Jeremy Nicholas, a British TV reporter, was told that he wasn't allowed to bring his laptop into a Cineworld movie theater because the chain had taken the advice of FACT (The Federation Against Copyright Theft) and banned computers from cinemas "to prevent piracy." The cinema had no facility for securely storing laptops -- which are worth thousands in and of themselves and often contain crucial and invaluable private and commercial information -- and suggested that he leave the laptop in his car in the unguarded parking lot.
Like many copyright loonies, FACT have shown again and again that they have no respect for property or privacy. These are the same people who advise theater owners to take away peoples' mobile phones during preview screenings (and won't disclose the security steps taken to protect them). There has never been a case of a movie recorded on a mobile phone. There has also never been a case of a pre-release movie leaking from a preview screening. And, of course, there's never been a case of a movie being pirated by someone with a laptop. I don't even know how you'd try -- hold the laptop on your lap, facing away from you?
Fundamentally, FACT is saying that people who have jobs that involve carrying computers (e.g. every single person I know) shouldn't go to the movies unless they're lucky enough to go home first.
Again: the message is, "Stay away from the cinema."
He confirmed that they had no cloakroom style ticket system in place to make sure you get your computer back after you've handed it in. So despite them treating customers with suspicion, as though were are all bootleggers, we have to trust them to get our equipment back.
I asked if it would be OK to take my mobile phone into the film as that does have the capacity to record movies. He asked if I was planning to use it for that purpose. I said no. He said it would be all right then.
Not the most rigorous interrogation and one that a determined bootlegger probably could have passed.
Mind you by now I'd shown him my BBC pass, my NUJ press card and (by accident) my Oyster card.
While I was standing being grilled in front of everyone, I saw a number of customers (or suspects as Cineworld probably calls them) being ushered to their seats. Many had bags, but they weren't computer bags, so they were OK. They were handbags and rucksacks, all of which could have contained iPhones, flips and all manner of small recording devices.
I was refused entry to a Cineworld cinema because I had a laptop with me. (via /.)
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laptops are like small children: they don't belong in the cinema and should be left out in the car. Or in the trunk to prevent theft. Problem solved.
You're welcome, British people.
I haven't gone to a movie theater in a long, long time, but I'd be very happy to see anyone using a laptop during a movie not only kicked out, but beaten about the head with a frozen tuna. (As should be people who use cell phones.)
What exactly do they think people are going to do, plug a USB into the projector or something?
Glad to see that Jeremy Nicolas is still around too, I've not heard him on the air for ages
Excellent rule. Terrible reason.
Nothing is worse when trying to watch a movie than someone busy on their iphone. I imagine people using laptops in the cinema will be even more of a distraction.
If you're not there to watch the movie, please stay away.
This makes no sense. At least for the phone ban there is some remote possibility of someone recording parts of a film with the phone camera (no phone that I know can record video for 2 hours, maybe if you had a separate tethered battery or something though), even though no one would possibly watch it due to atrocious quality. But a laptop? That's the distribution mechanism, not the recording medium. It's just stupid.
Umm, some of the first few commenters seem to assume that he was planning to _use_ his laptop; read the original blog posting. He had come straight from work and had a laptop with him, keeping it with him for security rather than leaving it in the car. No intention to use it at all. Cineworld staff stopped him only because he had what was obviously a laptop bag with him.
Presumably they have a magic way of determining when someone has put a netbook or laptop in a rucksack or handbag rather than an obvious laptop case.
You are trying to watch a movie-- do you really want to sit beside a guy who has a large, square light turned on and is making a "click click" noise?
Gonna have to go with Darren, here. Good idea, bad reason. Now I'd also like to see a ban on cell phones. I'm so tired of people texting constantly through the movie. I miss the days when people didn't have to be connected to others at all times.
To those who support a laptop ban, why would you ban *carrying* laptops into a cinema, as opposed to *using* laptops in a cinema? Do you also think people in cinemas shouldn't be allowed to possess condoms in case they decide to start fucking in the aisles?
[quote]There has never been a case of a movie recorded on a mobile phone. There has also never been a case of a pre-release movie leaking from a preview screening.[/quote]
You might want to take a look at the website www.ch131.com which posts movies before they are released to the theaters. It sure seems that someone is video taping, whether with a camera phone/laptop with web camera/digital camcorder, since you can hear the audience laughing and the video quality is very poor.
