Profile: Anti-piracy technology in movie theaters

ALEX CHADWICK
NPR Special
11-16-2004
Profile: Anti-piracy technology in movie theaters

Host: ALEX CHADWICK
Time: 4:00-5:00 PM

ALEX CHADWICK, host:

Pirated movies on the Internet, sales of bootlegged DVDs have Hollywood scrambling for security help, and technology companies are developing answers. One firm has a new tech tool that it says is going to help stop camcorder piracy. That's people shooting with camcorders inside movie theaters. Here's DAY TO DAY technology reporter Xeni Jardin.

(Soundbite of music; unidentified movie)

Unidentified Actor #1: What?

Unidentified Actor #2: Hey, hey, hey, hey. What the...

Unidentified Actor #1: (Screams)

Unidentified Actor #2: Well, that's a--one way to pull it there.

XENI JARDIN reporting:

What you're seeing and hearing inside this theater doesn't seem too unusual. Reporters and Hollywood executives are watching a movie projected on a large screen, but what you can't see or hear are new anti-piracy technologies at work. This theater is, in fact, a movie tech lab at the University of Southern California's Entertainment Technology Center. And here, a Florida-based tech firm called TRAKSTAR is demonstrating what's touted as a solution to in-theater movie recording. Company CEO Howard Gladstone explains the technology behind TRAKSTAR's Pirate Eye and TVS products.

Mr. HOWARD GLADSTONE (CEO, TRAKSTAR): The first is a device which detects the presence of camcorders within the theater space, and the second part of the system is an audio watermark. Essentially a tag which denotes the theater, the screen, the time and the date of that particular exhibition.

JARDIN: Pirate Eye, the remote-controlled camcorder detection device, looks like a small replica of Darth Vader's head. When Pirate Eye spots what may be a recording device in the audience, it snaps a digital picture with a built-in camera, then alerts security personnel.

Unidentified Man #1: I think it was you.

Unidentified Man #2: Yeah.

Unidentified Man #1: Yeah. You were just holding up your phone...

Unidentified Man #2: Which has nothing.

Unidentified Man #1: ...which has nothing.

JARDIN: But the system photographs anything or anyone who happens to be near a suspected pirating device. Because it can be set off by false positives, including cell phones, the technology could raise privacy concerns. Gladstone says moviegoers shouldn't worry and his solution is less invasive than others that exist.

Mr. GLADSTONE: In critical screening environments when there's an advance screening, sometimes they have two security guards with infrared binoculars scanning the room. In our case, we pretty much understand the need for privacy in the movie space.

JARDIN: Gladstone believes that in a world where hidden cameras snap pictures at us from ATM machines, department store dressing rooms and public street corners, it's not unreasonable for theater owners to also use surveillance to prevent what they say is a form of shoplifting.

Mr. GLADSTONE: Our desire is strictly and only to look into the question of pirate cameras. They should not be present in the theater regardless. And we only generate an image when the algorithm establishes that there is a camera present. At no other time would we take a picture of the audience.

JARDIN: Critics say nearly all theaters would have to agree to use the system for it to have any impact on the problem, and even then, that wouldn't do anything to stop pre-release leaks that originate inside studios and post-production facilities. But Brad Hunt, chief technology officer for the Motion Picture Association of America, thinks it's a critical first step.

Mr. BRAD HUNT (Motion Picture Association of America): Camcorder piracy is a very damaging form of piracy, and that's why we're looking for a solution.

JARDIN: Along with the kinds of anti-piracy tools that TRAKSTAR makes, technologies being developed by other firms include so-called CamJam systems that prevent pirating video cameras from capturing feature films. All of these technologies would cost theater owners money at a time when their profits are down. So the MPAA may have a tough time convincing theaters to install these new tools if the organization refuses to pay part if not all of the cost. Still, the technology could be showing up at a theater near you as early as next year.

(Soundbite of unidentified movie)

Unidentified Actor #3: You shouldn't play with guns.

JARDIN: For DAY TO DAY, I'm Xeni Jardin.

(Soundbite of unidentified movie)

Unidentified Actor #3: Oh, I just remembered. It's your birthday. Happy birthday.

Unidentified Actor #4: Merry Christmas.

Unidentified Actor #3: It's not Christmas.

Unidentified Actor #4: Happy Hanukkah.

Unidentified Child: We're leaving today.

Unidentified Actor #4: Trust me, this is not going to end well.

CHADWICK: I'm Alex Chadwick. This is DAY TO DAY.

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