At one time or another, all of us have seen movies on pirated CDs. But how are these CDs copied? Other than copies being made from the original print, which is rare, the most common modus operandi is people seeing the movie at theatres copying the entire film using handheld video cameras mobile phones, making copies and selling them for a pittance, of which nothing goes to the film-makers.
That is the reason picture quality of pirated films is poor, sound is atrocious, extra noises are heard in the background, and you occasionally see the shadow of a head on the screen. Now cinemas in Malaysia are using a novel weapon - military-grade night-vision goggles. Once the movie begins, trained ushers don night-vision goggles, scan darkened theatres to spot minor dons copying the film using hand-held video recorders or mobile phones. Once these dons are caught, they are done for.
The Motion Picture Association of Malaysia has trained local cinema ushers to catch the pirates using these night-goggles. The Association representative says that this effort has been very successful; they have already caught several persons in the act of indulging in this illegal activity (copying the latest Hollywood blockbusters).
The fear of getting caught will prevent many others from trying the same stunt. Malaysia is on the U.S. watch-list for movie and software piracy, but local authorities have taken it as a challenge to come out of this list. The Motion Picture Association of Malaysia is also using the specialized services of dogs trained to sniff out DVDs. These K9 (sorry, canine) heroes have already sniffed out over ten lakh fake DVDs and are responsible for the collapse of a firm engaged in making fake DVDs.
Will Indian authorities also follow these examples to kill the fake DVDs piracy rampant in India?
