[Infowarrior] - Feds bust ring of film counterfeiters

[Richard Forno]

Shucks....because I've become hooked on getting first-run camcordered DVDs
for $2.  The quality of video and audio makes it such a bargain that I'd
never buy a "legitimate" DVD again.   [/sarcasm]

However, the MPAA was unavailable to comment on how their request for FBI
assistance influenced or detracted from the agency's efforts in the Global
War on Terrah......rf

Feds bust ring of film counterfeiters

By Greg Sandoval
http://news.com.com/Feds+bust+ring+of+film+counterfeiters/2100-1030_3-608932
1.html

Story last modified Wed Jun 28 17:18:37 PDT 2006

The FBI has broken up a ring of international movie-bootleggers that the
agency says was responsible for distributing half of all illegally produced
"camcorded" copies in the United States and 25 percent of them worldwide.

FBI agents arrested 13 members of the group Wednesday, according to the
Motion Picture Association of America, the trade group that represents six
of the top movie studios.

All 13 people were due to be arraigned Wednesday in a Manhattan federal
court on charges of conspiracy, copyright infringement and trafficking in
counterfeit labels, the MPAA said. Each charge carries a maximum prison
sentence of five years.

Thieves sneak into movie houses packing digital video recorders to shoot
films and later mass produce DVDs to sell. The MPAA said that practice cost
the movie industry $3.8 billion last year. Movie studios lose another $2.3
billion on illegal Internet downloads.

"Camcorders...supply 90 percent of newly released movies that end up on the
Internet and on the streets," the MPAA said in a statement. "These
recordings are duplicated and sold on the black market and loaded onto the
Internet triggering an avalanche of millions of illegal downloads."