UK Copyright Group Tells Cinemas to Ban Laptops 438
Sockatume writes "Cinema chain Cineworld now has a policy banning anyone from carrying a laptop into a theatre, even if it is not used. The management claims that this is an anti-piracy move on the advice of the Federation Against Copyright Theft, the much-mocked source of all kinds of dubious anti-piracy statements. When it was pointed out that the laptop had no camera, the management made a temporary exception. For customers, the message is clear: leave your laptop in the car. For pirates, the message is clear: there is more money to be made slinking around cinema car parks looking for laptop bags."
Movies (Score:5, Insightful)
It's funny they had no problems with mobile phones that certainly have good cameras now a days, but with a laptop. Oh well, maybe that changes soon too.
I'm just waiting them to take off our eyes while in movie theatre.
Re:Movies (Score:5, Interesting)
Good thing we have engineers working hard to remove the smartphone/laptop distinction.
Re:Movies (Score:5, Funny)
Good thing we have engineers working hard to remove the smartphone/laptop distinction.
Not to worry, the film industry is hard at work on legislation to make engineers illegal.
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Steal a laptop out of a car? According to the MPAA, a movie pirate is a person who would steal the car [slashdot.org]!
But hey, better you suffer a physical loss than they suffer an illusory loss.
Me, I just want to get pictures of those brown dots they mar the movie with so I can use the pictures for purposes of public criticism, commentary, and parody.
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Also, "leave your laptop in the car". Erm, what car? I couldn't even tell you where the nearest cinema with a car park is...
Next time I travel to "the other side of the pond" as some say, I might be in some of these areas you speak of (but not to buy DVDs). Clearly, any UK instruction involving "leaving your laptop in the car" was written by someone who watches too much Top Gear and thinks everyone has a car or by someone thinking of the colonies.
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Does this mean that I'll finally be able to enjoy a movie in a theater without some annoying person poking at their cellphone, either making noise or light?
Those people are the reason I don't see movies in theaters and just watch them at home when they come out on DVD.
Exactly. That's a much better reason to ban phones. Maybe if they managed to turn the cinema into a quality experience again, people'd be more willing to pay money for it.
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I own and operate a theatre in a small town. I keep a close eye out for light from cell phones (it's easy to spot) and come out to tell people to shut their phone off until the end of the show.
Most of the customers are trained by now, but the few that aren't usually comply without any problem.
I did have an incident this past Monday night when the there were not too many people at the show, though. A guy was fiddling with his phone while the movie was on; I told him to quit. He started up
Re:Movies (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand, smuggling in a reasonable quality camera would be fairly easy. I dare say it would be possible to bring in a tripod as well.
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Yeah it's a pretty stupid ruling, coming down from people who have no clue. I have a standard-def digital camera that fits inside my palm and can be easily hid inside a suit jacket..... that's all you need, not a laptop.
Re:Movies (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Movies (Score:4, Insightful)
That just means when you arrive at the theater, and the owner refuses you entrace, you can yell, "Congratulations dumb shit. You just lost $20 worth of sales," and walk away.
Businessmen hate losing money. It makes them hide in their office and cry. And it gives us, the citizens, power over them.
Re:Movies (Score:4, Insightful)
Ah, but the question is - do you block people from entering just on the basis they have a phone/laptop, or do you advise them "please don't use those in here"? This is all about people not even being allowed in with these items - it makes perfect sense to ask them not to use them.
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Or maybe you went to cinema straight from school or work where you need your laptop with no chance to deposit it somewhere, or maybe you live somewhere out of the city and the next cinema is an hour of travel away so you take your laptop with you to do some work in the train, or...
Moral of the story. That is what you get for trying to pay for your entertainment.
Now people will learn their lesson and pirate it instead. Cheaper, higher quality entertainment, no people harassing you (be it other movie goers or those that are employed to show you a movie), drinks and food of a much higher quality and priced roughly 10x cheaper, and you can base it all around your own schedule.
For some reason I would have assumed these businesses would prefer to, you know, do business with you... But c
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I agree, and hooking up some kind of reasonable quality camera to the laptop simply makes more complicated the "adding a reasonable quality camera".
Bionic eyes (Score:2, Interesting)
I can't wait until they try to ban the man with the camera in his eye [techradar.com].
I'm sure he doesn't welcome his new robotic eyeball's overlords.
Re:Bionic eyes (Score:5, Funny)
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No problem, you'd just have to learn to blink one eye at a time.
Re:Bionic eyes (Score:4, Funny)
That'd be a horrible pirate copy. The video would go black every few seconds.
It would also be more prone to "male gaze" than even normal movie standards.
