
At 92, Movie Bootlegger Is Soldiers’ Hero - aaronharnly
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/nyregion/at-92-movie-bootlegger-is-soldiers-hero.html?hp&pagewanted=all
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driverdan
This enrages me. Unequal application of law is an injustice to everyone. How
can teenagers be bankrupted and have their future damaged by sharing a few
MP3s via P2P yet this guy can bootleg 300,000 current release movies and the
industry hardly flinches? This guy gets a free pass because he's old? Because
he's supporting US troops? Bullshit.

When kids can have their future ruined because their situation doesn't "warm
your heart" and this guy can bootleg for 5 years you know the system is
broken.

 _Note: I'm not defending USA's IP laws. They are very, very broken._

~~~
icebraining
It's civil law; they only sue if they want to. Which is good, since a lot of
times a lawsuit isn't the best way to solve an issue (for example, in GPL
violation cases the FSF often gets the infringer to comply without suing).

------
timjahn
Hollywood can't even provide a convenient solution for overseas American
troops to enjoy a favorite American past time. The same American troops that
are helping protect the lives of the Americans that watch all of Hollywood's
entertainment offerings.

At least they've (so far) decided to let this guy do some good without going
after him.

~~~
jetti
_At least they've (so far) decided to let this guy do some good without going
after him._

This actually presents a really big challenge to the MPAA. By not actively
protecting their copyright (which they aren't if they let this guy off the
hook or turn a blind eye) they risk losing other cases because of it. At the
same time, if they go after this guy they look awful.

~~~
MBlume
The obvious thing for the MPAA to do is to start doing it themselves --
voluntarily send free discs to overseas units.

~~~
goatforce5
Yeah, you'd think they get positive PR if they sent free DVDs with pre-
recorded messages from the stars before the movie.

"Hi i'm Tom Cruise and I, and everyone else at Sony Pictures, want to thank
you for your service. Enjoy the show!"

~~~
Retric
I wonder how many people would find it odd if Sony a Japanese company did
that. I know their a multinational and all MGM seems like a more natural fit.

~~~
asmithmd1
Japan is pretty clearly part of the imperial US having ceded all military
protection to the US.

Have you ever heard anyone in government use the acronym CONUS? It is supposed
to stand for Contiguous United States:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States#CONUS....](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States#CONUS.2FOCONUS)

But it is more commonly used opposed to "United States Interests at home and
abroad" - i.e. the imperial United States

------
oz
Something about this story just warms my heart. Particularly image # 7: A 92
y.o. veteran leaning over his flat-screen monitor, performing a labour of love
for his comrades thousands of miles away.

With an old-fashioned alarm clock on his desk.

~~~
keithpeter
Actually, the images are really nice. Pity they don't provide hi res (I'd
pay). You don't see photo stories like this too often now.

This chap reminds me of the volunteer hospital visitors we have in the UK.
People go into their local hospital (known to staff) and just sit with the
ones who have no visitors that day and engage them a little.

~~~
oz
I'd hardly be described as sentimental, but it's the small things like this
that give me hope for humanity.

It's amazing, the things we can do to-or for-one another.

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MichaelGG
"“It’s not the right thing to do, but I did it,” Mr. Strachman said,
acknowledging that his actions violated copyright law."

What an odd quote. It seems like he thinks it was the right thing to do (as do
some of the recipients), or he wouldn't continue to spend so much time and
effort doing so.

~~~
timjahn
I think he's more acknowledging it's not the "right" thing to do as in the
legal thing to do, but he understands that beyond the law, it's the moral
right thing to do.

------
PetrolMan
I generally don't have time to read enough of the news to find gems like this
so I love the fact that I can come to Hacker News and catch a little bit of
everything. I know this has been said before and contributes little to the
conversation but it's nice to see stories like this along with everything
else.

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lusr
Seems like such a simple thing for the movie studios to do - legally - _and_
generate some positive PR for a change... but no.

~~~
chris11
The military actually does run it's own movie theater chain. I'm not sure who
pays for it, but the showings are free. Although I think the movies are
released a month or two after the normal release date. And I doubt that the
military actually has a theater somewhere in Iraq or Afghanistan

<http://www.mwrguam.com/company_detail.php?keyword=movies>

~~~
rdl
Actually a lot of the bases had movie theaters in Iraq and Afghanistan (not
the little 10-1000 person bases, but the big ones like Balad, Bagram, etc.
which have >10k people).

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davidf18
Ironically, this story would itself make a great movie. One can only imagine
how much this old man, who our society would write-off as "no longer
productive", raised the morale of our troops who were otherwise lonely from
their families.

For the amount of money spent on the war, the DOD could have purchased the
rights to the films and made their own copies to distribute to the troops.

~~~
kijin
If the DoD had tried to purchase DVD distributions rights, Hollywood would
have insisted on some sort of DRM so the DVDs could only be played on
military-owned computers located outside of the United States. That would have
been, er, doubleplusunconvenient.

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spinchange
I wasn't alive then, so this probably me romanticizing, but the Hollywood of
the WWII era I grew up learning about would have been sending these films over
to the troops on their own.

~~~
w1ntermute
Even if they were doing so, the situation was very different. You couldn't
easily copy movies, and either way, people in general weren't as dependent on
Hollywood entertainment as they are now.

