3wrolos

http://www.darknet.com/2005/05/interview_a_maj.html
http://www.welcometothescene.com/


Interview: A major pirate in the movie underground

record labels themselves are due to die. the artists are the ones who will eventually control their own productions, as they should — beneaththecobweb


Following is the transcript of an Apple iChat between J.D. Lasica and the head of six movie release groups — the first published interview with a major movie pirate. This transcript (which does not appear in "Darknet") is appearing here for the first time in this Web exclusive as an unfiltered look at the mindset of a leader of the scene.

JD: wanna introduce yourself pleez?

well, why not.. i'm beneaththecobweb
my birth given name means nothing, so ill stick to that one

ok. tell me about your background and main interests

sure, im currently living in europe, and based on the reason for this conversation in the first place.. i am very interested in the "scene"

ok. what attracted you to the scene?

the amazing part of the scene is that it represents an inner-circle
its a place where people in hundreds of different countries connect, and work for a common purpose

whats wrong with the way Hollywood and the music biz release their stuff now?

ah, good question, i've been thinking about this a lot lately
both hollywood and the music businesses are not adapting to changing times
for example, the music business is attempting to force consumers to pay ridiculously high prices for cds, even when realistically the cds cost them nothing to make, and only a small fraction of the money made goes to the creators, the artists

what would you say to Jack Valenti if you had the chance?

interesting question, perfect timing too.. if you've been paying attention to his recent policy, his attempt to ban dvd screeners, you'd see exactly what i meant in the above 'lack of adapting,'' .. dvd screeners are NOT what cause piracy, or even make dvd studios or movie industries lose money, dvd screeners if anything promote movies, especially the limited or low budget films that many people wouldnt otherwise hear about
and for what its worth, i have an evergrowing dvd collection, and i pay for the movies that are worth the money to pay for
if i'm not willing to pay for Dude Where's My Car 2, i apologize greatly
lol

if you arent uncomfortable, could you mention some of your more important releases of the last year

i can't go into specifics, because it would be easy to pinpoint certain things if i went into a long list of specifics
however..
if i mentioned movies either of equal or greater revenue to matrix and/or lord of the rings, i wouldn't be making an understatement

ok

and of course, the low budget quality films, Hollywood cannot compete with such films
perfect example: memento.

can you simply lay out how something is released

i can give you a basic outline, of course avoiding specifics
basically you have a dvd, let's call it dvd x
when you put it into your computer, the dvd is composed of several 'vob' files, defined as basically the meat of the dvd, the data
what you basically need to do, is rip those vob files, decrypt them, and downsample both the audio and the video to a smaller, more containable and transferrable size
you can perform that using several forms, SVCD, VCD, XviD, DivX, 4 major and commonly used encoding types
in the end, you turn an 8GB (8000mb) dvd into .7GB (700MB), a much easier to transfer file
with minimal or no loss of quality
thats basically it

after it's made, you mentioned 'releasing'

releasing is simply making it available
whether it is by Kazaa, IRC, word of mouth, or whatever method shows up along the way, thats how you get it out
because people WANT it, its not hard to get them what they want

thats great
ok about members of a release group - what are the average demographics? Male? College age?

the 'scene' consists of a greatly mixed demographic
to put it simply
i've seen people as young as 14
and as old as .. 62
if i were to pinpoint an average age, i'd say 21
mostly male

now, do some group members do it just for fun or do they make a profit doing this (like blanket sales on NY streets)

most group members i come across do not do this for profit
ill give you an example
you're a high school student and you're 16
you're trying to become 'known' in your school, so you decide to design your schools website
problem comes across, you have no suitable a) html editor and b) photo editor
is someone of your statute capable of paying for the likes of Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Frontpage?
*stature, it think thats how its spelled
so you go to Kazaa and you download it, knowing its not 'right,' but also knowing you don't have a choice
you have no intent to sell or use it in any form but helping yourself

hm ok
do you consider copyright infringement ethical in this particular application?
movies, etc

in my mind, copyright infringement is a loose and unadaptive policy
pretty soon, everything will be on the internet
if it isn't already
the only reason major corporations are arguing the merits of copyright infringement is because they themselves haven't adapted to changing times
but me specifically, i buy what i can buy, and i download what i cannot
i do not make enough money to pay for Adobe Photoshop or Windows XP
but i dished out the money for office XP and windows 2000

ok what do you say to the studios when they argue that piracy will make it harder to create big budget films

i'd have trouble saying anything at all, i'd be busy laughing my little head off.. but what i'd try to say is that any quality movie, such as return of the kings that premieres in december, will be paid for. the crap will not be paid for and will inevitably lose money. it's competition, its what america was made for and its what europe is going towards

can you say how many people are in a typical release group

realistically, the scene is not a very big place
the largest group i've seen is around 30 members
and the smallest i've seen is 2
avg lets say, 15

cool
very broadly, in what area do you work legitimately?

you mean my personal occupation in life? or in the scene?

your personal occupation....like student, businessman, IT guy....

