We’re all looking for ways to save money, but sometimes it’s at someone else’s expense. That’s the case when it comes to illegally downloaded movies from sources like BitTorrent. Sure, it’s expensive to go to the movies. Taking a family of four to the new Shrek movie can cost as much as a week’s worth of groceries (if you use coupons!) and popcorn costs as much as a steak at Outback. But if you’re considering or have tried watching movies for free on the Internet, you may want to reconsider this risky move for saving money.
Tens of thousands of people who illegally downloaded Academy Award winning movie The Hurt Locker are being sued. The Hurt Locker only made $16 million at the box office, the lowest in history for an Academy Award Winner. But leaders behind the film said it could have made more if it weren’t for those who illegally downloaded the movie. That’s why Voltage Pictures and US Copyright Group have decided to sue. According to reports, they’ll use technology that collects IP addresses of those who downloaded the film. Once it collects those it emails the Internet Service Provider, asking them to retain logs of the IP address during the time of the illegal download. ISP’s will then be forced to hand over subscriber information so the perpetrators are identified.
Often we can justify downloading a movie for free because we feel like the movie theaters are ripping us off, but in reality it’s no different than stealing a DVD from Wal-mart or Target. And now that the movie industry is fighting back, identifying those making the illegal downloads and taking action, does it really make sense to download a movie illegally just so you can save money at the theater?