92-Year-Old Pirates DVDs To Send To Troops

Azhar said:
The soldiers are not there to watch movies. They're there to work. I think 45,000 movies are more than enough to go around. The numbers are still going up.
Click to expand...

Yeah, damn them for getting a bit of time for R&R and enjoying a movie, even of pirated varieties. And 45,000 movies, with all due respect to the charity that does this, doesn't go too far considering there are 1.5 million active duty soldiers, spread around the world at around 700 bases, and probably lots of duplicate titles in there.
 
I can't believe any here would be against a bunch of men and women, who are actually dying, being dismembered, tortured, killed in various ways, etc. for what they believe is helping their country. If you have the ability to put your own life on the line and actually die in combat, then I think something like a little piracy veils in comparison to the sacrifice of a human life. No one is wasting tax payers money here, so you can't be angry about that. People who have limited time to live get to enjoy some entertainment on the cheap, when it would be otherwise impossible for them to get the same access to the same material. Remember that the troops are overseas and not every country has the same availability and distribution system like we have here abroad.

The man is a true American Hero.
 
JohnleMVP said:
To be fair, some studios do give the armed forces movies in advance of DVD/Blu-ray release. This is for the military base "theater" though not individual soldiers on the front line.
Click to expand...

Not in my experience. Our base theater was MONTHS behind the stateside retail theaters releases.
 
stevedave said:
I call bullshit on this story. That's like 100 DVD's a day for 8 years. I just can't imagine someone burning 100 dvd's a day for 8 years no matter how much he loves Jesus and our Troups.
Click to expand...

Not to mention the postage and packaging.
 
Sorry, guys. I don't approve. There's plenty of money floating around to send our soldiers of fortune legit copies of films. And, being 92 shouldn't be a free pass to ignore the law, especially on such a large scale.

(Hey, RIAA, where's my check?)
 
Selectively enforcing the law runs counter to the American system of justice. If the law sucks, change it through the legislative process.
 
This guy is screwed. Pirated and supported the troops? Oh god, Hollywood's epic bend over of this guy will be so great that they will then make a movie out of it.
 
As a disabled vet I have to say that while I believe that supporting our troops is a good thing, doing it by pirating other's content is wrong.

What's next fot him? Maybe he can welcome returning troops home by sneaking them into the exit doors in theaters and/or concerts so they can get in free?
 
stevedave said:
I call bullshit on this story. That's like 100 DVD's a day for 8 years. I just can't imagine someone burning 100 dvd's a day for 8 years no matter how much he loves Jesus and our Troups.
Click to expand...

That's because the link provided was not the entire article. Here is the original that explains exactly how he did it: NY Times
 
Bash said:
Are you insane, soldiers need to get your permission to watch movies on there own time?
Click to expand...

"YO, AFGHANS, COULD YOU STOP FIRING FOR 1 HOUR AND 45 MINUTES, OUR BREAK IS COMING UP AND WE HAVE THIS MOVIE WE WANT TO WATCH!!!!111111?????"
 
Micas said:
Selectively enforcing the law runs counter to the American system of justice. If the law sucks, change it through the legislative process.
Click to expand...

Untrue.

In the criminal context, prosecutors may decline to bring charges if it is in the interest of justice (they are not bound to prosecute every perceived illegality).

And in the civil context (i.e. the MPAA enforcing their copyrights...) they are well within their rights to selectively pursue infringers.
 
Bash said:
Are you insane, soldiers need to get your permission to watch movies on there own time?
Click to expand...

No, if they want to obtain LEGAL copies of the movies they shouldn't need permission, just like any other American. However, just because they are "on their own time" doesn't give them the right to commit copyright infringement by knowingly accepting pirated goods. Being a soldier has fuck all to do with it. If anything, being a soldier with the worlds eyes on you means you should be even more careful of what you are doing, your actions represent all Americans in the worlds eyes.
 
Azhar said:
Actually my hearing loss is what keeps me from being allowed to serve, but thanks for your concern.
Click to expand...

Damn, its my service that is giving me hearing loss. Spend a few years in fighter aircraft maintenance and you you find yourself maxing the volume out on your mp3 player and tv all the time just so it still sounds normal.

Btw, I pirate because they limit my legal opportunities. Basically I'm limited to what the BX has or waiting weeks for something to ship to to me. If they ship to an APO address. Also, all the legal services that I paid for in the states wont work on my computer overseas. Hulu, netflix, amazon prime, and pandora. I paid for all of these in the states and they will not work for me outside of the country. So now I just pay a little for usenet access and have far more content available to me.
 
