Alan Smithee

Went to the state fair today and looked through a couple buildings where people were selling random crap- most of it stuff like cosmetics or what have you. There was one guy whose sign said "Classic Movies" and he had several shelves full on DVDs out, and almost ALL of them were obviously copies- you could tell that the covers had been scanned and printed on a computer. Most of them weren't even rare, just titles that had been out for a while and still in print, and he was selling these for about the same price as the legitimate product. I opened one up and the disc inside was a printable DVD-R with the legitimate disc's label scanned and printed on it. The disc was probably a single-layer, meaning the content had been compressed to fit on it. He had a few other things like some out-of-print Paramount movies and some TV shows like Batman which have never had a legit DVD release. Up front he had a shelf full of Song of the South (priced at $39.99) with it playing on an LCD screen, it looked like it had been transferred from a VHS tape. The covers looked like scans of the UK VHS release with "NTSC Region 1" printed on the back cover. The guy was telling people they were imports from England, but of course if they were they'd be in PAL format and probably region 2- as far as I know it was released there on VHS but never on DVD.

Sure Disney deserves to have Song of the South bootlegged as long as they continue to keep it locked up, and so does Paramount for taking so many discs out of print, but I still couldn't believe the balls this guy had selling this stuff out in the open at an event like this. I could see him doing it at a flea market or something like that, but not a state fair. The fair has been going on since last Thursday so there he should have been busted by now, but nobody there seemed to notice. I couldn't help myself- I called the MPAA's piracy hotline (1-800-NO-COPYS) and ratted him out. Wonder if they'll actually do something, or if they'll just sit on their hands and continue to advocate internet snooping and crap like that. If anybody on here goes there, let me know if you see him.

adrenaline78

Did you tell the guy you liked his collection of bootlegs?

Lastdaysofrain

Some of these guys are sold brazen and bold with it that I wonder if they actually don't know they are bootlegs themselves.

TheBang

I'm sure they know. It's just like the people who sell counterfeit Gucci and Prada bags at things like this for $10.

Texan26

There's a local comic book shop that sells bootlegs like the ones you mentioned. I don't see how they get away with it out in the public like that.

My Other Self

You called the MPAA's piracy hotline over some guy selling some crap at the state fair? Seriously?

Nobody goes to the state fair anymore, attendance has plummeted. So as prestigious as you seem to think it is, it's not. Ever since they moved it back from August nobody goes and as a thread I created here a few years ago shows, nobody from other parts of the state treks to Sac just to go. It's a local fair with a bigger sounding name since we live in the capital.

I seriously doubt you put a dent in the guy's day, but good effort.

Lastdaysofrain

I was at a Comic Con in Boston close to 10 years ago and it got raided for bootlegs. It was kind of nuts. The show was bootleg free for the next six months or so until it slowly crept back in.

LJG765

Um, maybe yours, but the MN State Fair is huge. Don't go if you're claustrophobic. And when I go to the WI state fair, it's pretty big too.

movieguru

They sell tons of bootlegs at the Comic cons all over the country. They're mostly out of print titles or titles that have never been released. But, they also have tv shows that are just being aired on tv and they have sets for them as well. I see mostly the same people sellers at these cons and nothing ever seems to happen to them.

Alan Smithee

And if studios keep putting out their own legitimate releases on DVD-R, it's going to be harder to tell what is a legitimate product and what isn't. If they're going to do that and not bust people like this selling copies out in the open, I don't want to hear them complaining about it anymore.

My Other Self

This is California, significantly larger in population. Every part of the state has their own county/regional fairs throughout the year.

The state fair here is a glorified Sacramento County fair, nothing more. To call me out like I'm throwing all state fairs under the same umbrella is pretty stupid since I was obviously talking to Smithee about what we have here.

SterlingBen

They steal that stuff from CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, ect and then sell it for cash at venues like this (or they buy from the thieves to flip at places like this).

Never buy this kind of stuff.

Alan Smithee

Get this- I was there yesterday to see Weird Al and we went through some of the crappy buildings beforehand, and this SAME guy was there again, in the SAME place selling the SAME copied DVDs with some new ones added! I give up- I basically led the MPAA's anti-piracy effort to this guy last year, and they obviously did NOTHING. I think that proves that all the warnings they make us watch at the beginning of discs are scare tactics, and nothing more.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Alan Smithee, doing his part to try and put mom and pop stores out of business.

Weird Al is up at my fair today.

My Other Self

I have such a difficult time believing half of your posts. I can rarely tell if you're serious or just being overly dramatic for effect.

Alan Smithee

Well, in this case it's only fair given how overly dramatic most of the copyright warnings and such have been. They can keep saying "The FBI is watching you and will do terrible things to you if you even THINK about copying this movie!" but when someone does it SO out in the open like this and gets away with it, even after they've been reported to a so-called "hotline" set up specifically to stop this very thing, it just proves that such "anti-piracy efforts" are all talk and no action.

dan30oly

pics or it didn't happen

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Except there are actually tons of arrests but they don't have field offices across the country setup where a special team of agents, always on call, slide down a pole into their crime fighting unit, flying through the streets with their sirens blazing, shooting everyone in their way to get a guy at a fair.

Cardsfan111

I think you should create a bogus MPAA ID and bust him yourself.

Nate Boss

why not just stand in front of his stand and call out "BOOTLEGS! WHO WANTS BOOTLEGS!??!" and draw attention to the twat?

PhantomStranger

The anti-piracy efforts, even the occasional arrests, are largely a PR attempt to remind consumers it is illegal. I thought everyone understood that Hollywood doesn't have the means to entirely eliminate piracy and the over-the-top warnings on DVDs are meant to scare the 25% of the population that actually respond to empty threats.

Ropes Pierre

I think it would have been cool if you and three friends had kicked over his table, and someone with a Scottish accent said "THAT's the Chicago way!"

jjcool

So no field office within a years drive of Sacramento?
I find that hard to believe.

DaveWadding

You wouldn't steal a car...

E_v_i_l

You wouldn't steal a handbag...