Re:Bionic eyes (Score:5, Informative)
Not true, your eye doesn't look at the whole picture the whole time. And what someone else looks at at in a particular scene (the hero's face) might be very different from what i am looking at (the heroines breasts). So you'd be bound to reconstruct the image incorrectly
Re:Movies (Score:4, Interesting)
Last time a theater employee even asked if he could check my stuff, there were three things in the bag I was carrying around...
- A high quality digital still camera also capable of HD video, mounted on a tripod.
- A smartphone with less-than-worthless 640x480 noise-o-vision video
- 2 bottles of Aquarius 'Red Blast' ('peach' flavor sport drink).
( Quick backstory: I ended up at the theatre because it was raining out. Not so bad in general, but I was making a photo trip on the bike and the weather report said the rainshower should last 2 hours tops. I was in the area of the theatre, so I figured I'd hop in there, catch a movie, and by the time I'd get out I could continue on my shoot. )
Employee: we can't allow those inside ... wait, I can't take the bottles - which I'm only carrying for outside; I just got a Coke Zero at the bar, see? *holds up coe zero* - but the camera is okay?
Me: oh, I know, but I'm just on a shoot; I can leave the battery with the reception if you want
Employee: no, no.. the bottles. We can't allow those inside; we don't sell those (they sell regular and whatever the hell flavor the blue-colored Aquarius is)
Me:
Employee: yes.. sorry, policy
Me: o-kay.
Employee: Could we put those in storage for you, perhaps?
I guess they already knew that the movie had been available for download for weeks, as a telesync, probably snatched up in the U.S. with a proper audio feed, and didn't much care about anybody bringing in cameras.
But the drinks.. oh noes, the drinks!
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Having said that, movie theatres supposedly make next to nothing on ticket sales. That money goes to the owners of the film. Where the theatres make money is selling 5 cents worth of popcorn for $4.50 and 2 cents worth of soda-pop for $5.00. By bringing in your sports drink means you're unlikely to buy their overpriced merchandise.
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On a big movie, a theater usually gets more like 10% for the first week or two.
Only smaller theaters get completely raped, but that's because they have to compete for reels with the chains, frequently they won't even get the movie on release(especially if their broker hates them).
You might be able to get a better deal(say the 30% you could get on an "average" movie), but usually it involves also taking a movie the studios expect to bomb and showing it a certain number of times, which ties up a projector tha
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"I'm just waiting them to take off our eyes while in movie theatre."
I don't bother with theaters. With modern home entertainment systems available, why pay to drive where my truck will get dinged or broken into in order to sit with a mob of loud retards who will ruin the movie experience?
I can't pause the movie in the theater when I take a shit, can't re-run segments with fun violence and/or pert bewbies, and am limited to expensive theater junk food.
Re:Just "blind" the cameras (Score:5, Informative)
Well they don't really need to send a blinding light at the camera.. they can just project (near-)IR light from the projection booth, make it vary randomly in intensity, and all but the most well-equipped cameras (with a *very* decent IR blocker that can at least block the frequency used by the theatre; no, the standard IR blocker does not cover this, as pointing a TV remote at your camera will show) record utter junk.
It's even a relatively cheap solution; certainly cheaper than having personnel run around with nightvision goggles trying to catch people, or checking people's bags and banning cameras, etc.
But in the end, it still only takes 1 person - a projectionist not adhering to policy, a print shop that has a mysterious 'leak', a review board member wanting some extra crash - to get a transfer to a format that distribution groups can use, and the whole world will have access in no time.
Re:Just "blind" the cameras (Score:4, Funny)
the standard IR blocker does not cover this, as pointing a TV remote at your camera will show)
Oh wow, I didn't know this, that's nifty. Purple lights! Woo!
According to a blog post (Score:5, Insightful)
Important caveat, neatly snipped from the start of the post.
Re:According to a blog post (Score:5, Funny)
To be fair, it's a professional journalist's blog post.
Idiotic (Score:5, Insightful)
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In some states a driver's license is the only valid form of identification to purchase alcohol. So those incapable of obtaining a driver's license due to disabilities cannot drink.
(Though this may actually primarily apply to out-of-staters, as this anecdote comes to me via a friend who could not use her state ID card to purchase alcohol in Utah. Or maybe Nevada, I don't remember.)
My exposure to that sort of case is that particular institutions implement an internal rule to not accept out of state non driver's license ID because the loss from the occasional lost sale this policy generates is significantly less than the loss from selling alcohol to a minor with a faked out of state non-driver's license ID (significant fines and loss of license to sell alcohol at all). I would bet that even a lawsuit based on the Americans with Disabilities Act would be cheaper than getting tagged for
Laptop bags. (Score:3, Insightful)
From summary: For pirates, the message is clear: there is more money to be made slinking around cinema car parks looking for laptop bags.
