New Zealander gets 2 years for DVD piracy

Goddam those crazy New Zealanders! When they’re not working on some crazy 4 hour Peter Jackson epic, they’re off pirating DVDs. Can’t blame them, what the hell else is there to do in New Zealand? Oh yeah, the countryside is beautiful and all that, blah blah blah, but that wears off after a week of gawking at sheep. Then, your mind drifts away to other things…

The first New Zealand jail sentence for DVD piracy under the country’s Copyright Act was handed down Friday.

John Houston was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to 21 charges related to pirating movies, an activity that is estimated to have earned him $NZ150,000 ($96,000) annually for each of the last five years.

He also was ordered to pay $NZ5000 ($3,200) in reparation to the NZ Federation Against Copyright Theft. The group’s chief executive, Tony Eaton, said that latest research indicated 25% of all DVDs and movies shown in New Zealand are illegal — double what the industry thought.

Eaton said the public’s awareness of DVD piracy has been heightened by publicity over its impact on the release of the hit homegrown movie, “Sione’s Wedding,” because it was no longer just Hollywood studios being affected “but normal New Zealanders who are trying to make a dollar.”

Source: Yahoo News