Every year around now, tens of thousands of DVDs of movies still playing in theaters are sent by Hollywood studios to Oscar, Golden Globe and other awards voters.
Every year, some of these discs are copied, and the movies end up being shared online, where they can cut into theater-ticket and DVD sales.
This time, studios are taking a new approach to prevent this kind of piracy, and technology is playing a big part.
Ahead of Sunday's Screen Actors Guild awards, Fox Searchlight this month became the first studio to have nearly 100,000 SAG voters view new movies such as "Black Swan" through a free download from Apple Inc.'s iTunes store. Paramount Pictures, Focus Features and other studios did the same later with movies such as "The Fighter" and "The Kids Are All Right."
In all cases, downloads are set to expire 24 hours after being viewed and are not available to the public.
As an anti-piracy tool, virtual screenings are cheaper and simpler than past efforts. But digital screeners won't necessarily be a savior either. People determined to break the law will find a way, even if it comes down to recording a digital movie by pointing a standard video camera at the computerscreen.
The Motion Picture Association of America estimates that $25 billion globally is lost to it every year, and it is partlyresponsible for US DVD sales falling from a peak in 2006 at $20.2 billion to about $14 billion in 2010.
Although the industry group says most of the damage comes from handheld video camera recordings in theaters around the world, awards screeners are still a problem.
In the past, studios went as far as sending voters specialized players equipped with stronger copy protections than regular DVDs, but that system was abandoned years ago as being too troublesome.
So most studios continue to send discs to voters by mail - as many as 20,000 per movie. And the risk of leaks remains.
Oscar screeners sent out in late 2008 were the source of online bootlegs of "Slumdog Millionaire," "Australia," and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Investigators followed the trail ofunique disc identifiers called watermarks and convicted two men of felonycopyright infringement.
The penalty for uploading movies to websites can reach up to three years in prison and a fine for first-time offenders, but the penalties get stiffer for repeat offenders or those with a profit motive.
(Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
(Agencies)
每年一到这个时侯，好莱坞电影公司会将数万张正在公映的电影光碟寄给奥斯卡、金球奖和其它奖项的评委。 每年，被寄出的部分光碟都会遭到拷贝，最终电影会被上传到网上，而这会影响影片的票房和影碟销量。 今年，电影公司将采取一种新手段防止此类盗版，而科技发挥了重要作用。 周日（1月30日）美国演员工会奖即将揭晓，福克斯探照灯公司本月让近10万名评委通过苹果公司的iTune音乐商店免费下载《黑天鹅》等新影片，开创了先例。派拉蒙影业、焦点电影公司、和其它一些电影公司随后用同样方式让评委观看《斗士》、《孩子们都很好》等影片。 但这类下载会在观看24小时后失效，而且不能对外发布。 作为一种反盗版工具，虚拟放映成本更低，而且比过去的措施更简便。但数字放映也不一定是救星。想盗版的人总会有办法，哪怕是在电脑屏幕前放一台标准视频摄像机，把电影录下来。 美国电影协会估计，全球每年因盗版导致的损失达250亿美元。美国的影碟销量从2006年202亿美元的高峰降至2010年的约140亿美元，盗版也是原因之一。 尽管影业组织表示，从全球来看，大部分损失源于影院的手持录像机，但寄给评委的碟片也是个大问题。 在过去，电影公司最多不过是给评委寄送版权保护手段更强的特制影碟，但由于太过麻烦，这种做法已经废弃很多年了。 因此大部分电影公司继续给评委邮寄影碟，大约每部电影寄两万张。影片外泄的风险仍然存在。 在2008年底，寄送给奥斯卡评委的影碟正是《贫民窟的百万富翁》、《澳洲乱世情》、《返老还童》等参赛影片泄露到网上的罪魁祸首。调查人员通过独特的影碟水印标识进行了追查，并宣判两人因侵犯版权获重罪。 将影片上传至网上最多可获刑三年，初犯可处以罚金，但多次犯罪或以盈利为目的的罪犯量刑会加重。
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