What? Sigh. Once again, all together now: Piracy is not stealing.
So that advice is for thieves, not pirates. But wait, there's one more oddity in the same sentence: "more money" - which assumes that money is made at all by piracy. It's sad that even among the IT elite (/.), such myths are propagated.
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Whoooosh.
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Re:Laptop bags. (Score:5, Funny)
Pirates do make money, not only through piracy, but drug dealing, selling babies, and holding the Earth itself to ransom with their deadly Asteroid Ray. I'm apalled that you would even question this.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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You need to patronize theaters where, if you use a cell phone, they'll TAKE YOUR ASS OUT [ifc.com].
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Well at this rate (Score:4, Insightful)
The rest of us will forego the spanish inquisition, the extortionate prices and the hassle in general of getting parked and bothering to go to the cinema, we will instead sit at home watching our bootlegged copy, pausing it to go to the loo and still have the poeple walking infront of the screen, laughing and coughing.
Actually I feel like doing piracy vs cinema:
Cinema:
Pros
Cons:
Piracy:
Pros:
Cons:
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Piracy:
Pros:
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Actually, I'd put "popcorn" under Cinema/Cons.
In my country, it used to be that food was completely prohibited within movie theaters. I never really understood the obsession with eating popcorn while you watch a movie and thought it was purely an American thing, that it'd never take here.
Then food became allowed (well, food sold within the theater did), and whaddaya know, people did start eating in the theater.
Oh the horror! The noise of opening bags of crisps! THE INFERNAL CRUNCHING EVERYWHERE!
Seriously, i
Re:Well at this rate (Score:4, Insightful)
I thought copyright infringement was a civil matter. Is that no longer the case?
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What does this have to do with the United States? The article is about the UK. I'm sure copyright laws are different there.
Why would you bring a laptop into a movie? (Score:2)
i can understand leaving it in your bag if you're coming from work, but why would you take it out?
no laptop in car policy (Score:2)
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Does your company have a policy that requires you to go to the movies?
A Better Answer (Score:5, Insightful)
For customers, the message is clear: leave your laptop in the car.
I have a better answer: When they ask you to put your laptop in your car, ask for your money back and leave. Is it really worth being treated like a criminal to see that movie right now? Customer service matters. If the proprietor of some establishment is a dick, don't give him your money.
To stop filming, or stop twittering? (Score:4, Insightful)
I wonder if this has more to do with the Twitter effect (see Brüno) than stopping piracy.
It seems rather implausible (to be generous) that someone would try to illegally film a movie using a crappy webcam on your average laptop (particularly if they manage to do it with the laptop in the bag). If you think about how a laptop is likely to hurt them financially, the reason should be pretty clear.
Seriously? (Score:3, Interesting)
Am I missing something here, or are these anti-piracy groups really that dense?
Re:Seriously? (Score:4, Insightful)
Aside from the obvious absurdity of someone trying to record a movie with their laptop -- how much of a problem are off-screen recordings for the movie industry? I may be naive -- but I really have a hard time imagining someone saying -- "I was gonna go see this movie in the theater, but I have a copy that someone recorded with a video camera in the theater! This is just as good! Now I don't need to go see it!" Am I missing something here, or are these anti-piracy groups really that dense?
Actually what they are afraid of is: " I was gonna go see this movie in the theater, but I have a copy that someone recorded with a video camera in the theater and now I know it sucks! I'm not going to waste my time and money going to the theater to see it." (see also someone else's comment about twits tweeting how bad the movie is).
Desktop PCs... (Score:2)
No laptops? I guess I'll just have to bring my desktop computer and CRT into the cinema, like the Impromptu Anywhere Starbucks prank.
Or just use a backpack (Score:2)
Put your laptop in a backpack. It's safer from idiots and thiefs both. If it's a good one, it's healthier than a laptop bag slung over your shoulder. And it gets in the way far less often. (Just be sure not to put small valuables in it like your wallet, if they might easily be stolen without noticing the weight loss/fiddling, especially in noisy or busy environments.)
USB Camera (Score:2)
Yes the camera's that are built into laptops are usally pretty piss poor quality, but theres nothing stopping someone taking a USB video camera in as well. It wouldn't surprise me if there are a few tiny ones that record with good footage, and connected to a laptop, would have plenty of recording space unlike a cellphone which most won't have the room/power to store movie length footage
I still think its a stupid idea. You can't stop cam-rips without creating a hostile viewing enviroment, even then i doubt y
Lost me here... (Score:3, Insightful)
It turns out the small boy was the manager."
