The Oscar winning movie “The Hurt Locker” didn't only portray the Iraq war in a dark mood and as a place where death hangs around any corner. One of the subtlest clues shows the story of a US soldier trying to rescue the life of a little boy which he befriended while buying pirated DVDs.
That isn't very far from the truth. Declassified documents from the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) show that starting some years ago, the MPAA has been inquiring the US Army about its efforts of stopping soldiers from acquiring pirated DVDs in local Iraqi stores. Besides all this, the MPAA has been sending out cease and desist notices to US soldiers through their base camp ISPs for content piracy related issues.
And while US troops are constantly risking their life for the name and concept of democracy, the MPAA is doing its best for them not to break the law in any way while abroad and steal its movies and music copyrighted materials. All this while, not offering any real alternatives for US soldiers of acquiring entertainment from legal MPAA sources.
The companies that are part of MPAA are known for implementing potent country or geographical IP filters for their online services, so it is very difficult for an US soldier to legally buy any kind of service while still in service. And let's add to this the Army's own content filters.
So as any bored man, or a person with a high level of stress, there's a time in life to let off some steam and relax. When that time comes, soldiers have little choices, except BitTorrent clients and pirated DVDs for their entertainment. An inside Army source has thoroughly spoken about this issue in an article for TorrentFreak.
While the MPAA and CENTCOM have had a strong relationship when it came to the troops' entertainment organizing numerous concerts, moral boosting visits from celebrities and sport athletes, little was done in providing proper access to the latest Hollywood releases and music albums.
The MPAA was also very interested into the measures the US Army took into stopping or destroying local stores where pirated materials where being sold. The CENTCOM's answer was swift and political: “No. [...] Banning our troops from visiting these shops would have the unwelcome secondary effect of harming Iraqi entrepreneurs selling legitimate goods. […] our forces are specifically prohibited from shipping pirated media back to the US. Packages to the US are inspected prior to shipping to ensure that they do not contain contraband including pirated media.”
Some of the released documents made available to the public are hosted at
this link on the TorrentFreak blog.
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