I stole money from Michael Moore!!

[VaSteve]

I thought at least that attention grabbing headline would get some traffic....

So I'm heading for my train tonight and there is this guy selling a bunch of crapola next to the station. Watch, knick-knacks, etc. But I noticed that he had a number of DVDs. So I looked closer and it was current stuff, The Village, From Justin to Kelly, etc. He also had F911...

For a mere $10, I got this shabbily produced homebrew DVD. But for some reason I feel good about it. I feel like I need to see the movie, fabrications, stretches and all...but somehow feel better not having to pay for it...

I haven't decided which part I like better, ripping off MM (in fact maybe I'll write to Mirimax or whatever and tell them) or just buying a shady DVD...

Hehe....as I mature, I have to get my excitement anyway I can..

[dd74]

Pretty funny. But do you realize that it costs about the same $10 to see the real thing in the theater? That is...unless...you plan to watch the DVD repeatedly because you like the content so much.

[id10t]

And, Moore himself has been quoted as hoping/encouraging it spreading over the 'net as well.

http://www.sundayherald.com/43167

[rcecale]

True, but what kinda cut do you think Moo0re got from that $10.00?

I recall hearing on the news recently someone suggesting people pay for a ticket for another movie at their local theater and then walking into F911 instead of the movie they paid for.

Randy

[VaSteve]

OK Ok, maybe I just wanted the illicit thrill of buying a DVD off the street

I haven't watched it yet, but something about the fact that it's divided into two chapters says "quality".

[nostatic]

careful...the MPAA will be knocking on your door soon.

[turbocarrera]

What are the copyright laws in the US for taking music and movies, etc, off that interweb thingy? There was a recent ruling in Canada where the supreme court said it was no different than a library that provides you with a photocopier and free access to tons of copyrighted material - basically you can take whatever you want so long as you don't distribute it for profit. I'm wondering what the US laws are.

[id10t]

turbocarrera - totally draconian by comparison. Ever hear of the DMCA?

BTW - you are allowed to do that because the equivalents of the RIAA and MPAA convinced the gov't to levy a tax on media - blank cds, tapes, etc.

[nostatic]

libraries and photocopiers exist becuase of "fair use". This has been codified for books/magazines/etc, but NOT for time-based media (audio/video). Guidelines were put forth in '95, with somewhat of a consensus that one could use 10% of a song, or a minute of video (from a long form piece). But this is not law, and has resulted in a major problems on a variety of fronts. We are in the thick of this as we have students "writing" multimedia documents, and they of course want to "cite" or "quote" rich media elements. But with existing laws, they cannot do so and "publish" it without gaining clearances from the copyright holders. And that chain of ownership for video is a mile long, and involves agreements with the trades, talent, etc.

[cmccuist]

Does anyone know if that software for copying DVD's actually works. If you have a DVD burner can you just rent a movie and copy it or is there some copy protect?

I would never think of doing such a thing, but some on this BB are more nefarious than me.

[bryanthompson]

DVD copying isn't as hard as you'd think really. A few of the DVD copying programs have been taken off of the market because of DMCA issues, but under the fair use guidelines, you should be able to make a backup of whatever it is you have. If it's a CD, Audio Cassette, DVD, whatever, you have the right to make a personal backup copy.

The DMCA comes in where you have to go around copy protection to do it. To copy a DVD, you have to break it apart which violates the DMCA and is illegal. I hacked my X-Box and copy all of the DVD's I own onto the harddrive. But i own 'em so it's fair use.

I remember back in the day people would dub video tapes that they had rented. I don't know if this part is true or urban legend, but supposedly there's a tax on every blank video and audio tape that goes to the RIAA/MPAA because they were losing so much money from people copying their stuff.

[VaSteve]

You guys are no fun....RMCA, RIAA, MPAA,, blah...

When I'm done watching it, I'm going to mail it to the 911 comission, since they haven't seen it!!! I will take the $10 off my taxes as a doneation as well!

[RickM]

Originally posted by VaSteve

For a mere $10, I got this shabbily produced homebrew DVD.

Would probably be $6 in NYC. Freshly ripped from the theater down the street.

I wont give anyone money to see the movie.

[ErVikingo]

If I were to see this piece of stuff, I'd go to the theater, pay for a different movie and sneak into the theater where they are playing it.

The theater will not be reaped, a real filmmaker will get some $$ and I'll get to see what the hype is all about.

Just an idea.

[VaSteve]

I viewed it last night...kinda funny...you can see people in the way front occasionally get up. Somehow they redubbed the sound so you never hear popcorn noises.

As far as the content...some interesting points. Some things that make you think. What he really should have done (and I apoligize if already brought up in the official 40 page F911 thread) is give out a sheet of footnotes. You could take that home and do the research yourself. (Maybe I didn't get it with my bootleg version ) Most people wouldn't spend the time anyhow.

[on-ramp]

going back to your original premise that you stole money from MM. the DVD you paid 10 dollars for only cost about 1 buck to make....MM still made his profit from you.

[Rufblackbird]

Originally posted by cmccuist
Does anyone know if that software for copying DVD's actually works. If you have a DVD burner can you just rent a movie and copy it or is there some copy protect?

I would never think of doing such a thing, but some on this BB are more nefarious than me.

ahem...um...not that I know, but this is what I've heard. Most of the movie DVDs out there is in the DVD-9 format, as it's capacity is a tad over 9 gigs. Most of the available DVD-R's out there is in the DVD-4 format, pretty much half the capacity of the DVD-9 discs. DVD-R in 9 gig format is available, but very pricey...so much that you might as well buy the DVD itself. Also, not ALL the movies out there use up the entire space; if it's less than the 4.7 GB on the DVD-R you can just copy it.

In order to make backup copies of DVD movies, you must have a program to "rip" the files off the DVD. After that, you must have another program to compress the files down to size to fit the DVD-4 discs. Once that's done, you can burn it onto a blank DVD-R.

That's the basics of "backing up" DVDs...for more info see this very helpful website

[rcecale]

Originally posted by on-ramp
going back to your original premise that you stole money from MM. the DVD you paid 10 dollars for only cost about 1 buck to make....MM still made his profit from you.

From VaSteve's last post...

I viewed it last night...kinda funny...you can see people in the way front occasionally get up. Somehow they redubbed the sound so you never hear popcorn noises.

Seems like it was a bootlegged copy from someone else who was ripping of Moore.

Let's see, that would be $1.00 for the DVD and $9.00 for "Mr. Bootlegger". Looks like Moore didn't get his share THIS time...

...is this a great country, or what?

Randy

[VaSteve]

I can only hope it came from a theater in Flint, MI!!
It would make MM feel better about giving back to his community.

Another observation is that the bootlegger decided not to stick around for the credits. Come on, where's the quality control??