Yeah... that kinda makes you sound like a prick. Waving around a BBC ID like it makes you special and somehow exempt from the rules everyone else has to follow isn't the most endearing quality either.
Who watches these horrible videos? (Score:4, Funny)
Who are these people who watch theater video camera recordings of movies? That's really sad. At leaste be a self-respecting pirate and get a decent copy.
"For customers, the message is clear:" (Score:2)
Stay home.
Call me old fashioned (Score:2)
This is very irritating (Score:5, Interesting)
Cineworld Southampton have therefore just lost my business. This is particularly stupid of them, as quite often (even with newly released films) I can count the audience members on my fingers.
Anti-Piracy Warnings (Score:4, Funny)
Myself and friends used to emit a fairly loud "Yarrrrrrrrrrr" every time a "Piracy is a crime" warning came up at the cinema. Sometimes even heard an answering one from across the cinema.
Don't know how it is in other chains but at Vue cinemas in the UK they now use night vision cameras to monitor the people watching the film. ]I once saw a spoof anti-piracy ad involving night vision and silenced sniper rifles - life imitating satire, so I guess I know the next step.
Secondly, this monitoring strikes me as being like the millimetre wave scanners at airports. Sure it's nominally for justifiable purposes but every time I see a message saying they're monitoring us with night vision for copyright purposes I have a mental image of a couple making out in the dark at the back of a cinema and a security guard in an office somewhere watching them using light-enhancing CCTV going "Oooh, go on! You dirty minx! Oooh, you like that, do you?". Seriously, copyright or not, it's not OK to watch cinema goers watching the film - that's plain just creepy.
they should just ban people from their theaters (Score:4, Insightful)
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Ooh, good point leading to a reason (I should have thought of) that I WOULD use a laptop in a theater for (although I wouldn't really because it would be impolite in the extreme) - when forced to watch the latest chick flick...
Re:why would you need a laptop in a movie theater? (Score:5, Insightful)
Or maybe conveniently located rentable lockers will start showing up at the theater, which you can pay to store all your potentially infringing devices. Dump your laptop, phone, and any pens or pencils which may be used to write down dialogue. Also, when you leave the theater, please make sure to stop by our convenient memory erasing station, so that you don't carry unauthorized memories out of the theater.
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*sarcasm* yeah, I see so many people walking around with laptops, who didn't just get out of a car, who aren't in an airport... ;)
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Re:why would you need a laptop in a movie theater? (Score:5, Insightful)
Where I live we have trains, bus, and a great transportation system. I don't need a car either, I walk. I have never seen anyone bring a laptop to a movie theater, ever. So much for sarcasms [sic].
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I take my laptop regularly into the movie theater during film festivals, because I have it with me for the day for between screenings. Only when there's a big-budget Hollywood film are we ever ordered to put them in a car or check them at the front desk.
Same is true for my DSLR camera. That one I have to whip out during the Q&A, since it can take decent pictures without a flash so I can practice a hobby without being an ass (i.e. using a flash).
Re:why would you need a laptop in a movie theater? (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe that's because they leave them in their bags instead of holding them up in the air and waving them around while shouting "Hey, everybody, look at my laptop!"
Just a thought.
Unless you were trying to say that you have never, ever seen anyone bring a bag more than 30 cm wide into a movie theatre, in which case I would have to ask you just what kind of movies legally bind people enjoy.
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Is that a candy bar in your pocket, or are you just happy see this movie?
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Although, if the theaters provided guarded lockers, like a lot of electronics shops and stuff, I'd be okay with that. Trouble is, the staff are so rude and nobody takes responsibility for anything, so I guess it wouldn't work. The cinema would also charge some outrageous fee for the service, and hire kids so broke that they'd pick pockets and rifle through the bags.
I hate big cinemas :-(
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Or maybe conveniently located rentable lockers will start showing up at the theater, which you can pay to store all your potentially infringing devices.
Ooooo - I like that idea. Then, while you're in the theater, the duly authorized officials from the RIAA and MPAA can search your hard drive for stolen music and movies. :)
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...please make sure to stop by our convenient memory erasing station, so that you don't carry unauthorized memories out of the theater.
Where was this device when I made the mistake of seeing 'Ultraviolet'? /shudders
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I walk to the cinema as well, but I don't bring my laptop. Do you find yourself bringing your laptop to the cinema often?