i'm a network administrator

good enough
broadly....what part of europe are you in...eastern, western, northern....

western

do you look at this as more of a enjoyable pursuit or a philosophical cause

to say the scene isn't at least a small 'movement' would be a lie, becasue much of the scene does disagree with 99% of the policies issued by the riaa/mpaa/etc, but as the scene grew it became much more an enjoyable situation with a hierarchy that you can climb up

what should movie studios and record labels be doing now?

ill go into one of them, its basically the same plan for both
record labels themselves are due to die
the artists are the ones who will eventually control their own productions, as they should
the artists should start meeting up with large corporations that deal with consumer products, for instance.. snapple.. and make a deal with them
'we'll give out your music for free, and you'll get a percentage of our sales and we'll promote your concerts'
selling cds isnt really all that important anymore, most of the cash gets pocketed by the record labels themselves, its about time the artists see more of their money

whats the greatest misconception about release groups and filesharing

ah, good question
the news/media/mpaa/riaa paint the release groups as kniving [conniving] thieves
(sorry if spelling is wrong on that word)
basically, we don't go out to steal peoples money for their hard work
its not about theft, its about, to put it simply, equal opportunity
if you want me to elaborate on that i can, but i think based on what i've said before it should be pretty clear

just tell us a little more about 'equal opportunity' -- does that mean early access to movies, easy access to affordable music in digital format, or what else is involved?

i think everyone should be allowed to experience great music
(for example)
throwing a $20 price tag on a great album is limiting your audience
if you give it to them for free, whether it be by downloading or free promotions, everyone will be able to experience it
no matter their social class, taste, or budget
the key is removing the middle man, in this case the record label

so far the riaa and mpaa have not identified a single movie release group member, much less gone after them legally. why is that? are they incompetent or do you all take extreme precautions?

i'd take the position
of alot of both
they are extremely incompetent, they have no idea about what is going on around them
but, equally as much
group members take every precaution available to them
they do not speak on public networks, they use encryption to speak to each other
they often don't even give specific life information to their fellow group members
constant paranoia would be putting it lightly

are your release group members in the us, europe or both?

everywhere
as i said earlier, the scene is international
you'll find group members in asia, europe, the US, and i've even seen a few from africa and south america
oh, and i'm forgetting the aussies

i've heard that often release group members have never met one another. is the work done in these groups largely independent, with people working alone/solitary?

you'd be correct
very few members have met each other
(that part was correct)
but the work itself is done as a group
a cooperative mission if you will
some members are fit for certain parts of a task, and some members are not
it becomes the equivalent of an assembly line

is there anything you can tell me about the different facets of that assembly line ... rippers and distributors and couriers?

what do you want to know? rippers rip the DVD (from DVD to compressed footage)
couriers are in charge of 'making the release available' for the enduesr
distributors? i've never heard of that word in this context

distributors like on irc. but: i don't want to use my terms. just thought it would be interesting to hear from someone on the inside how it all works, what roles the different people play. is it all just rippers and couriers, and the occasional donator?

yup
different forms of donating though
whether it be money, supplies, etc
ripping is very CPU intensive, you need to have the latest gear

how does someone hook up with a release group (someone who legitimately wants to help the cause and join the scene)?

not going there, i apologize

cool
wondering why you've agreed to give this interview today.

well, first off, i'm happy i was able to convey my outrage with the common misconception
the misconception that we're evil little thieves
if all i needed to do was answer a few questions to clear that misconception
i'm all ears

where do you see all this heading, in a year or 5 years? who'll win, how will the music and movie industries (and TV?) change or evolve?

refer to music is free
that's where i see us
as soon as a year, and as late as 5
ultimately, the record labels are fighting a losing battle
subpoenas for kazaa downloaders get the RIAA nowhere
banning dvd screeners gets the MPAA equally as far

so they need to work on their digital distribution model?

that's putting it lightly
they need to change their entire business model
they need the 'dynasty leaders' out
and the youth in
running their companies based on antiquated models has brought them close to extinction

but they still have a right to make a profit, no? or should the distributors be removed from the process and only the artists receive compensation?

the latter
the labels are thieves
they are complaining of cd sales dropping and money losses
but its not their money
they consider their advertisements and promotions of artists to be almighty and powerful, you don't need to give the labels 99% of your cash to achieve the same purpose

but you're mostly involved with releasing movies, not music, and we can't get the movie studios out of the movie business, right? Isn't the problem with Hollywood the release windows and their current business model?

i don't think you can completely eliminate movie studios from the business
that's absolutely correct
release windows and their current business model need changing

ok. anything else you want to add, or that we haven't covered, or that you'd like to get out to a national audience?

basically, above everything else, i'd like to make it known that the RIAA and MPAA are accomplishing nothing for the studios of both media businesses, and i dont understand why the studios are cooperating with any of their policies

cool. appreciate your forthrightness.

no problem, its been a pleasure to meet you JD


Interview conducted 2:42 PM to 3:55 PM on Oct. 27, 2003

May 30, 2005 in Interviews, Mini-book | Link