Know your movie pirate enemy!
You might remember when I reported at the start of the year a close encounter with a movie pirate selling their wares round where I live and what happened after I’d reported it to FACT; the Federation of Copyright Theft. (See I a film piracy informer, Thursday 4th January 2007 and the Tuesday March 6th 2007 update. Both explain why movie pirates are my particular bugbear). This pirate you’ll recall I’d spotted – not out on a street corner or from the back of a fiesta in a car boot sale, but boldly and in full view to a member of staff inside a London estate agents.
What I didn’t say in those postings were that at the time I’d wished I’d had my mobile already in my hand, as I’d felt sure I could’ve covertly snapped a picture of the pirate as she sold her wares. It made me gnash my teeth that all I could do in my message to FACT was give the vaguest of descriptions of the woman. I’d felt sure a picture submitted along with my report could have helped any enquiries they or the police may have made.
Well yesterday, another opportunity arose that allowed me to do just the thing.
I was coming home from work here in London, and took a short cut through my local shopping centre to nip into the supermarket to grab some grub, when I passed, standing outside an empty corner retail unit, this wiry-looking man. Laid out on display on the ground before him were the familiar plastic DVD wallets wallets, bearing the film poster cover and the title of the movie contained within. Of the movies I took in as I passed, I saw recent releases “Sunshine” and “Mr Bean’s Holiday”; no doubt covertly filmed from the back of multiplex and of really crappy quality. And without a shadow of a doubt he was selling them.
Now I didn’t just walk on, oh no. I decided, “Sod it!” and promptly stopped just after I’d passed him. Taking out my mobile, I pretended to bring up a number to dial, aimed and snatched a picture. And here he is doing the deed:
As you can see, I thought it prudent to pixelate out his face until I hear back from FACT, to which I sent a report of this last evening. But I can unmask him with the original shot whenever I wish.
Now personally I’d love it if the public as one started snapping pics or video of the pirates they see operating in their communities and forwarded them to the authorities. I’m sure the authorities themselves would welcome the extra evidence too, as it’d help their cases.
However, I wish to point out that I took a risk doing what I did. Who knows if a pirate is packing and if they have a mindset to turn on you if they know you’re recording their crime for posterity. They may also have friends nearby. So I urge you; if like me you wish to also take a sneaky picture of the pirate to help you report them, that’s your choice, and I do stress the use of caution. Assess the level of risk and decide. Try not to make your activity obvious, and ensure you have an open escape route. And in no way do I advocate “Have-a-go Heroes” and say you should take on a pirate yourself. Reporting this activity is enough. It’s just not worth an injury or worse.
At the time I wished I’d had one of my modified DVD-sniffer dogs I’d fantasised about in a previous blog! No matter, I took the pic, and the report has been sent. It’s in their hands.
So, whether you can or can’t take a picture of any piracy you witness, the least you can do is REPORT IT!
Report FILM piracy: complete a Federation of Copyright Theft (FACT) Piracy Report Form or call their hotline on 0845 603 4567
Report MUSIC piracy: email details to the British Phonographic Industry at antipiracy@bpi.co.uk or call them on 020 7803 1300
As I’ve said before – it could be your work they’re stealing!
Now if only I can catch their names too…
© 2007 Julian Boote All Rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER NOTICE
—————————————————————————————————–
This article may contain the personal views of its author which are not the views of the duly noted® Ltd. unless specifically stated.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