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I agree. How many times have you actually taken a laptop inside a theater though? (I wouldn't want to just out of the inconvenience personally, but in theory I could need to.)
This policy is so not green. (Score:2)
If you didn't have a trunk (motorcycle rider for example) I could see why
Or bicycle rider, or bus rider, or train rider, etc. Banning people from carrying in their belongings forces people to use cars more, which is environmentally unsound.
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of course you don't see anybody with a laptop in the cinema, they were stopped to enter!
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I can certainly understand that, and it certainly is a scenario where someone would be annoyed by not being able to carry in their laptop (presuming you didn't have a car there at the time - if ever), but as I was saying to other, this seems like an isolated case. I don't care if people bring their laptops into the movie theater (as long as they don't use them, lol), but in typical Slashdot fashion people tend towards hyperbole (like the op.)
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If you didn't have a trunk (motorcycle rider for example) I could see why, but seriously, this should not be much of an issue for most people.
How about because my insurance may not cover me for something left in an unattended vehicle?
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most people don't read slashdot...
I'm a sysadmin (Score:4, Funny)
One week a month, I get paid extra for being at most 15 min away from ssh 24/7. So I have to carry a laptop and a 3G usb key at all times.
Of course I don't go to the movies anymore, the experience sucks so much with all the stupid jerks talking and/or forgetting to turn off their phone.
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Like posting bad reviews of it after you lost interest in the first 5 minutes.
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Not really. I have lived in the UK (Liverpool) and Italy (Palau, and Roma) and I currently reside in the US and I walk to a theater here in the city whenever I see a film (unless the film I want to see is only playing elsewhere.) In Liverpool proper we mostly drove/took public transport to a common area to eat/drink/socialize before walking to the theater but in Italy we always walked start to finish. I have never, not once, seen someone carrying a laptop to any theater. That's certainly not to say it d
i doubt your perceptions (Score:2, Insightful)
many small laptops can fit inside large coat pockets. anyone with a backpack may have a laptop. no one walks on the sidewalk with their shiny laptop cradled in their hands unprotected. so of course you don't see anyone carrying a laptop to any theater: they're securely under covers 99% of the time
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Gee gosh. You meet your wife/friend/furry-afficionado after work, have dinner and then go to movie. In your briefcase you have your notebook.
God dammit, that just ruined any desire I had to go see "Where the Wild Things Are"
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While it seems like a rather silly policy, why on earth would people be taking their laptops into the movie theater? Are there that many occasions when people don't go home prior to going to a movie?
You don't have a job, do you?
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While it seems like a rather silly policy, why on earth would people be taking their laptops into the movie theater? Are there that many occasions when people don't go home prior to going to a movie?
If you're not in home town, but need to kill off some hours. If you're traveling. If it's a long, useless trip to home just to drop off the laptop there. If you get off the work and the movie starts soon after that, while your friends are already waiting there. Might be lots of reasons.
Even more so because technical equipment is getting more common and common every day. They probably count in the tiny laptops into this too. Banning laptops from movies makes no sense (atleast if you're not using it)
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I live in a city, often carry a laptop around for work reasons, decide to pop in to see a film on the way home (or better, have a date) and what else am I going to do with the laptop other than leave it in the bag I am carrying it round in?
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Yes lots of people do strange things like go watch a movie, go to a bar, go to a restaurant, go to the grocery store, etc. on their way home from work.
Students sometimes even go watch a movie after studying at the library and so on.
There's no plan to use the laptop, they just don't want to leave it in the car to get stolen. Or they're catching the subway and don't have a car to put it in.
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Because it's in my suitcase and I'm taking my mom to a movie after work?
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At the Pirates of the Caribbean 2 premiere, my friends and I got there early and had time to kill, so I brought my laptop and we watched the first movie while we waited. I guess that's a little more rare an occasion, but it happens.
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How about people who live in the city and walk or use public transportation?
What about people who own hatchbacks and are not comfortable leaving a laptop bag out in the car?
The movie industry is only making "pirated" content even more superior to the "genuine" product. They're missing the fact that most of the pre-release torrents are coming from their employees or from DVD replication houses to begin with.
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Wow, way to be auto-centric. What about all the people who don't drive to the theater? And for that matter, who the fuck are you to say what is or is not a valid reason? I most certainly have gone to a movie directly from work; I have had many jobs which do not require me to dress like a trained monkey. And working from home is not the only reason to take a laptop back and forth; for a while I used my last work laptop as my home system too, because I was between powerful computers at home, and they did not
Re:This would be the last straw for me. (Score:4, Funny)
Where can I get this free popcorn and soda? And on a related note, where is all this free beer the OSS people keep talking about?