Goes to show that the reels MPAA has been sending to the military are a POS, and a limited selection (of poor quality, over-watched movies).

eat.
 
canna said:
No, if they want to obtain LEGAL copies of the movies they shouldn't need permission, just like any other American. However, just because they are "on their own time" doesn't give them the right to commit copyright infringement by knowingly accepting pirated goods. Being a soldier has fuck all to do with it. If anything, being a soldier with the worlds eyes on you means you should be even more careful of what you are doing, your actions represent all Americans in the worlds eyes.
Click to expand...

Buuuut those films are unlicenced in Afgan countries. You could pirate whatever there and face no legal ramifications unless Afgan law stated otherwise, which it probably doesn't and the producers had sought licences there, which i'm guessing they haven't. US copyright and "law" means shit outside of the US.
 
canna said:
No, if they want to obtain LEGAL copies of the movies they shouldn't need permission, just like any other American. However, just because they are "on their own time" doesn't give them the right to commit copyright infringement by knowingly accepting pirated goods. Being a soldier has fuck all to do with it. If anything, being a soldier with the worlds eyes on you means you should be even more careful of what you are doing, your actions represent all Americans in the worlds eyes.
Click to expand...

the latest legit movie releases aren't exactly easy to come by in afghanistan :rolleyes: many companies still won't ship to APO addresses or charge an arm and a leg to ship.

last time i went starbucks wanted to charge me $38 to ship 2 lbs of coffee through USPS priority mail; USPS priority for the size of the box they shipped it in was a flat rate of $7 to APO addresses.
 
canna said:
If anything, being a soldier with the worlds eyes on you means you should be even more careful of what you are doing, your actions represent all Americans in the worlds eyes.
Click to expand...
Now replace the word "soldier" with "politician" and the world would be a better place.

What the old man did may have been wrong, but his heart was in the right place, far more than the studios, etc. that made it difficult to enjoy what entertainment they did send. I mean come on real to real? A bunch of cheap DVD players would be better than a few expensive machines that take longer to set up, are probably more fragile and harder to repair/replace, meaning LESS entertainment time for people with possibly very little time left. And as mentioned earlier, the multiple charities most likely had lots of duplicates in what they sent. An issue I have about the charities is that I've never heard of any of them, why didn't they do PSAs and other advertising to raise money to send entertainment to the troops? If no one knows about them how can they help them? Keep in mind that not everyone has net access, and not all that do would think to see if there were any organizations like this out there.

I do hope that the industry goes easy on this guy after taking all the factors into account. On one hand it would be good PR for them (actually paying artists would probably be the best PR), but I realize that there's also a slippery flip side to that. Sadly they'll probably look at the flip side when taking action.
 
canna said:
Being a soldier has fuck all to do with it. If anything, being a soldier with the worlds eyes on you means you should be even more careful of what you are doing, your actions represent all Americans in the worlds eyes.
Click to expand...

Assuming you're American here... you're actually arguing that people that put themselves voluntarily in harms way to protect your right to bitch about them watching movies shouldn't be allowed a small indulgence between episodes of being shot at? They're willing to die for you, some of them already have, and you're going to try to take the anti-piracy high-road and throw them under the tank treads for watching a few copied movies? Words cannot begin to describe how backwards your priorities are when you're more concerned about protecting corporate profits than giving a few breaks to the people defending your liberty. Do the country a favor and don't ever breed. :mad:
 
rhouck said:
Untrue.

In the criminal context, prosecutors may decline to bring charges if it is in the interest of justice (they are not bound to prosecute every perceived illegality). .
Click to expand...

The only reason a prosecutor should decline to bring charges is for lack of evidence. It is "unamerican" to apply the law inconsistently.
 
roflmywaffle said:
Damn, its my service that is giving me hearing loss. Spend a few years in fighter aircraft maintenance and you you find yourself maxing the volume out on your mp3 player and tv all the time just so it still sounds normal.
Click to expand...

Are you wearing your double ear protection, or skipping on the ear-plugs like most guys did? I was just as bad as the next guy. Half the time the earplugs would be in my pocket until QA rolled around.

roflmywaffle said:
Btw, I pirate because they limit my legal opportunities. Basically I'm limited to what the BX has or waiting weeks for something to ship to to me. If they ship to an APO address. Also, all the legal services that I paid for in the states wont work on my computer overseas. Hulu, netflix, amazon prime, and pandora. I paid for all of these in the states and they will not work for me outside of the country. So now I just pay a little for usenet access and have far more content available to me.
Click to expand...

I understand. If we're such a global community now, how about dropping the regional limits on content?
 
