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‘Indian Police Pinpoint Seat of Movie “Camming” Pirate by Analyzing the Film Angle’
Recording first-run movies in cinemas, an activity commonly known as "camming", is seen as a major threat to filmmakers worldwide. In India, the practice was elevated to a criminal offense last year and law enforcement is on high alert. A few days ago, a camming suspect was caught in the act after the filming angle of a previous upload, reportedly identified the cinema and a 'hot seat'.
As the home of Bollywood, India has a thriving movie industry that’s known all around the world.
At the same time, the country also has one of the highest piracy rates, which is seen as a major threat by industry insiders.
Following pressure from U.S. movie companies, India’s government recently agreed to update its Cinematograph Act to outlaw ‘cam’ piracy. Anyone recording or transmitting movies in a movie theater without permission now faces a three-year prison sentence.
The new anti-camming bill was implemented last year, which understandably makes the activity a higher priority for law enforcement. Criminal prosecutions are rare, however, and earlier this year international copyright groups complained that the law had yet to results in “meaningful steps” to deter piracy.
Movie Camming Arrest
Preventing movie piracy in a country with 1.4 billion people is a challenge indeed, but rightsholders must be pleased with an investigation that resulted in the arrest of a 33-year-old movie camming suspect late last week.
According to local news reports, an investigation by the Ernakulam city cyber police, headquartered in the office pictured below, led to the arrest of 33-year-old Jebe Stephan Raj.
The Madurai resident stands accused of various copyright-related violations. While the arrest itself is notable, the investigation leading up to it deserves to be highlighted as well.
CSI: India
The start of the case dates back to May of this year, when Supriya Menon, producer of the movie Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, reported that the film had leaked on torrent sites and Telegram shortly after its premiere. This kick-started an investigation in which the police, assisted by other cyber experts, tried to identify the source.
With help from forensic watermarks, the investigation revealed that the pirated copy was recorded at the Ariesplex cinema in Thiruvananthapuram on May 16. While this information was useful, finding the cammer wasn’t straightforward, as there was no CCTV footage available.
“The CCTV footage was not available in the theater. Due to this, our investigation got stuck,” Mr. Vinod, the Cyber Police Station’s Sub-Inspector, told TNM.
The investigation didn’t end there, however. After analyzing the pirated film, investigators zoomed in for an enhanced view. With the movie theater now marked as a ‘crime scene’, the investigators used the camera angle to triangulate the seats from where the recording likely took place.
The potential seats were cross-referenced with ticketing data, which led to a phone number from outside the region. This number was more frequently used to book premiere tickets.
The owner of the phone number was tracked down, but since they didn’t travel to Thiruvananthapuram when the movie premiered, they couldn’t have recorded the pirated copy.
Instead of blowing their cover, the investigators decided to wait for the next time the same phone number booked a ticket. That came last week, for the ‘Raayan’ premiere at the Ariesplex cinema.
Arrest and Aftermath
The Ernakulam city cyber police alerted the local police about the situation and the 33-year-old man was arrested soon after he started recording the film. According to the police, the man used an iPhone 15, mounted on the cupholder with a tripod, to record the film.
The man reportedly confessed, also to his involvement with other recordings that previously surfaced online. According to some news reports, the suspect is described as an “admin” of the notorious pirate site TamilRockers, but we’ve seen no evidence for that.
Instead, it seems more plausible that the suspect was merely hired by outsiders to cam new films in exchange for money. That’s also what the local police report, according to TMN.
“He said he received instruction to record only using the latest iPhone and from a theater which has a good screen as well as sound quality. They used to pay him Rs 5,000 for recording each film,” police stated.
Needless to say, getting paid by someone to record a movie for roughly USD $60 is something different from being an administrator of one of the largest and most notorious Indian pirate sites. A follow-up investigation will likely reveal what role the defendant played exactly.
