After my rant the other day about copyright infringement and movie piracy, my buddy Dave told me about a new system in use in some theatres to deter the use of video cameras to record movies from the big screen.
I noted yesterday that it is a significant problem for the movie industry...a 3.5 billion dollar problem, in fact, as estimated by the Motion Picture Association of America.
The new gadget emits a pattern of infrared light across the screen which cannot be seen by the human eye and doesn't affect the movie being shown. It's designed to interupt the infrared signal used by video cameras, in some cases obscuring the video recording and making it unusable for pirated distribution.
A couple of years ago, Warner Brothers reportedly tried a different tack: hiring a security company to shoot video of audiences in theatres during the first week of release of their films. Whether that did any good has not been reported.
The MPAA also filmed a number of Public Service Announcements like this one with actor Jack Black, aimed at young would-be movie pirates:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LkWKvMCzqA&feature=player_embedded
Call me crazy but I think the potential of being charged with a felony, either in state court or federally, would be enough to warn people off. Apparently not.
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