went to a “Passion of the Christ” type controversial movie, because they now have a picture of this person and subsequently matched that picture to a government video monitoring system that keeps photos and names and social security numbers on file? Think about it. It√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s not always the design or use of the invention; it√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s the implications of those inventions later on down the line. And Skane, you have a misconception of the law. Regardless of where you are in the United States you can monitor someone√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s private property (i.e. person or belongings) but only after you have posted that you are going to do such. Otherwise, it is considered invasion of privacy.

  2. …the small black box shoots brief, almost invisible pulses of light at the audience…

    Almost invisible? As in “not entirely invisible,” I presume? Are we simply supposed to get used to having a flashing light at the bottom of the screen? Ridiculous. A truly American approach to crime prevention — treat every audience member as a potential criminal.

    This is an extremely minor, perhaps nearly irrelevant, source of piracy these days (as was noted earlier). Yesterday’s solutions for tomorrow’s problems!

  3. Private, public- none of this matters. As Triflic mentioned, the theatrical experience will be disappearing. Just as health care, our superpower economy and a maintained infrastructure will be disappearing over the next decade. China and Japan who hold our debt will stop investing in the US dollar toilet and switch to the euro. No one will be worrying about movie piracy or surveillance cameras when finding food, secure shelter and transportation that doesn’t require petrol comprise the new American Dream.
    Besides, in the not too distant US future, Muslim mullahs or President Ralph Reed will have banned movies anyway. Face it, we’re heading back into the Dark Ages. Cheap oil is over with and resources are diminishing. The deepening clash between fundamentalist Islam and fundamentalist Christianity will have scorched earth results worldwide. Films will seem like a quaint blip in our species golden past.

  4. The irony of all this is that discriminating pirates have no interest in “TheatreCam” versions of the film. They want a print that has been digitized directly from the source print which usually comes from a studio insider (remember THE HULK fiasco anyone?) Or in the case of foreign stuff like Sean of the Dead, 28 Days Later, or the forthcoming House of Flying Daggers, it’s just a duplicate of the already released region 2,3 or 4 DVDs.

    It is these militant assaults on those people who still pay for the theatre experience that hurts repeat customers…

    The theatrical experience will be a novelty in 20 years, not the norm, if this keeps up.

    Triflic

  5. > Wouldn’t the light bounce off of glasses lenses as well.

    I too had the same question. But I am sure the technology is more advanced than that because later on in the article it says that it can find out if the camera is not focussed on the screen or if it is switched off.

    There might be some additional stuff that this device does that is not mentioned in the article.

    With guys who have worked for Defence forces before, I am sure they would have pretty nifty technology.

    Cheers,

    Dhar

  6. What a hassle it is these days to go to the theater. Unruly audience members. Ads before the feature and trailers even. Propaganda from the MPAA telling you not to pirate movies. And now high-tech surveillance. The inflated ticket prices have become the LAST thing that bugs me about the overall experience.

    I hardly go to the theater these days — why bother? All of the movies will be out on DVD soon enough. It’s not “cool” anymore to catch a movie on its premiere night, anyway — it just shows you don’t have the imagination to come up with something better to do on a weekend night.

  7. Good point Xun

    Perhaps it’s time to ban all people with glasses from movie theaters and outcast them from society! That’s just the first step in my ultimate plan for global dominations. Muhahahaha!

  8. Just wunna say this blog owns.
    On with bussiness.

    With the first device, the light pulses, I have a question. Wouldn’t the light bounce off of glasses lenses aswell. It’s made of relitivily the same material, and both lenses are used for magnification purposes. So what good would that device be with a group of people with less than perfect vision…?

  9. People have a common misconception about any place where the “public” goes is a “public” place. That’s not the case. To be a truly public place, it has to be government owned. If it’s corporate owned, it’s a private place, and they have the right to do whatever they want. Which includes monitoring you, recording you, or kicking you off the premises for any reason.

    The most common time you see this is when you’re in a theater or restaurant and one person is talking loudly, and other people complain, and then the loud person claims “freedom of speech”. You have no freedom of speech in a private establishment. Or more accurately, they can kick you out for your speech, regardless of what you’re saying or how loudly you’re saying it.

    So, just keep that in mind whenever you go out. Just because there are lots of people there doesn’t make it a public place.

  10. sounds kind of neat.

    i was against bootlegging movies, until they started playing anti-bootlegging comemricals in front of movies in the theaters in my town. I don’t pay 10 bucks to be bitched at or to watch commercials.

    i am not to worried about the privcacy, i mean, if someone wants to watch me pick my nose and eat popcorn while i am in a theater, they can knock themselves out. what i am going to be doing in a theater that i would be worried about someone seeing? i think we all outgrew our making out in the theater stage in junior high and i havn’t brought a bomb to a movie in ages.

    if they want to stick a funny little darth vader head in, they can go right ahead. as long as it dosn’t give me cancer, or get in fornt of the screen, i am fine with it.

  11. I don’t think a movie theater counts as a public place; you ARE paying to get in, after all. It’d be nice if they warned you that those devices are in there, but it’s doubtful that would happen.

Leave a Reply