Earlier this summer, a woman smuggled a digital camera into a movie theater and recorded 20 seconds of "Transformers." She was discovered and ordered to stop, but an anxious NYU club turned her case into a national boycott rally.
All this for a clip of "Transformers?"
The woman, 19-year-old Jhannet Sejas, denied she intended to sell the clip. She claimed she had intended the footage as a surprise for her little brother - the poor thing - though fumbled shots of "Transformers" doesn't strike me as the most thoughtful gift. Regardless, after just 20 seconds, police arrested Sejas on piracy charges.
The Washington Post pounced on the story. Sejas was cast as the wide-eyed victim, a whimpering child who offered in her defense, "I've never been in trouble before." The police, unsatisfied, reportedly informed Sejas that the penalty for such a crime tops out at a year in prison and a $2,500 fine. Come to think of it, that about matches the domestic gross of "Transformers." DreamWorks should cut Jhannet a deal.
With all this noise, a melodramatic answer from an NYU club - excuse me, an NYU "organization" - couldn't be far away. Free Culture, a student group that scrutinizes fair use in the press, took the bait. It decried the movie theater's zero-tolerance approach toward Sejas, prompting this message - in piercing bold letters, no less - on its official blog:
"We demand that Regal Cinemas drop all charges against Jhannet Sejas, and that the entertainment group issue a full apology to the teen."
Still not persuaded? Free Culture's members offer two reasons why they're right and you're a fascist.
First, the club feels that Ms. Sejas's indiscretion falls under the broad scope of fair use. Fair use, which it defines by linking to Wikipedia, allows for some copyrighted material to be used without the owner's permission.
But what Free Culture fails to mention is that federal, state, and local legislation all ban unauthorized movie recording.
The issue, then, isn't about fair use at all - the law prohibits video recorders in movie theaters, no matter their intended use. As recently as June 2007, the New York state senate passed an anticamcorder statute that tightens the existing laws against piracy. Whoops! There goes that fair use defense.
Next, the club tells you to look at the bigger picture: "We should[n't] be patronizing a corporation that insists on pressing charges against someone who is clearly not the intended target of antipiracy laws." Is Sejas "clearly" not the intended target because she was taping "Transformers?" After all, who would pay money for even a full-length bootleg of that thing?
No, it seems that our victim is not the intended target because she taped just 20 seconds of the movie. Would 20 minutes be problematic? 10 minutes? What if that 20 seconds of footage ended up on the internet? With so many questions, it's good we have a club like Free Culture to sort out the minutiae.
This is the sort of arrogance that makes the club seem so delusional. They believe that they're above the law, or at least above some laws (and are ready to swoop down when they feel "fair use" is threatened). Jhannet Sejas committed a crime when she decided to bring a camera to the movie theater, and those who break the law run the risk of being held accountable for their actions. Sejas' defense is flimsy; any movie pirate can create an endearing excuse.
It's the movie theater's duty to uphold antipiracy laws. They're the first line of defense against potential loss, so why wouldn't they exercise their lawful power? Free Culture has failed to answer this question.
Most of the comments on Free Culture's own blog criticize the organization's stance. One commenter makes an especially insightful comparison: "If I were [writing] a 20-page paper and plagiarized 2 sentences of the paper with out giving credit, I would be expelled, no questions asked, no excuse good enough."
On Aug. 22, Jhannet Sejas pleaded guilty and received a $71 fine. Predictably, Free Culture awkwardly shuffled its feet and realized that there was no longer a call to arms. This was the group's closing statement: "The principle still stands that this was a gross over-reach of power by the [Motion Picture Association of America] and a really stupid policy of Regal's."
Also "really stupid" was the club's ineffective, baseless boycott. At least Regal Cinemas got killer publicity.
David Aragon is a contributing writer. E-mail him at opinion@nyunews.com.
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