Days of Plunder

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The few movie marauders who do broker new releases belong to members-only online clans that trade the films via private chats and secure hard drives, explains a 20-year-old pirate who goes by RobOnCrak. ''You have a whole underground society living there, a whole world of trust, public relations, and competition,'' he tells EW. A dozen such clans in North America are considered ''the best of the best,'' and only a select few can log on to snag a movie like ''Rush Hour 2.''

Where do they get the goods? Swappable copies of, say, ''Pearl Harbor'' usually begin with a camcorder being sneaked into a theater -- or, better yet, set up after hours on a tripod, with an audio feed from the projector. Prerelease copies are made from VHS screener tapes sent to critics, film festivals, or talk shows -- some are even struck from unfinished prints. RobOnCrak says that ''Jurassic Park III'' was traded online five days before it opened.

It takes several weeks for still-in-theaters fare to filter down from members-only sites to more-open peer-to-peer networks. And most traders won't let newcomers download a new movie without uploading another one in return. Like most hackers, these pirates believe in an everything-should-be-free ethos. ''The mentality of the whole thing is to share the wealth,'' says RobOnCrak. ''No one has to pay for pirated movies. If somebody does, whoever's selling it to them deserves to go to jail.''

Of course, the studios feel that anyone illegally copying their films should be punished. But instead of just beating them, the industry is joining them. On Sept. 5, Disney and News Corp. (owner of Twentieth Century Fox) announced the creation of Movies.com, a video-on-demand pay service allowing users to download feature films onto their computers. Other studios have similar plans in the works. And if it's unclear at this point whether Hollywood can defeat the pirates, they've fired the first shot across their bow.

Originally posted Sep 14, 2001

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