In case you were bored with the old FBI warning and anti-piracy notifications that you were presented with before the start of a movie, fear not. The US government issued a couple of brand-new copyright notices that are designed not only to inform users on the fact that piracy is illegal, but also to educate them.
United States authorities have been fighting a long battle against copyright infringers, shutting down their operations and putting many of them behind bars, but now they’ve decided to give movie studios a
small present.
ArsTechnica
informs that six major studios have already agreed to use the new notices in the motion pictures they sell on DVD and Blu-Ray.
The first new screen features both the FBI’s anti-piracy warning logo and the one of Homeland Security Investigations. It notifies the viewer that the unauthorized reproduction of the material is prohibited by the law, but it also highlights the $250,000 (190,000 EUR) fine and the 5-year prison sentence that awaits those caught pirating copyrighted works.
The second banner, the educational one, bears the logo of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, along with a message that says “Piracy is not a victimless crime.”
The purpose of this message is apparently to make the user aware of the fact that many individuals and companies may suffer because of piracy.
According to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) representatives, the new screens will be displayed after the previews, when the play button is hit. Each of them will remain on the screen for 10 seconds.
Furthermore, viewers can’t skip or fast forward during the
educational 20 seconds.
Of course, pirated versions of the motion pictures don’t come with any of these notices, making the viewing experience somewhat frustrating for those who choose to actually pay for a movie. Take a look at the clever representation in the third picture to see the differences between what a pirate and a paying customer see.
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