From the BBC:

Moves to ban US filmgoers from videotaping films inside cinemas have been stepped up by the movie industry.

Suspected offenders in California and Ohio could be subject to citizen's arrest under the latest steps designed to cut film piracy.

Similar laws exist in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, with penalties of heavy fines or jail.

The Motion Picture Association of America said it had acted to combat piracy costing $3.5bn (£1.97bn) a year.

Police say they will respond to calls from cinemas to assist in making the citizen's arrest, if resources permit

Offenders caught during the latest crackdown in Ohio could face six months in jail and a $1,000 (£560) fine. The penalty in Michigan, by contrast, is up to five years in jail and a $250,000 (£140,000) fine.

'Last resort'

The MPAA said it planned to lobby at least 12 more states this year for similar legislation.

"Enforcement is always a last resort, but we hope this will be a deterrent," said Vans Stevenson, MPAA senior vice-president.

Critics say the movie industry should be more concerned about illegally copying of films by its own employees.

A recent study by researchers AT&T Labs found that three-quarters of films leaked on the internet came from Hollywood insiders or cinema staff taping films from projection booths.

David Joyce, media analyst with New York-based Guzman & Co, said: "That kind of digital piracy is much more of a threat than someone sneaking in with a video camera."

The MPAA has moved to stop sending preview tapes and DVDs to Oscar judges, although it insists that most pirated films are made from camcorders.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a US campaign group, said state laws often ignored traditional "fair use" copying of small portions of films for personal or educational use.

Article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3362265.stm

Oh...so they're trying to stop the worst quality quater of films on the internet...oh well. MPAA, suit yourselves.

How does Hack Valenti go into the sunlight without buirsting into flames?

I'm all for the ban. This will keep the pirated movies good quality, because they won't be made from camcorders

No kidding. I'd hate to waste two and three hours searching for and downloading a pirated movie only to find out it was a pos video camera recording with some dude sneezing over the best line. Of course, MPAA hasn't convinced me they've got anything worth downloading anyway...

Lets see, pirated movies come from either vhs or dvd screeners released directly by the movie company themselves.

the other source is movies recorded in singapore with a $5000 Digital Video (DV) Camcorder connected to either the hearing impaired headphone output or in the case of the best group ever Centropy with a boom mic (TeleSync - TS), the actual projection machine (TeleCine - TC) or just with the mic on the DV Cam (Cam). The USA has little to no contributition to movie "piracy" other than the IRC channels that allow us to see the movies for free, i wonder if this has anything to do with the MPAA would seek the death penalty if they ever caught a member of a REAL "piracy" organization.

Good lord. When are these Jackasses going to realize that the "good" coppies of movies are coming from the inside. I dowloaded a movie once, and it was the worst quality piece of crap I ever downloaded. Deleted it, and never did it again. It was a waste of time. If you are sitting at home wasting your time on these pitiful movies, you need to get out more, and may just need to be sued for downloading such crap.

Is there a constitutional issue here? Should there be federal pre-emption?

I hope this gets passed in every state and every country! I have only downloaded 1 movie, (on my 56 K mind you) waited a week or so, just to find out it was a piece of crap filmed from the far left side of a theater, you could barely hear the sound, and every so often, whomever filmed it would switch hands with the camera... junk, pass this law and maybe I can start downloading the occasional movie or two... and I DON'T feel guilty here... I buy ass many movies as my finances allow, over 100 this last year, including the Lord Of The Rings two big extended versions with the little statues and stuff, so pass this and let me get an occasional free bonus movie that you can't buy anywhere... I'm a B-flick junkie!!!

Whenever I get a movie from online (I will not specify whether I own the actual DVD or not) I always look for DivX or DVD mentioned as the quality. The people going into theaters and video taping it are like...wtf. Horrible quality in both visual and audio, then you get the coughing, cell phones ringing, baby crying in the background noise as well. If I wanted that I'd freakin' go to the theaters and pay for it.