MindBuster said:
"YO, AFGHANS, COULD YOU STOP FIRING FOR 1 HOUR AND 45 MINUTES, OUR BREAK IS COMING UP AND WE HAVE THIS MOVIE WE WANT TO WATCH!!!!111111?????"
Click to expand...

Despite what you see in the movies, we mostly just sit around over there while cleaning weapons, and cleaning around our areas.
 
TheOneKnownAsMe said:
The movie studios make enough money, I say good on this guy for performing such an act of kindness.
Click to expand...
Maybe, but that is not this guy's call to make. Or yours. The studios are to decide when they've made enough money.

Personally, I neither condone nor condemn what this guy did. What he did was wrong, but also very right.

Azhar said:
No reason for the guy to send pirated ones. Not that many anyways.
Click to expand...
He wouldn't be able to afford the cost of sending legally-purchased discs. That's his 'reason', not that his reason matters particularly.
 
MavericK96 said:
I have to find it kind of funny when people talk about piracy for personal use and suddenly everyone is a fucking basement-dwelling thief, but this guy does it for troops and it's totally fine.

I support this man.
Click to expand...

Haven't you learned by now. The internet is full of self righteous a-holes that have a moral superiority complex and they can never do wrong. Everyone on the internet is a perfect driver, but everyone else sucks at driving. No one owns up to copying movies/DVDs ect but everyone does it. There is always a justification.
 
Does anyone (other than this guy) still use the word "hoosegow?" :eek: Props to him for doing this though, the troops over there need a little comfort like this. The MPAA can suck it.
 
wonderfield said:
Maybe, but that is not this guy's call to make. Or yours. The studios are to decide when they've made enough money.

Personally, I neither condone nor condemn what this guy did. What he did was wrong, but also very right.


He wouldn't be able to afford the cost of sending legally-purchased discs. That's his 'reason', not that his reason matters particularly.
Click to expand...

Then he needs to do a charity within his means. It's nobody's fault but his' for not affording a charity he was interested in. I'd say if he could afford to have them all shipped, and get all of these blank DVDs, he could well enough afford another beneficial charity. There were already several other legal means for soldiers to get movies. The old man definitely did not have to do this.
 
Phoenix333 said:
Assuming you're American here... you're actually arguing that people that put themselves voluntarily in harms way to protect your right to bitch about them watching movies shouldn't be allowed a small indulgence between episodes of being shot at?
Click to expand...

No, I'm arguing that just because they are in the military (or any other government service for that matter) doesn't mean they get a free pass at obeying laws. Maybe if someone does something *REALLY* good like single-handedly wipe out Al Qaeda Rambo style we should turn a blind eye as they screw little kids in the butt, I mean after all they were willing to die to help the country out, why not afford them an indulgence, right? The law is the law, and nobody despite who they are should ever be above it no matter how serious or trivial the offense is.


Phoenix333 said:
They're willing to die for you, some of them already have, and you're going to try to take the anti-piracy high-road and throw them under the tank treads for watching a few copied movies?
Click to expand...


It's not about movies. It's about doing the right thing morally. You can't logically justify copyright infringement and piracy "because your job is really dangerous". I definitely think that the studios should give easy access to content for our military personnel overseas. Hell, it would do a bunch to even possibly help their public image. However, it doesn't give the soldiers a right to just pirate content.


Phoenix333 said:
Words cannot begin to describe how backwards your priorities are when you're more concerned about protecting corporate profits than giving a few breaks to the people defending your liberty. Do the country a favor and don't ever breed. :mad:
Click to expand...

I don't give a shit about corporate profits. I do care about our soldiers behaving morally. Do the country a favor and start thinking like a morally responsible adult instead of like an entitled little boy.
 
Azhar said:
The old man definitely did not have to do this.
Click to expand...
I'm well aware of that. The people who donate their time to the USO don't have to do so either, but they make a choice to do so.

As I said, I don't condone what he did. I don't condemn it, either.
 
We are all missing the point. How did a 92 year old learn to use a computer? I can't even get my grandparents to the point where they can burn crap. My grandfather can at least open web pages, but he thinks if you let anyone else touch the computer it will blow up.
 
Most movies are violence based, so if I would be a soldier, I would definitely didn't watch shootings and violence, when I have to face it every day.(Well I don't watch movies anyway, because every time I turn on TV there is 90% violence and 10% advertising so nothing that really entertains me).
 
what ! This guy deserves a life sentence for this crime.

that's like $58903895874385 in lost sales.

hah, that MPAA rep's response is funny. "We are happy to entertain our troops".
I was hoping they would say "Fuck the armed forces. Profit is king"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top