Toodles,™
Dolnor Numbwit
i agree that no one should be allowed to USE a laptop in a cinema, but not being able to bring one in that's secured in your laptop bag is insanity.
it's my understanding that they pulled him aside because they noticed he had a laptop bag and not a typical messenger bag or backpack, and didnt allow him to bring it in (while not offering any suitable alternative). THAT is ridiculous.
i bring my netbook almost everywhere i go, and would be pissed if they told me it couldnt be on my person when i entered the cinema. as if i'm going to subtlety boot it up, turn the screen around, and record it with my 1.3MP non-zoomable bevel webcam.
stupid stupid stupid.
Back in the Summer of 2005, I attended a special preview viewing of the Direct-To-DVD Family Guy movie, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, as part of the Just For Laughs festival, in Montréal, Canada.
Our camera-phones were taken away at the entrance (although I could have kept mine in my pocket and no one would have done anything) on the pretext that they didn't want the movie to be leaked that way.
The funny thing is, the next day, an obvious DVD-rip of what we'd seen was already available on the torrent sites. Clearly, this was leaked by whoever was involved with this special presentation, as it was not a cam version.
I didn't have any crucial personal information on that cell, but there was some company stuff on there that could have caused me problems, as it was a company phone. As far as I know, I got it back OK, and nothing bad happened to it while it wasn't in my possession.
I'm hoping you meant good reason (avoiding piracy), bad rule (dismissive of your customers needs in favor of your distributors needs).
I would, but only if there's decent wardrobe facilities and perhaps coin operated lockers.
"..do you really want to sit beside a guy who has a large, square light turned on and is making a "click click" noise?"
And when was the last timethat happened to you, Darren? I've never seen anyone use a laptop in the cinema.
This kind of garbage is too common; all kinds of stores place their needs above your own, regardless of scale. For example, many, many times I've been told to put my bag in the cubby holes (no lockers available) in college and other bookstores.
I use the computer as part of my graduate work, which has to date cost me in excess of $100,000. Why should I leave all of that graduate work (and my computer, itself worth a couple of hundred bucks, I guess) in an unsecured area in order to prevent the theft of a few hundred dollars in books?
In practical terms, I've carried my computer with me more than once, but I don't make it a habit of returning to those kind of places. As my old mentor said to me,
"If they don't care about what's important to you, why should you care about what's important to them?"
The idiotic rule here is deserving of the most egregious outing and civil disobedience possible.
Lanval
People, he wasn't taking his laptop in the theatre to use it, he was taking it in because leaving it in the car is stupid. Read the article before commenting. Suggesting he shouldn't take a laptop because you don't want to see him use it is like saying he shouldn't take his car keys because "I'd be really distracted by someone parking his Mini Cooper next to me."
I wasn't aware this was a problem. I've never seen anyone bring a laptop into a theater. Not that I attend, often...
I personally love the vanity involved in all these paranoid copyright law/fantasies: yes, certainly, I'm sneaking in a video recording device because everyone I know can't wait to see The Vampire's Apprentice, or G-Force It sort of reminds me of this brief meme I noticed wherein people would TM or (C) their MySpace profile quotes as though they would be paid a royalty every time someone said "I like to have FUN and laugh!" (C)(TM)
Exactly. Do the same people want to ban carrying cell phones into the cinema? For all I care, you can carry a five piece drum kit into the cinema, as long as you don't start drumming during the film.
For the one guy using a cellphone in the movie, there are about 50 who have a cellphone in their pocket, turned off or set to silent mode. Because MOST of the people in that theater have phones, and MOST of us aren't being asshats.
Same, for that ONE guy in a LIFETIME who uses his laptop in the movie, the REST of us carrying one around in a bag are going to risk a LOT of valuable hardware?
All these comments refer to him USING his laptop in the cinema. That doesn't appear to be the case at all, he just had it on his person at the time. And fair enough; a lot of people work on the move these days.
There's a simple solution to all of these problems: ushers.
They can quietly tell you to turn off your computer or your g-d cell phone if you're using it in the theater (to my extreeeeeeeme annoyance), or escort you out if you are actually pirating a movie. Plus, they get to wear snazzy uniforms.
