Blu-Rays and DVD’s will now come with a mandatory FBI and Homeland Security warning, arstechnica is reporting. The US government came out with two new copyright notices that are intended to warn and educate people on the horrors of piracy.
The biggest change to these warnings is the emergence of the Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a major department in the war against copyright infringement. The FBI has lagged in going after individual websites, but the ICE has stepped up, taking out over 750 domain names.
The first warning comes with the typical message: “The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by federal law enforcement agencies and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.” But the addition of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations special agent badge adds a little more intimidation.
The second logo you will be forced to sit through is from the National Intellectual Property Right Coordination Center. That branch of the government with an extraneously long title involves about 20 different government agencies. Their logo reminds us that a very angry eagle sees everything you are doing and is going tear your face off if you even think about watching a movie you didn’t pay for.
Both images will be shown consecutively for ten seconds each at the beginning of the movie, and you must watch them as you will not be able to skip or return to the menu screen. This will be the longest 20 seconds of your life.
I’m not sure how this is going to deter pirates, because I am sure they won’t be viewable on pirated versions of said media. So the people who actually purchase the movie are punished. What a world.
[source: arstechnica]