The first cinema audiences to watch the new Harry Potter film are going to be spied on by cinema ushers armed with high tech Night Vision equipment
"Harry Potter and the wizard idea to foil cinema pirates
Martin Wainwright
Monday May 31, 2004
The Guardian
Cinema ushers across Britain go into action today with a new piece of equipment which makes their ice-cream trays and hand torches look tame.
Military-style night-sights have been sent to every outlet in the country showing the new Harry Potter film, The Prisoner of Azkaban.
Staff have been instructed to spend all two hours and 22 minutes of the film scanning the dark - for pirates making illegal copies"
Will Warner Bothers succeed in exporting Night Vision equipment to the Lebanon or Syria to police the Harry Potter film in the Middle East ?
The US Government takes a dim view (literally) of Night Vision equipment in the wrong hands and are prosecuting a man caught in another entrapment/sting operation for supposedly trying to export such equipment to Hezbollah terrorists in the Lebanon
It does not matter how "discreet" the cinema spies claim to be, the chances are that they will never find a single unauthorised film bootlegger, but they will invade the privacy of thousands of their customers.
Copyright infringement , despite the hype from the vested commercial interests, is not a Crime , it is a Civil matter.
As such, it does not justify the abuse of privacy which the police would have to show suspicion of a Serious Crime, and get the written permission of a senior officer to conduct Surveillance, as per the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 part 2 with the sort of Night Vision equipment that is being deployed by Warner Brothers.
What other infrared or light multiplier CCTV cameras have been or are being installed to spy on cinema audiences who have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the darkness during a film performance ?
We would remind Warner Brothers and the staff at cinemas about the new offence of Voyeurism under Section 67 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 with a penalty of up to 2 years in jail.
It could be argued, that decades of custom and practice have made cinemas, when the lights are dimmed, into places where romantic couples often engage in "private acts" and that they "do not consent" to being observed or recorded.
"67 Voyeurism
(1) A person commits an offence if-
(a) for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, he observes another person doing a private act, and
(b) he knows that the other person does not consent to being observed for his sexual gratification.
(2) A person commits an offence if-
(a) he operates equipment with the intention of enabling another person to observe, for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, a third person (B) doing a private act, and
(b) he knows that B does not consent to his operating equipment with that intention.
(3) A person commits an offence if-
(a) he records another person (B) doing a private act,
(b) he does so with the intention that he or a third person will, for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, look at an image of B doing the act, and
(c) he knows that B does not consent to his recording the act with that intention.
(4) A person commits an offence if he instals equipment, or constructs or adapts a structure or part of a structure, with the intention of enabling himself or another person to commit an offence under subsection (1).
(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable-
(a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both;
(b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.
68 Voyeurism: interpretation
(1) For the purposes of section 67, a person is doing a private act if the person is in a place which, in the circumstances, would reasonably be expected to provide privacy, and-
(a) the person's genitals, buttocks or breasts are exposed or covered only with underwear,
(b) the person is using a lavatory, or
(c) the person is doing a sexual act that is not of a kind ordinarily done in public.
(2) In section 67, "structure" includes a tent, vehicle or vessel or other temporary or movable structure"
The cat is out of the bag.
The bootleg copies of the Harry Potter film are already alleged to be running at a million downloads and hour.
http://www.itic.ca/DIC/News/2004/05/P2P_movie_piracy_harry_potter.html
There is no justification for spying on audiences with night vision equipment like this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3763473.stm
For your information, I work for a leading cinema in the UK and we received the night vision. The letter from Warner Bros. didn't state watch the audiences for the whole film, it asked us to have a look every 20 mins... big difference between that and 2hrs plus which was reported here. Second, people having sex in cinemas is illegal and we chuck those people out that we catch! And quite a few are caught at our cinema in London, if you want to have sex, get a motel, not a cinema where kids under 10 could catch you!! So don't say that its a infringement on your privacy, it's for your safety of your kids, law, decency, and respect for those around you and those that come in after you! Besides, just because you pay for a ticket to sit in a seat doesn't give you the authority to be there, look at the door when you walk in... all rights reserved. And when the lights dim, it's not your house so it's not private! The lights dim so you can see the screen better, not for you to put your hand down each others pants. You on other persons property, the people responsible for that area should and HAVE the right to look at you!
Wake up!
The sort of cinemas which show genuine Harry Potter films are privately owned public spaces not a private house or a private cinema club.
There is no question that is an invasion of people's privacy for cinemas to spy on audiences with Warner Brother' issued military style night vision equipment.
One can ask if such an invasion of privacy is justified and proportionate, which in my opinion it is not.
Under which law is sex in a cinema actually illegal ?
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 is the law which came into force on 1st May and it does NOT make consensual sex in a public place illegal, and is now less restrictive than before of sexual activity in for example, a public lavatory c.f. section 71
The Section 67 offence of voyeurism includes "covered only with underwear".
Even if someone is commiting a Section 66 Exhibitionism offence, anybody else observing or recording or providing the technical means for some else to observe it with CCTV or night vision equipment or mobile cameraphones, still comes under Sectuion 67 Voyeurism.
That is the law which Parliament has chosen to put into force, modify your behavior accordingly.
Cinema operators have the right to ask someone to leave peacfully whenever they like, but not if "chucking them out" requires unreasonable force. By charging money there is an implicit contract, so the customer has some rights which the management cannot legally "reserve".
Do cinema staff face the sack if they spy on the audience more frequently than every 20 minutes as per the Warner Brothers letter ?
Does the night vision equipment get sent back to Warner Brothers after the Harry Potter run, or will it be kept for the next Warner Brothers film ? Will it be used on the audiences watching non-Warner Brothers films in the cinema as well ?