The launch of new James Bond film 'Spectre' next month will be met with a nationwide security effort to stop the movie from being pirated. Night vision goggles will be used to track down 'cammers!' in the UK before they can record the movie and place it online, but wouldn't it make more sense to fix the staggered release schedule?
Pirates of the UK have this morning been issued with a stern warning. Walking into a cinema next month with the intent of recording the latest Bond film âSpectreâ and uploading it to the Internet will prove a particularly hazardous occupation.
Thatâs according to the Federation Against Copyright Theft, the anti-piracy group that looks after Hollywoodâs interests in the UK and had a key hand in the arrest of a âcammerâ just last Friday.
Due to the national and international importance of Bondâs latest outing, FACT have issued a somewhat unusual proactive anti-piracy statement, presumably to deter would-be pirates from leaking the movie.
âJames Bond is a big risk and we will be working with cinema operators and the distributors making sure we will keep that as tight as possible. We really donât want to see that recorded,â says FACT director general Kieron Sharp.
âThe bigger the film and the more anticipated it is, the higher risk it is. We have staff on extra alert for that. They are on alert, particularly with the bigger films like James Bond, to really drill down to who is in the auditorium and who might possibly be recording.â
One of the measures being employed is the use of night-vision goggles. The devices have been in use in the UK, US and elsewhere for several years and are extremely useful when trying to spot the telltale âglowâ and other lighting that emanates from mobile phones, camcorders and other recording devices.
Even when most of the glow is obscured, night vision goggles still allow suspicious seating arrangements and cloaking mechanisms to be observed at a distance and then tackled, either during the performance or when a suspected pirate attempts to leave.
While FACT are always keen to deter pirates, why the special fuss over Bond? The profile of the movie and its commercial importance are obviously key factors since Spectre is likely to be one of the biggest box-office hits this year. Bond is also something of a British icon, so protecting that image will be important to the filmmakers. But there is another element that isnât being discussed.
Spectre is enjoying its world premiere at Londonâs Royal Albert Hall on Monday October 26. With stars Daniel Craig and Christoph Waltz attending alongside the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry itâs probably a safe bet that it wonât be pirated then. However, on the very same day the movie will be released nationwide and other locations will provide much greater opportunity.
The real surprise here is that UK pirates are being given almost two weeks to record Spectre and begin online distribution before it hits cinemas in the United States and the rest of the world on October 6. That probably goes a long way to explaining why FACT are being forced to implement extraordinary security measures â a U.S. pre-release is exactly what the anti-piracy group is trying to avoid.
But why take the chance that someone slips through the net? Hollywood knows that these windows fuel âcammingâ yet MGM and Columbia are apparently prepared to risk âthe most damaging form of piracyâ by leaving the entire world dangling for 12 days while potentially millions of illicit copies of Spectre float around the Internet.
It makes very little sense. Why not have the premiere in London immediately followed by a worldwide release, thereby fulfilling customer demand and soothing notoriously impatient pirates? Of course, other scheduling factors could be at play, but if âcamâ piracy is as serious as the studios claim, why take unnecessary risks?
âSecurity measures are adopted for all new releases to protect from piracy,â a FACT spokesperson told TorrentFreak.
âTogether with industry we work towards heightening awareness for films that are predicted to be of higher risk and sometimes additional security measures are put in place.â
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