Eight people have been charged with crimes related to illegal theft (which begs the question: What exactly is LEGAL theft anyway?) in connection to screener copies of Revenge of the Sith being released over the internet the day BEFORE the actual release of the film in the theaters.
The good folks over at Guardian give us this report:
Court documents allege the piracy began with a screener copy of the film at a post-production facility in Lakewood, California, where one of the defendants worked, and ended with the movie being released online the day before its worldwide release.
Ok, now I know that I’m often criticizing the movie industry for focusing too much on internet piracy. I also tell them all the time that they can’t fight the internet. HOWEVER…. when you’ve got a guy (or guys) who work in a production house and is contractually obligated to respect the property they are working on… and then that guy (or guys) steal it from the production house and release copies online for others to download… then I think you drop the hammer on him.
This isn’t a case is little Billy in his bedroom downloading a crappy copy of The Girl Next Door that he FINDS on the internet. This is a guy who the film makers TRUSTED with their film… and then they betrayed that trust… took a copy and released it for the world to take. That’s wrong. They got caught… and I have no sympathy for them. Am I off base on this?
