Feds Arrest Man For Sharing DVD Rip of Spider-Man Movie With Millions Online (arstechnica.com) 28
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A 37-year-old Tennessee man was arrested Thursday, accused of stealing Blu-rays and DVDs from a manufacturing and distribution company used by major movie studios and sharing them online before the movies' scheduled release dates. According to a US Department of Justice press release, Steven Hale worked at the DVD company and allegedly stole "numerous 'pre-release' DVDs and Blu-rays" between February 2021 and March 2022. He then allegedly "ripped" the movies, "bypassing encryption that prevents unauthorized copying" and shared copies widely online. He also supposedly sold the actual stolen discs on e-commerce sites, the DOJ alleged.
Hale has been charged with "two counts of criminal copyright infringement and one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods," the DOJ said. He faces a maximum sentence of five years for the former, and 10 years for the latter. Among blockbuster movies that Hale is accused of stealing are Dune, F9: The Fast Saga, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Godzilla v. Kong, and, perhaps most notably, Spider-Man: No Way Home. The DOJ claimed that "copies of Spider-Man: No Way Home were downloaded tens of millions of times, with an estimated loss to the copyright owner of tens of millions of dollars."
Hale has been charged with "two counts of criminal copyright infringement and one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods," the DOJ said. He faces a maximum sentence of five years for the former, and 10 years for the latter. Among blockbuster movies that Hale is accused of stealing are Dune, F9: The Fast Saga, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Godzilla v. Kong, and, perhaps most notably, Spider-Man: No Way Home. The DOJ claimed that "copies of Spider-Man: No Way Home were downloaded tens of millions of times, with an estimated loss to the copyright owner of tens of millions of dollars."
Punish All of them! (Score:2)
Sure Hale is a dick and deserves to be prosecuted but the real criminals are the companies making those shitty movies.
I used to love Marvel but they broke that.
Re:Punish All of them! (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Depends who owns the AI.
Re: Punish All of them! (Score:2)
Damn (Score:3)
He should have copied top secret documents instead.
Re: (Score:2)
Not if he's Jewish.
The elite pirates don't do pre-releases (Score:2)
You can get pre-releases on scene trackers and sites, but you can't get them on the archival trackers like HDB and PTP. Why? They don't want the negative attention. They just want to freely fill their disk arrays.
Dead horse hasn't decomposed yet (Score:5, Interesting)
The DOJ claimed that "copies of Spider-Man: No Way Home were downloaded tens of millions of times, with an estimated loss to the copyright owner of tens of millions of dollars."
They still think piracy = lost sales. How quaint.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
The reason they dont equate to lost sales is not everyone who watched a movie for free would have paid to watch it.
As just one example, I pirated a shit ton of music when I was in high school in addition to buying a lot. There is no real way I could have bought any more music then I already was so the stuff that I pirated were not lost sales for the studios because without piracy I just would have gone without.
Then there's the whole idea that some movies are worth watching for free but not for money. There'
Re: Dead horse hasn't decomposed yet (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The DOJ claimed that "copies of Spider-Man: No Way Home were downloaded tens of millions of times, with an estimated loss to the copyright owner of tens of millions of dollars."
They still think piracy = lost sales. How quaint.
It's not binary. Neither 100% nor 0% of the downloaders would have paid money instead to watch the movies. I'm guessing that the percentage desiring to watch the movie absent that downloaded copy is closer to 100% than 0%. Some will watch at home with a friend that pays. Some will check out the movie from the library for free. Some will find a different free pirated version. And some will buy a theater ticket or rent the movie.
Ok (Score:2)
I'm growing more and more confident that almost all lawyers are completely retarded.
"..allegedly stole "numerous 'pre-release'..." (Score:2)
So, not just the one movie, then?
If youre going to do this.... (Score:3)
Re:If youre going to do this.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Nah. If you get caught, you might as well make it a spectacle otherwise it won't get any attention. The whole concept of this shit going to court to begin with is a mockery, so you should mock both the plaintiffs and any judge willing to hear the illegitimate case to begin with. A judge's inability to keep their feelings in check just goes to show how unfit they are for the job. A judge's (or jury's) inability to determine fact and fiction from appearances furthers the issue. From there it is an easy step to, at a minimum, mistrial.
When a Company Rips Off Millions of Customers (Score:4, Interesting)
You are invited to sue them in Civil Court at your own risk and expense. Assuming the company didnâ(TM)t include an Arbitration Clause in the fine print, thus leaving a kangaroo court as your sole avenue for recourse.
No arrests will be made. Law enforcement would laugh if you even had the nerve to ask. This is true even if the ill gotten gains run into the tens of millions of dollars. Company executives will have no problem getting another job or renting a home, because a background check will show no bad behavior.
Let it be the other way around, though. Let a citizen rip off a large corporation. Then, it is the FBI with guns drawn, the media gleefully reporting his downfall. Oh they squeak with delight they do, because finally they have a corporate ripoff story that they are allowed to report about. No pesky advertisers to worry about,
Come on everybody now, bad citizen, bad bad citizen. He let people have stuff without paying for it. Fifteen years in a cage and no soup for you! Why it is an outrage it is!
Our two tiered justice system is so overtly in our face that we have all just gotten used to it and no longer think anything of it. I get it. I do it too. The farce is just so large, it feels like you cannot possibly do anything. I mean, it is a felony for you to lie to a bank, insurance company, or credit reporting agency. It is no crime whatsoever for them to lie to you. The Department of Justice is just another law enforcement agency protecting corporate interests.
The government protects them at your expense. Then they invite you to spend your own money to protect you. Frankly, they owe you, though it is not a point they will ever concede.
Future generations are going to hate us. After all, they will have gotten the government that WE deserve.
Re: When a Company Rips Off Millions of Customers (Score:3)
One way to correct this imbalance is to have an agency that works on the side of Consumers, investigating the Financial industry, giving us Protection from these corporate crimes. A Bureau if you will.
Well, we had that. Now Trump is eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
We'll never make progress against this corporate power imbalance if people keep voting against their own interests.
Need to (Score:2)
Spider pig (Score:2)
Does anyone have a donation link for this man? (Score:1)
Doesn't Spiderman give him a pass though? (Score:2)
/o\ (Score:1)
Without seeing it I can confirm that the movie it total shit. Someone loses their life for this? I suppose it's too soon to have put the fake reviews in place so investor money is at risk.
Still, I'm guessing the 37 year old Tennessee guy had little control over the movie direction. Perhaps someone else should be in the targets.