California law to come into effect outlaws camcorders in cinemas

December 11, 2003

From January, a new law comes into effect inCalifornia which will make it illegal to take a camcorder or any other recording device into a cinema. Offenders can be sentenced to a $ 2,500 fine and/or a year in prison. The MPAA offers evidence that 92% of all illegal movie copies originate from camcorders taken from the cinema. Despite the MPAA's claims, most black market movie sales and movies shared over file sharing networks actually originate from original DVD's and many others unreleased in the shops likely originate from leaked screener copies.

This law will not just target camcorders but any device that can make a recording. This effectively makes it an offence to take a mobile phone into the cinema regardless of whether it is switch off. Warning signs will be posted in Los Angeles County Theatres to inform customers of the new law. alienooze submitted the following article from The Register via our news submit :

You've been out at the beach all day and you met a friend in a bar who says she is going to take in a film. You join her and caught up in the conversation and don't notice some of the new signs up at the cinema. Suddenly someone wants to search your back pack and the next thing you know you're in prison for a one year stretch for taking the camcorder which you forgot was in your pack, into a cinema. The ,500 fine isn't funny either.

This scene isn't fantasy, it's not from some strange oppressive regime either. This is the future of downtown California, the home of Hollywood.

Increasingly this is the hysterical reaction to the outbreak of video file sharing over the Internet, and the world has suddenly become convinced that camcorders in cinemas are responsible for the bulk of this crime.

And the Californian State reaction is also the classic US panic. Don't punish the breaking of the law, instead take the accoutrements that might be required to break a law and make them illegal. They are much easier to police than the act of committing the crime itself. According to Associated Press, California is said to be days away from making it a crime to sneak a camcorder into a movie theater. The legal move is a step way ahead of the another recent move to push this forward as a federal offense, all over the US and comes from direct pressure by the Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA offers evidence that 92% of all illegal copies of films that appear for sale over the Internet are made in this way, by camcorder in a cinema. But it doesn't source the research or go into detail.

Read the full article here.

While the LA locals may get use to this law over time, this may lead to more tourists being arrested that are unaware of the law than the pirates who deliberately go to the cinema to tape the movie. I know many would be happy to outlaw mobile phones in cinemas, but it is rather unfair that one could face prison just because they carry one even if it is just to call a cab home once the movie ends. I wonder if any cinemas will offer lockers for storing offending items before heading in.

Even if the MPAA's claims were correct, it does not stop pirates from taking a camcorder to a cinema outside of California. All it takes is a single recording to make a virtually unlimited number of copies and this law does will not stop copies from being shipped into California.

Source: The Register