James Delahunty
25 May 2007 18:46
Cinemas in Malaysia have had success using military-style night-vision goggles against movie pirates. The targets are individuals that attempt to copy movies using camcorders or mobile phones. Ushers have been trained by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) to catch the pirates, and have managed to nab 17 people in the past two months while hits such as Spiderman 3 and the third Pirates of the Caribbean movies have been released.
"All of the cases were spotted with night-vision goggles," MPA's Malaysia manager, Nor Hayati Yahaya, said on Friday. "Its very successful." Malaysia has stepped up its efforts against piracy while it is engaged in free-trade talks with the United States. The country features on the U.S. watchlist for movie and software piracy.
The use of DVD sniffer dogs in the country has brought about much media attention. The Labradors, Lucky and Flo, have assisted in the seizures of over 1 million discs and lead to a counterfeit DVD ring being smashed. It is believed that Malaysian pirates have put a bounty on the dogs in response to their success.
Source:
Reuters