"And when was the last time that happened to you, Darren? I've never seen anyone use a laptop in the cinema."
As I mentioned originally, it has been a long, long time since I've been in a movie theater. In actual numbers, the last time was 1994. So the chances of me seeing a laptop in a theater was much less likely than today. There were also very, very few cell phones in theaters and no text messaging. So I can't say how many times, in this modern age of plentiful laptops I would have seen someone carrying one into a theater, but I would guess that, around here, at least, where everyone drives and there is no appreciable mass transit at all, the ratio of the number of people carrying laptops to the number of intending to used those laptops would be damn close to 1:1.
"OHNOS IT HAZ A CAMERA".
None of those screeners were recorded with a cellphone or a laptop. Laptop cameras can't focus, cellphones have faaar too short a battery life (and usually a too small harddrive) along with usually poor focus and really crappy low-light quality.
Those are recorded with an actual movie camera. Your argument is fail, please try again.
I would be sort of charmed if someone actually hauled out a laptop and started typing away: a nice break from the rest of the technologically-enabled annoyances that one meets with there.
Not much longer and they will not allow PEOPLE into the theatre anymore .. because they could REMEMBER the movie and TELL other people about it! And then Hollywood will put the blame on pirates ... sigh ..
Yes, there is movie pirating going on .. but how much does it really affect the business? Remember Wolverine? Pristine copy all over the Internet 1 MONTH before rls .. pretty bad reviews ... and it still made a shitload of money ...
Reminds me of the Reno 911 PSA -- life imitates comedy.
I will admit to having used a laptop in a movie theater before, on several occasions.
Of course, each of these times was before a midnight premier of a movie, when they let people in hours before the movie starts, and dozens of others were using their laptops at the same time.
When technology catches up to their paranoia, they'll just wipe our memories after the film, like with those little flashy things in Men in Black.
Also, to satisfy the people who want to ban any electronics which might be used to annoy other cinema patrons, I propose that we also fit everyone with a muzzle before they enter. Otherwise, they can just start talking and ruin the film. Better safe than sorry.
Copyright is a protection in itself, not something that needs protection. If you ignore its rules, you can be punished.
What groups like "FACT" are doing - they try to turn this principle around by punishing first and search for the crime later, if ever. Of course the owners of the cinema have householder's rights, so they can ban whatever they want (even you, Cory, without a reason).
Nevertheless, this is not such a good idea - the people they punish in advance are the customers, which is a very poor service indeed.
Btw, if there's some copyright zealot smirking that us geeks watch only pirated movies as a rule: I usually go to the cinema almost every second week... if I would get harrassed like that, I'd stop doing so. Think about that.
Greetings, LX
Completely stupid. I go to the movies all the time in a huge city, and I almost never see a cell-phone light, and I've never ever seen anyone ever use a laptop (ever). I would think the reaction from your fellow moviegoers would deter that kind of stupidity - ie, me throwing it at the screen. :-P
That being said, I have put my feet on the seat and gotten a warning from an usher. Seems like the same thing would happen if I opened my laptop and started pounding an email to Aunt Millie.
People who love rules that punish imaginary idiots are dinks.
Someone should bring a typewriter and type down the complete movie script. Or perhaps crayons and paper and sketch scenes. Let's make the ban list even more ridiculous.
I strongly support the muzzles for moviegoers idea. Then maybe I could get through a movie without one of my neighbors running their mouths off.
There's a simple solution to all of these problems: ushers.
That's a quaint idea. I can't remember the last time I saw an actual usher in a movie theater, unless you count the minimum-wage teens collecting tickets and selling junk food.
Sometimes I come home from work with urine samples. They never let me into the theater with them. What am I supposed to do, leave them in the car?
If your job requires you to haul a laptop around when you go to the movies, you need a different job, not a new movie policy!
few points for those who may not be getting it:
1) Yes taking measures that prevent pirating of movies is laudable, however taking measures that prevent imaginary methods as opposed to actual methods is simply insane.
2)just because someone has a laptop does not mean they are going to use it. for any reason.
3) leaving a laptop in a car unless you put it in a closed trunk BEFORE parking it in it's current spot is not an option (thieves don't break into trunk just in case something of value is there but if they see you put a laptop bag there they damn sure will)
4) singling someone out merely because their bag has a single purpose is silly beyond understanding.
