Search
City law transforms piracy drive

City law transforms piracy drive

A tooled-up New York moviegoer has become the first person to be charged under a new, citywide anti-piracy law introduced by media baron and Mayor, Michael Bloomberg. Kalidou Diallo was arrested in the Bronx-based American Theatre on 2 July during an opening-day screening of the sci-fi blockbuster, Transformers. According to court papers, a plainclothes policeman in the theatre noticed that Diallo raised his right arm at the start of the film, and held it in place. When searched after the screening, Diallo was found to be strapped with several items of video recording equipment.

City Hall spokesman, Jason Post, confirmed on 5 July: ‘This is the first time someone has been arrested and charged with the new illegal camcording law.’ Signing the law into force in May, Bloomberg was keen to stress that film piracy was not a victimless crime. ‘Not only does it drive up the costs of videos and movie tickets and harm our economy, he said, ‘but every New York consumer is being cheated by poor-quality goods.’

His comments were backed by film producer Jane Rosenthal. ‘This issue affects not only the thousands of New Yorkers who make a living making films, it has an impact throughout our city's economy,’ she said. ‘Video piracy keeps working men and women from realising their full earnings, and violates the artistic integrity of filmmakers who work hard to bring their vision to the screen.’

The new law raised the level of punishment for film piracy from a basic fine of $250 to a much higher potential sum of $5,000 – with six months jail time in store for the most serious offenders.

American Theater manager, Justin Hill, admitted that his establishment had been targeted by authorities for its history of camcording incidents. ‘The movie companies … knew it was coming from our theater,’ he said. ‘We were taking heat for it because we weren’t catching anyone.’

Add to RSS: add to rss

Add this page to:

User Comments

Post a comment