In a hyperbolicious announcement released this morning, the Motion Picture Association of America claims pirated DVDs have become "The New Drug On The Street." Snip:
New Drug On The Street. Hey, if you reduce that to an acronym, it spells N-DOTS. Which sounds kinda like acid or something, now that you mention it! Link to ASCII text copy of emailed press release. (Thank you, Well-Hidden Hollywood Mole!)
PIRATED DISCS, DVDS BECOMING "THE NEW DRUG ON THE STREET"
WASHINGTON -- A fatal car chase on November 10 between a convicted felon in Virginia wanted by authorities on several criminal charges including cocaine possession yielded hundreds of pirated CDs and DVDs in the man's trunk, giving rise to a new kind of traded drug, according to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Inc's Dennis Supik.
"A lot of people we were arresting had drug conviction backgrounds. Actually, what they said was, 'This is the new drug on the street,'" said Supik, an MPAA field investigator who assists local law enforcement in anti-piracy raids.
I met Dennis Supik. He had police come to my house with an unsigned, undated search warrant. They did not present the search warrant, they first rushed into my house, hand-coughed me and began the search. They also came to the door with shield and firearms out. I asked to see the warrant several times, Officers said they would read it/explain it to me. After they had gotten heavely into the search then my grandmother and I were presented with the Unsigned, Undated Search Warrant. At the time the officer leading the search tried to explain that the judge did not sign because he “Does not like the bad guys to have his name.”
I stayed quiet for the most part but questioned what they were doing. From what I have seen & read that is not the way a search warrant is to be served if you enter a residence where you do not meet resistance.
This search warrant was issued because I was supposedly caught recording a movie. I was never caught with a camera out, yet I had a camera on my person. Also in the search warrant it says I admitted to recording the movie that was playing, but it says that I, myself stated I had recorded the movie weeks prior to its release. Not only does that sound stupid, it does not make sense for a bad guy to just give himself up like that.
I was calm at the scene and I knew I had did nothing wrong. I asked Dennis Supik, if I would be going to court. He said that he would speak with the officer on the scene Monday morning, and depending on what the commision says, I may have to. I told him if anything was to come in the mail I may not get it because the mail man takes my mail next door and sometimes I dont get it for months.
Dennis Supik Himself said to me, well give me your number if anything happens I will contact you. I gave him my cell phone number, & my aunts cell phone. This was Friday, April 4th. I never recieved a phone call instead I suprised to find the policed had rushed into my house at 5am this morning. Today is Wednesday April 9th, I also saw Dennis Supik again today he jokingly said “oh yeah, you will be going to court” and gave me the court date, which I believe will be August 22nd, 2008.
My computer was seized 60GB Dell Dimension 2400 from 2004, I can’t remember the model with 1 DVD-Burner & no software to burn DVDs installed on it. A 100GB Maxtor external HD with person information, photos, backed up software…etc… They seized a piece of paper with a name Tevon Robinson a friend of my cousin who used to live in this house. They would not tell me what it was, and they also found it in my cousin’s pocket. They also seized some backed up movies & video games. The officer called them pirated media, and I said myself no they’re back ups of media that I owned. And he laughed and said backups are illegal. Which I don’t know for a fact if it is true or not. But I frequent video game forums, which give information on how to back up video games as a way to keep them safe. They did not take count it was approximately 3 movies & maybe 7 video games. There was also a software installation disk for a t-mobile wing they also seized but they did not seize the phone. Instead of giving an exact count they listed it as Misc. CDs, DVDs, & SD Card w/reader.