@ Mypalmike -- Most folks seem to leave theirs in the stairwells and the parking garage, judging by the smell.
Let that be a lesson ter yeh.
An don' go tellin nobody whatcha seen here!
Them's ahhrr Ideas!
I'm not sure what is usual anywhere else, but I've known household insurance policies in the UK to specifically exclude theft of a laptop from a car, or to have a large excess applied to such a claim.
I suppose anyone trying to record a movie with a laptop would use an external webcam. But, as has been pointed out, the quality is awful compared to even a low-end camcorder.
Whatever anyone thinks of FACT though, I do wonder if this advice really came from them or was dreamed up by the (very junior) manager Jeremy describes. I ask because FACT's own guidelines on what to look out for don't mention laptops:
http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/fightfilmtheft/2009/whattolookfor.htm
nor do they appear in their gallery of items allegedly found being used to copy films:
http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/fightfilmtheft/2009/toolsofthetrade.htm
Next time I go to the movie theater I'll leave the laptop at home, but I am definitly going to bring one of those court reporter stenographers. That way I can steal a transcript of the movie. Of course, I'll have to keep the court reporter to read back the record whenever I want to "see" the movie.
"...please read back the part where the giant transforming robot blows up the other giant transforming robot"
around here, at least, where everyone drives and there is no appreciable mass transit at all, the ratio of the number of people carrying laptops to the number of intending to used those laptops would be damn close to 1:1
Around here, where there's no appreciable mass transit and everyone owns a car, the summer temperatures go up to the 120s. You don't ever leave electronics in your car.
But that doesn't explain your assumption that everyone else lives in a city with poor public transport. Or was your comment only supposed to be relevant to your unmentioned circumstances?
Good, we're agreed, I don't want to go to a movie theater and they don't wnat me to go to a movie theater.
Look, I just finished work, I've got my laptop in my bag and I'm on foot. What am I supposed to do if I want to watch a movie? Go home and come back? Not likely. Put it in a coin locker? Oh wait, the terrorists took away all of the coin lockers.
So the only other option is for me to not go to the movies.
I'll stay home and download them off the Internet and the only clowns I have to mess with are the ones I invite over.
So I can't say how many times, in this modern age of plentiful laptops I would have seen someone carrying one into a theater,
Darren, in short, you have a shortage of applicable experiences, yet manage to have a plethora of opinions on the matter. Bravo.
Taking away people's mobile phones before they go into a cinema is a BRILLIANT idea. Now if only we can convince them to chew with their mouths shut while they're sitting behind me and to reach into their chip bags without making a racket.
Felton - sometimes I think that would be a fantastic idea. I reckon I only see an average of one movie in ten without yappers ruining it.
Now I remember why I stopped going to the cinema twenty years ago -
other people making noise,
nasty environment,
yada, yada, yada.
Oh yes; all the films are crepe as well.
Wait a minute-- I'm allowed to comment on the concept of someone near me using a laptop in a theater ONLY if I have had people near me using laptops in a theater? That is idiotic. If you are carrying something with you, don't go to the movies! Go home, leave your valuables there, and then come back to see the movie. It is as simple as that. Not every damn thing that happens is a civil rights violation.
Could be worse. Me and some friends of mine were once questioned by police for talking about action-movie things (guns, explosions, etc.) while waiting in line to see an action movie.
At least the laptop thing involves an actual physical object, instead of the usage of words relating to an object.
Darren,
At some point, your head is actually going to explode.
There was a case in Australia of a man arrested for recording the Simpsons Movie on his mobile phone, and uploading it to the interwebs.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/pirated-simpsons-video-filmed-on-mobile/2007/08/17/1186857730452.html
Oh, here's how it ended up. He was fined $1000 after being described by his own lawyer as having the "sophistication of a dead fish". http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/doh-simpsons-movie-pirate-fined/2007/11/13/1194766644222.html
If you are carrying something with you, don't go to the movies! Go home, leave your valuables there, and then come back to see the movie. It is as simple as that.
Apparently you don't live in a city or anyplace where you need to go far from your house. I'm glad it's so simple to get back home for you, but for some people who would like to catch a movie after work, that's not an option. The easier option would be to download the film for free at home at one's leisure. But, like fools, some of us try to actually support movie theaters and the film industry and then get turned away for not going out of our way to get home first and then come back.