Btw, on an "unrelated" note I download from Kazaa and bittorrent, yet 20 feet away from me sits a bookcase with over 300 DVDs and collector sets in it. Downloading isn't piracy, it's sampling and viewing so you know what you want to buy. Fansub anime for instance, I will download the first episode of each series and watch it, if I like it, I'll get the DVD. If I don't I save my time for having to buy it and then return it for a refund.

jebus no wonder your peoples movies are crap you downlaod from kazaa, your supposed to only download files that come in cd images mainly .bin/.cue or .mpg's if they're svcd/vcd encoded. www.vcdhelp.com

MPAA Idiots are going after the wrong folk. If they want to improve the likelyhood that copies of movies found via p2p are of high and desireable quality, they have found a way. If the MPAA and RIAA want to kill p2p, why do they keep doing things to strengthen it?
(not complaining tho...unless they think they can get congress to act sympathetically once there is nothing via p2p except perfect copies... but even then, MPAA would still be idiots to think that tactic would work.)

Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy
Support Local and Independent Music!

The Motion Picture Association of America said it had acted to combat piracy costing $3.5bn (£1.97bn) a year.

Police say they will respond to calls from cinemas to assist in making the citizen's arrest, if resources permit

Offenders caught during the latest crackdown in Ohio could face six months in jail and a $1,000 (£560) fine. The penalty in Michigan, by contrast, is up to five years in jail and a $250,000 (£140,000) fine.

this is the most recockulass statment i have heard all year and maybe even last year also lol

yep we already knew you folks wear jackasses but this reach a new low

'Last resort'

The MPAA said it planned to lobby at least 12 more states this year for similar legislation.

"Enforcement is always a last resort, but we hope this will be a deterrent," said Vans Stevenson, MPAA senior vice-president.

ps. this has nothing to do with p2p users right now thats just thair excuse

this has every thing to do with the mpaa lobbying the folm bords to make digtal projection the new standered and pushing for a 20 minut movie at the beging of every movie that will force views to see propaganda movies about mpaa related news info and genral jackass-ness lol

thay do not want movies goers to one be able to make dvd prints of in thearther movies

thay want to make every one whate a year or two befor thay release the dvd that has been finshed since two weeks befor the release of the movie...go figer another indastery trying to live out it's boy hood models bye trying to force the public into buying some thing thay could get free months even years befor the real release

shame on the public for wanting someing that is already out for free...........but not yet at the stores

As with music, you people are downloading from the wrong places. Of the close to 300 dvd rips we've done, nobody has made any complaints about quality. Only sometimes movie content. ;p

Don't judge a decent divx dvdrip because you downloaded some garbage from kazaa. FTP again! is the only way to go for the serious good stuff. IRC is the place to find the good ftp servers. It is something like searching for a needle in a haystack for newbies; but once you earn recognition, you can get the good stuff.

Regards,
Raid HHI

A camcorder-jammer is being produced, but its still in the experimental stage. Modulates the screen intensity of a digital projector in a way that makes it flicker when rerecorded.

Wow. Not one of you mentioned what the BBC thought was the most interesting part of the story. I thought koemoejoe was going to...

"Suspected offenders in California and Ohio could be subject to citizen's arrest under the latest steps designed to cut film piracy.

"Police say they will respond to calls from cinemas to assist in making the citizen's arrest, if resources permit"

The Return of the Vigilante

Now Playing in a Theatre Near You

Watch as "Joe SixPack" tries to enforce the MPAA's laws by arresting a fellow theatre-goer... but it's tough going for Joe, as the criminal he attempts to apprehend shoots 17 people in the theatre, an event that erupts into LA's largest riot ever.

Live at selected theatres.

I watched a downloaded version of The Patriot with Mel Gibson. I had no intentions of buying the movie but was curious what it was about. I loved it so much I went out and bought a copy on DVD. I'd like to know how that hurt the industry.

compmore: According to the MPAA, you are supposed to pay three times at least to see the movie. Once to go to the cinema when its a new must-see release, once to buy the DVD and once in your movie channel subscription. You have only payed one or two of the three. Your not paying them enough, so you must be a pirate