Thread: Miramax Rewards Would-Be BitTorrent Pirate With Free Ticket

It’s normal for BitTorrent users to be a tiny bit paranoid, since their activities aren’t always popular with everyone. But imagine musing via Twitter that your favorite movie isn’t on torrent sites yet and the next thing you know the studio is in direct contact with you, asking you not to pirate the movie - and giving you a free ticket in return.


Most people sharing files on the Internet are aware that at any time they could be being monitored by any number of anti-piracy companies, investigators or lobby groups. There can be little doubt that file-sharing forums and sites around the world are being watched to a greater or less extent for the purpose of keeping tabs on piracy. And you can safely bet that the RIAA, IFPI and MPAA will read this article, just as you are.

But what if a throwaway comment about torrents via Twitter was enough to put a movie studio in direct contact with you in a matter of minutes? This is what happened to photographer, writer and Twitter user user Amanda Music, as she wondered:

Ugh WHY IS ADVENTURELAND NOT ON TORRENTS YET?

Amanda told TorrentFreak, “My friends and I usually wait to download cams of movies. We have yet to find one for Adventureland. So I was Tweeting about it. My friends were too though, but I guess they didn’t put torrent & Adventureland in the same sentence.”

It seems these keywords were being monitored by Hollywood studio Miramax, presumably to find out quickly when their movie hits the web. But instead, Miramax actually responded to Amanda and asked her not to use BitTorrent to get the movie;

Cmon Amanda, don’t do it. #adventureland #fbi

“Miramax found my Tweet through a search and told me not to do it. In a nice way,” Amanda told TorrentFreak. “I had already looked for the torrent and didn’t find one so I decided to reply and say that I wouldn’t download it. I was joking in a way.”
Amanda replied to Miramax, “Okay I won’t, JUST FOR YOU,” but to her surprise they responded again.

And Miramax were true to their word - almost. They provided Amanda with a code for a single free ticket and since Amanda is currently in New York City, she will go see Adventureland today.
“I was pretty surprised about it,” explained Amanda. “I couldn’t find a working Adventureland torrent anyway.”

Wow. I will give them a call and try it myself.

I think all in all it was good to see them supply a ticket for the user to the movie. The thing that ticks me off is that they actively monitor god knows what to try and track down the end user and use scare tactics against the people that go and pay money to watch those movies in the cinema & DVD revenue.

Fair enough Amanda may not have gone to the cinemas to watch the movie, but a lot of people watch the 'cam/rip' version, then go to the cinema and then also buy the DVD when it is released. Which of course the big boys don't even consider a possibility and lay it down as loss in profit. So the movie was downloaded 200,000 times which means they lost $1,300,000 (actually lets just add another zero onto it to make it seem even worse). Utter bullshit...

They lie, cheat, steal and put terrorism labels on anyone that downloads movies to make you feel like a thief even though you are providing them with money for most of the time a piece of shit film which you wished you never went and saw. BUT YOU STILL PAYED FOR IT!@

Rather than spending the money on actively monitoring the internet and personally messaging every end user who uses a phrase on a site. Maybe it might be wise if they injected that money back into their quality of movies and technology to deliver those movies GLOBALLY to everybody without delay. After all they only continue to damage their name in the public eye with all the malicious activities they are participating in attacking 'the people', which pay them the money which enabled them to live the high life.

If the rest of the world can put together many running networks to deliver films and digital content then i'm sure a billion dollar industry can also do the same. But they might need to use their insiders in the scene just to make sure they release the movie on time *laughs* :D

And it is unfortunate that a few bad apples have spoiled the bunch for other studios which don't use these tactics on their customers as from their actions all/most studios are now stereotyped by the public as thieving, lying bastards who will attack their customers for further profit and gain.

I must applaud the recent movie which will release on bit torrent which asks for people who enjoyed the movie to donate and will be very interested to see what type of profit they make from it. (If any?) But it is good to see a new angle being tried in this ever increasing age of information technology.

Pay me the salary of one of your board of directors for a year and I could put it together for you.. (oh and throw in 3 porsches, 3 boats, 3 mansions, access to the personal jets and a bottle of jack)

That's some pretty scary stuff...

Then again it's pretty dumb to be twittering about what you're pirating...

That twit. It would be great if they send FBI to the door of her theater.

Did they think they were curbing her future behavior? She might laugh about this with her friends and feel a small sense of warmth/compassion toward a studio, but in the long run I don't think she will think twice to torrent what she is after. Not when it's so ingrained in her habits that she freaking twitters about it like it's a right and privledge. lol

This makes me wonder who's really running the twitter show - for example here in Australia one of those god awful morning shows (imo) (on ch Nine from memory) practically shoves it down your throat.

Now they wouldn't actively promote it unless they have an interest and it stands to reason (imo) that the parent company may possibly be stakeholders in twitter - food for thought

monitoring of the internetz? no not in my interwebs ;-)

be careful kids!