And for the record, I just went to the movies on monday with a friend who had just come from a music perfomance, and she brought along her viola in its case. She didn't play it during the movie.
Yep, because anyone that is going to watch an entire movie filmed on a handy cam is also going to pay to see the movie at the cinema if they can't. That is the absurdity that the entertainment industry spews out whenever discussing piracy affecting sales.
Also Darren, I frequently meeting up with my friends to go see a movie after work. Some of them finish at 8pm, 9pm, etc. Last screenings are usually 9.30ish in the city. Do you propose if any of them are holding valuables they should make the 1.5 hour round trip to drop them home before returning to the cinema to then make the 45 minute journey home again?
Honestly this isn't even a question about whether the cinema is acting morally or not (which is surely isn't) this is simply a business model. You want customers, you need to be at least partially convieniant. Especially when your competition is downloading a movie from the comfort of your lounge room, there has to be some actual advantage of going to the cinema.
Something I still do regularly because despite me being more and more annoyed with the bullshit job slashing (one 'usher' for 12 screens, having to order tickets online because they do not want to employ more than 2 people to work the counter for said 12 screens) I do enjoy seeing something on a gigantic screen with excellent sound quality.
Actually now that I think more about it, I really should just buy a projector and get around to buying those new speakers.
Dude, did you even read the article?
That is ridiculous.
There are jobs that require you to be available during the night at short notice, and nowadays it is preferable to have a hardened machine and to keep your personal machine segregated from your office equipment.
You are quite patronizing by assuming such a job would be undesirable, lets just say that the pay makes it worth it, such a previous job has allowed some of us to sit comfortably the recession while unemployed.
While a nice indie theater is about a half-mile's walk from my apartment, I attend school downtown and occasionally, before or after class, catch a new release at a multiplex across the street from the building where my classes are held. According to comments like Garrison's, I should make the forty-minute trip home, deposit my backpack there, and return with only my wallet, iPhone (uh-oh), and keys. I wouldn't declare war on a theater for not letting me in with a backpack or laptop bag, but I probably wouldn't attend anymore. There are still theaters whose owners don't make such unreasonable requests of their customers and they apparently need support.
Why not? I imagine a live performance on the viola would improve most movies.
As far as I can tell from reading this thread, no-one who's left a comment actually works in a cinema, so as I do, allow me to give my "two-penneth"...
Occasionally we're instructed by distributors that we have to be "extra vigilant" when we have a specific film showing. For one film recently (sadly, I forget which one) we were told to search every customer's bag on their way in. Thankfully, the staff here DO have minds of our own and realising that this was a stupid idea, we simply stuck our heads into the screenings every so often to check on things (which we usually do anyway).
We're also offered a big cash reward for anyone who catches someone in the act of taping a film. So I personally would LOVE to catch someone trying to make a pirate copy of a movie with their laptop, but sadly I don't think that's ever going to happen...
BTW, my girlfriend keeps a blog of some of the stupid things that our customers do actually do. It's called 'Cleaning Up Sick and Other Tales from the Front Line of Customer Service' and can be found here... http://www.cleaningupsick.blogspot.com/
I can't rememer the last time I went to a cinema here in Britain. £8 tickets put me off long ago. This just gives me another reason not to go and wait for the DVD.
Or download the movie, free the same day it comes out.
This is the major point, piracy is not really the issue. There is always a pirated copy. The issue is that piracy is your competition.
If small hardware business is competing against a gigantic Bunnings Warehouse or something along the lines, you don't adopt a policy of making it as shitty for your customers as possible. You offer an advantage and hope they'll take that over the lower prices offered by your competition.
I don't have time to download movies. That being said, the last time a pirate copy of a not-yet-released movie passed through my hands, it was clearly a production copy one or two CG edits away from final copy. Same with the time before and the time before that.
If Hollywood really wants to get rid of piracy, they need to enforce better security on their end because it ain't John Q. Public with a cell phone that's uploading pre-release production copies of movies to the netwebs.
If they were any more tech savvy - which they obviously aren't - they'd be banning smartphones as well.
Going to the cinema is increasingly expensive and unpleasant - I'd rather stay at home and watch downloaded films - nice own goal there FUCT!