~~~
spinchange
My broader point is that there's a lot of talk surrounding the legal/piracy
implications of what this man is doing, and yes, the world is far different
now that it was some 70 years ago, but _in his era_ a comparative act to this
- if there is one - wouldn't have been met with nearly as much (potential)
"controversy" I think. Hollywood used to do quite a lot to show it's support
to the armed services/government. (Disney sidelined projects to work on what
was essentially free propaganda films among many others)

------
timurlenk
I'm surprised that after 75 comments nobody remarked this quote:

"You’re shocked because your initial image is of some back-alley Eastern
European bootlegger — not an old Jewish guy on Long Island,” Captain Curran
said.

I may not be so familiar with the north american culture, can anybody clarify
this for me: Is it a generally accepted fact that bootleggers are east
europeans and old jews would never do such a thing?

~~~
lotharbot
Big-time _organized_ bootlegging/piracy is often associated with communist and
former communist areas (Russia, China, the Ukraine, etc.) in popular
consciousness. Not just in terms of movies, but in terms of knockoff Rolex
watches, Coach bags, and so on. It's some combination of low respect for
capitalism, high corruption, pockets of general lawlessness, cheap labor, and
powerful criminal organizations.

I certainly have a hard time picturing my 90 year old, very religious, WWII
American Veteran grandpa being interested in piracy.

------
K2h
The best part.. he sends to the _chaplain_ to then distribute to the troops!
He starts with purchasing boot leg from vendors on the street. That made me
say "NO!...". Is it wrong of me to want to step in and show him how to do it
right?

This was great story.

------
tomc1985
I'm curious as to what's going to happen now, being that he's admitting to
copyright infringement on page A1 of the New York Times....

~~~
hcurtiss
The editors at the Times know what they're doing. This pretty much makes him
untouchable.

~~~
oz
"Movie industry sues WWII vet for boosting troop morale."

------
gadders
What a lovely man.

------
excuse-me
Ironically this would be perfectly legal if the army was doing it.

Recently a musician attempted to sue the Army for its use of his music played
at very high volumes to 'interrogate' prisoners at Guantanamo. The case was
rejected because the US government has a blanket right to use any US copyright
material for national security.

So the Army is presumably free to pirate all the copies of 'Two and a Half
Men' it needs to keep it's troops in a fighting mood.

~~~
keithwinstein
I searched Lexis and think you're probably mistaken. There's no such law but
also no such case.

~~~
Maxious
"Any State, any instrumentality of a State, and any officer or employee of a
State or instrumentality of a State acting in his or her official capacity,
___shall not be immune_ __[...] for a violation of any of the exclusive rights
of a copyright owner" 17 U.S.C. §
511<http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#511>

No such law, in fact explicitly no sovereign immunity.

~~~
excuse-me
I think it's a more general principle of "if we say it's a matter of national
security we can do whatever we want"

If you don't agree you are perfectly at liberty to be held indefinitely
without trial and be tortured.

I don't remember the latin term but it's approximately "look what a big stick
we have"

------
J3L2404
Well this guy makes a much better hero than the fucking ridiculous Kim Dotcom.

~~~
gee_totes
You don't think that soldiers watched MegaVideo too?

Or downloaded new music from MegaUpload?

Just because the New York Times didn't write a story about it, doesn't mean it
didn't happen.

~~~
res0nat0r
I don't think Kim's mansion in NZ and ridiculous antics were his way of
helping out soldiers overseas.

------
ck2
I'm sorry but war should never be comfortable or have entertainment.

Don't feel good for him doing this while we can shop at the mall.

The solution is those people should be watching it at home in the comfort of
their own homes.

When we have a draft for every military action declared by a single person in
charge, then I'll change my mind.

~~~
rexreed
In a volunteer army, these people serve by choice (albeit perhaps not always
for altruistic reasons). It is also the choice of this fellow to make their
horrible experiences less so. While certainly I don't support endless war, I
think this story is an uplifting one - a singular act of selfless kindness to
add humanity to what is otherwise an inhumane situation. Certainly no one is
coercing or paying him to do that. In fact, quite the opposite.

~~~
ck2
He's making it more comfortable to go to war - both for the recipient and for
us on our comfy chairs knowing someone did this for them.

Enact the draft for EVERY military action. It's only fair.

I know these are not popular opinions but they are true.

Where are the people sending DVDs to people in the peace corp? They make far
less than people in the military.

Obama promised to promote the peace corp and I've never seen one ad, but
plenty for the military.

~~~
jonknee
> Obama promised to promote the peace corp and I've never seen one ad, but
> plenty for the military.

Perhaps because the Peace Corps isn't such a tough sell (you aren't going to
war!), so they don't need to advertise to expand. Just more funding. Obama has
increased the Peace Corps budget and as such there are more participants. I'm
sure they receive plenty of DVDs from their loved ones.

~~~
Volscio
Also most of my friends who did Peace Corps didn't even have electricity for
two years. I don't know how they did it.

