Senator Volker Urges Assembly To Act On Legislation To Deter Theft Of Feature Films By Camcorder Pirates
Senator Dale M. Volker (R-C-I, Depew) today urged the State Assembly to act immediately to pass legislation (A.6427) that would update New York State’s existing law prohibiting the operation of recording devices in a motion picture theater. Earlier this year, Senator Volker passed legislation (S.3117) which would stiffen the penalties for this crime.
"With the advancement of electronic devices, and the digital technology that accompanies these devices, the theft of first-run motion pictures is becoming more prevalent and wreaking havoc on our motion picture industry," said Senator Dale M. Volker. "This has contributed to the industry’s loss of approximately $3.5 billion. This is not a victimless crime as every pirated film from a theater in our state represents millions of lost dollars that would otherwise be reinvested in in-state productions, not to mention the loss of tax revenues for local and state government. This not only harms our state taxpayers, but also threatens the livelihoods of thousands of individuals employed in film production and its related industries in New York."
Senator Volker’s legislation replaces the existing penalty of a violation with a Class A misdemeanor to better reflect the exponentially more damaging nature of the same offense today. The original statute was designed to prohibit the use of a video camera or audio video recorder in a movie theater to record a motion picture so as to combat the sale and trafficking of counterfeit movies obtained from illegal recordings. Today, in the digital age, the nature of the offense is much more serious as technology has improved the quality of the stolen product and, most importantly, has allowed for mass duplication of perfect digital copies of movies recorded from movie theaters as well as instantaneous transmission around the world of those copies while a movie is still in a theater.
Additionally, it is well known among federal and state law enforcement agencies that there is a growing body of evidence linking counterfeiting and piracy with organized crime and terrorist funding. The crime currently has a low-risk of prosecution and enormous profit potential, which makes it an extremely lucrative enterprise for organized crime and terrorist organizations.
"With only two days remaining of the Legislative Session, I am urging the State Assembly to act as soon as possible to pass this bill," said Senator Volker. "The livelihoods of thousands of New Yorkers, as well as our commitment to thwarting terrorist activities within our state and nation are at stake. Common sense dictates the immediate passage of this legislation."
