The ban was begun by the MPAA to combat illegal copying, or piracy, of movies because copies of about 50 percent of last year's screeners were found for sale in black markets or on the Internet. The ban, however, has caused a firestorm of criticism from independent filmmakers, actors and other award groups.

Under the pact, only videotapes of movies -- not DVDs -- will be sent to Academy members who agree not to pass along the video to other people. Should they do so and the tape is pirated, the member would face expulsion from the Academy.

The studios have agreed to organize special screenings of their films for other award groups, such as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which awards the Golden Globes, or the Screen Actors Guild (news - web sites), which has its own prestigious awards.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/fc?d=tmpl&cf=fc&in=entertainment&cat=academy_awards

i think it would be different if that was the only way people were getting the movies to pirate. i think i read somewhere that like 75% of all pirated movies come from within the industry itself.

i know why they do this. so it doesn't appear that they permit pirating eventhough they know there is nothing they can do about it. all of these actions just remind me of the war on drugs. no matter how hard they try to stop the problem, it is just a losing battle.

"Should they do so and the tape is pirated, the member would face expulsion from the Academy."

what?? nothing else?
if a "nornal" person pirates something they have to pay a few hundred thousand dollars and go to prison, but if an academy member pirates a movie he only gets banned from the academy???

Originally posted by streetpreacher
"Should they do so and the tape is pirated, the member would face expulsion from the Academy."

what?? nothing else?
if a "nornal" person pirates something they have to pay a few hundred thousand dollars and go to prison, but if an academy member pirates a movie he only gets banned from the academy???

Yeah, that is pretty lame!!

:upset: