Feds Arrest Man For Sharing DVD Rip of Spider-Man Movie With Millions Online (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0176646591
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/03/07/2242250/feds-arrest-man-for-sharing-dvd-rip-of-spider-man-movie-with-millions-online
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/03/fbi-nabs-worker-at-dvd-company-for-ripping-prerelease-marvel-blockbusters/
> A 37-year-old Tennessee man was arrested Thursday, accused of stealing Blu-rays and DVDs from a manufacturing and distribution company used by major movie studios and sharing them online before the movies' scheduled release dates. According to a US Department of Justice [1]press release , Steven Hale worked at the DVD company and [2]allegedly stole "numerous 'pre-release' DVDs and Blu-rays" between February 2021 and March 2022 . He then allegedly "ripped" the movies, "bypassing encryption that prevents unauthorized copying" and shared copies widely online. He also supposedly sold the actual stolen discs on e-commerce sites, the DOJ alleged.
>
> Hale has been charged with "two counts of criminal copyright infringement and one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods," the DOJ said. He faces a maximum sentence of five years for the former, and 10 years for the latter. Among blockbuster movies that Hale is accused of stealing are Dune, F9: The Fast Saga, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Godzilla v. Kong, and, perhaps most notably, Spider-Man: No Way Home. The DOJ claimed that "copies of Spider-Man: No Way Home were downloaded tens of millions of times, with an estimated loss to the copyright owner of tens of millions of dollars."
[1] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/employee-multinational-dvd-company-charged-stealing-selling-pre-release-commercial-dvds
[2] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/03/fbi-nabs-worker-at-dvd-company-for-ripping-prerelease-marvel-blockbusters/
Damn (Score:2)
He should have copied top secret documents instead.
Re: (Score:2)
Not if he's Jewish.
The elite pirates don't do pre-releases (Score:2)
You can get pre-releases on scene trackers and sites, but you can't get them on the archival trackers like HDB and PTP. Why? They don't want the negative attention. They just want to freely fill their disk arrays.
Dead horse hasn't decomposed yet (Score:3)
> The DOJ claimed that "copies of Spider-Man: No Way Home were downloaded tens of millions of times, with an estimated loss to the copyright owner of tens of millions of dollars."
They still think piracy = lost sales. How quaint.
Ok (Score:2)
I'm growing more and more confident that almost all lawyers are completely retarded.
"..allegedly stole "numerous 'pre-release'..." (Score:2)
So, not just the one movie, then?
If youre going to do this.... (Score:2)
Be smart. One of the first cases I read about was a guy who pirated a Hulk movie, got caught distributing it, then showed up to court wearing dressed as the character. The judge was not amused. If youre going to distribute, you better be working through some proxies and cover your tracks. No reason to do this other than pure greed and judges nowadays have fews options for leniency.
Re: (Score:2)
Nah. If you get caught, you might as well make it a spectacle otherwise it won't get any attention. The whole concept of this shit going to court to begin with is a mockery, so you should mock both the plaintiffs and any judge willing to hear the illegitimate case to begin with. A judge's inability to keep their feelings in check just goes to show how unfit they are for the job. A judge's (or jury's) inability to determine fact and fiction from appearances furthers the issue. From there it is an easy step t
When a Company Rips Off Millions of Customers (Score:2)
You are invited to sue them in Civil Court at your own risk and expense. Assuming the company didnâ(TM)t include an Arbitration Clause in the fine print, thus leaving a kangaroo court as your sole avenue for recourse.
No arrests will be made. Law enforcement would laugh if you even had the nerve to ask. This is true even if the ill gotten gains run into the tens of millions of dollars. Company executives will have no problem getting another job or renting a home, because a background check will show
Punish All of them! (Score:2)
Sure Hale is a dick and deserves to be prosecuted but the real criminals are the companies making those shitty movies.
I used to love Marvel but they broke that.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
I think if Hale can prove that he exclusively shared the movies with AIs, then he will be safe from prosecution.
Re: (Score:2)
Depends who owns the AI.