“Bootleg Movies”

Yesterday at the barbershop, everybody in the room (seven people) was talking about bootleg movies. Based on the comments, I was the only one there who hasn't ever owned one.

It started because a military guy was in the chair talking with John (the lead barber) about American Gangster. They'd both seen it already: the guy in the chair saw it at the theater, John saw it three weeks ago on a Russian bootleg DVD. (Three weeks ago! The movie was released to theaters AFTER that!)

The military guy said he hasn't seen a bootleg of AG yet, but the guys coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan always have loads of movies with them, all bootleg and some of them pre-release like the AG that John had.

It would have turned into a swap-meet but for the fact that nobody had any with them. (And to be clear, I don't want one and the whole idea kind of bugs me: it's no different than software piracy.)

Earlier this year, another regular at the diner where Rich and I have breakfast every week offered me a copy of the latest Spider Man movie. I had it in my hands, then it occurred to me that the film had just come out in theaters. "What is this, a bootleg?" I asked out loud. He was very upset, told me to shush, and immediately put his movie away again. "How do you know none of these people are cops?" he whispered back.

(Note: This story about the Pirate Act on Ars Technica reminded me to write this.)