92 year old WWII vet bootlegs 300,000 DVDs and sends them to American soldiers in Afghanastan

[DEAD34345]

Breaking the law doesn't make something wrong, and that's pretty much what this boils down to I think. A guy is helping out a ton of soldiers at absolutely no cost to anyone other than himself, I don't understand how people can have a problem with that.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I don't see why people think soldiers deserve such special treatment. They get paid over there, they aren't saints or something. And being a WWII veteran doesn't really give him leave to break the law.

He knows that.

?It?s not the right thing to do, but I did it,? Mr. Strachman said, acknowledging that his actions violated copyright law.

?If I were younger,? he added, ?maybe I?d be spending time in the hoosegow.?

He's an old man trying to pass the time since his wife died by getting closer to the soldiers that he identifies with because of his time in the military. If Hollywood wasn't piping the ability to get these movies in the hands of guys and girls who want to reconnect to home in some way - in other words, if he wasn't actually cutting into industry sales by what he did - what's the harm? Legally it's questionable. Morally everything can be made questionable depending on what system is being applied. But actually? Did he deprive anyone of their sales dollars by doing this? I think that would be hard to prove. These soldiers didn't buy bootlegs because they wanted to save a buck, they bought them because the commodity wasn't available otherwise. And some elderly gent gets to feel like a part of society in one that rarely makes a space for the elderly to feel essential to the community.

I doubt he's looking for any of our approval.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

I love the hypocrisy up in this thread. Almost everybody has just advocated piracy.

Because it was for a good cause. In the greater scheme of things, most of these soldiers have bigger things to worry about than picking up a movie, so it's not like they would have bought them anyway. Might as well get some good PR.

But there are plenty of people on this site who will say that piracy is bad even if the game is unavailable in your area. So how is that any different, still no lost sale?

 

[WanderingFool]

Can you be more of a bro than this? The gratitude this man receives is overwhelming. I have mixed feelings about the matter of the piracy itself, but if it's possible to be doing it right when it comes to bootlegging DVDs, he is. The MPAA is going to have a rough time handling this one.

New York Times article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/nyregion/at-92-movie-bootlegger-is-soldiers-hero.html?_r=1

Thoughts? Discussion?

Spoiler: What he did was wrong, and he should be ashamed...

Im hiding this in spoiler so the Gmen dont see it, but this guy is awesome. And really, how can you stay mad at a 92 year old WWII vet sending those bootlegs to our boys over sees?

 

[Warforger]

I don't see why people think soldiers deserve such special treatment. They get paid over there, they aren't saints or something. And being a WWII veteran doesn't really give him leave to break the law.

Because they have one of the worse jobs in the world and are horribly underpaid for it? Sure it doesn't give him a legal excuse to break the law, but he's 92 years old and has brought a lot of joy to a lot of people far away from their homes and family.

What do you mean one of the worst and underpaid? I'm sure a sweatshop worker in China would love to be a US soldier since a Sweatshop worker tends to have a much more dangerous job if at least as dangerous as a US soldier. That's not even mentioning the fact that people pay off college by going to the military, not necessarily "poor pay" either. Considering the US military is so corrupt and many of its members commit crimes such as murder and rape (I'm going to assume mostly against the female soldiers) and on top of that GET AWAY WITH IT, it's rather surprising more people don't just hate the military like they did during the Vietnam War.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I wonder if all the people approving or praising of this guy will get banned. Piracy being such a sensitive topic, and all.

Yeah, I'll be waiting to see that as well.

 

[Big.Bad.Blowback]

Instead of breaking copyright law he could have bought DVDs to send to the troops. Hell, he could have started a donation campaign and sent a ton more over and probably convinced the companies to match the donations as a PR stunt.

 

[Spygon]

I have total respect for the guy even at 92 he found a way to help troops overseas.It cost him alot of time,money and effort to himself that he did just to keep troops spirits up.

 

[Last Hugh Alive]

Surely we can make exceptions to the law sometimes if something so harmless and positive comes out of it?

 

[LetalisK]

Yeah, the guy broke the law. I'll place it right above "14 year old jay walking across abandoned street" on the Give-A-Shit meter.

 

[Tiamattt]

Um....if he was going to spent that much time and money on a gift, couldn't he have spent it on something legal? I'm sure $30k can buy the soldiers something awesome they would greatly appreciate without breaking the law, which I'm sure they wouldn't want him doing on their behalf anyway.

And this will probably be unpopular but I don't like the idea of someone being able to break the law just because of their age and because it was nice. Sure he wanted to do something cool for the soldiers but he didn't have to commit a crime just to do it. The fact that he did means he should be punished, how much is for the courts to say but it wouldn't be right for him to go 100% scot-free for this.

 

[Kekkles]

Hah, he looks like the old chap from 'Up'.

OT: My views on 'Copyright Infringement' aren't to be argued here as I'm sure the ban-hammer will be wrathful. What I believe in this case reflects that; I believe what this man did is only for his fellow soldiers, however I don't know him and therefore cannot judge. He'll be punished, much like everyone else that 'Pirates', though I for one don't think it's fair and what I want to say is better summed up here.

i can see it now.

"we've found a pirate who has copied 300,000 of our movies"
"great lets go after him, throw the book at him, destroy him as an example"
"he's 92 and ships them to soldiers on active duty in warzones"
"oh crap"

frankly it wouldnt hurt the companies to do this themselves, if nothing else it would be worth amazing PR for them

 

[Fanboy]

I think the punishment should fit the crime.

His crime of making a lot of people happy for no profit while hurting no one in the process should be punishable by death.

A natural, peaceful death at the age of 111, surrounded by the people who love him.

 

[Airsoftslayer93]

Sounds like this guy seriously broke the law, and should thus be prosecuted.

 

[accipitre]

I don't see why people think soldiers deserve such special treatment. They get paid over there, they aren't saints or something. And being a WWII veteran doesn't really give him leave to break the law.

Because they have one of the worse jobs in the world and are horribly underpaid for it? Sure it doesn't give him a legal excuse to break the law, but he's 92 years old and has brought a lot of joy to a lot of people far away from their homes and family.

What do you mean one of the worst and underpaid? I'm sure a sweatshop worker in China would love to be a US soldier since a Sweatshop worker tends to have a much more dangerous job if at least as dangerous as a US soldier. That's not even mentioning the fact that people pay off college by going to the military, not necessarily "poor pay" either. Considering the US military is so corrupt and many of its members commit crimes such as murder and rape (I'm going to assume mostly against the female soldiers) and on top of that GET AWAY WITH IT, it's rather surprising more people don't just hate the military like they did during the Vietnam War.

Because sweatshop workers aren't generally in danger of being shot or blown up.

Also, nice job attacking soldiers with unsubstantiated claims. TIL all US soldiers murder and rape, and everyone gets away with it. Nice one bro, but please save it for less civil forums... I doubt DrMegaNutz up there with the Rainbow Dash avatar appreciates being called a rapist.

Also, for clarification for posters that I'm too lazy to quote: The guy sends DVDs to army chaplains and the like because he knows they won't sell them. They're given out freely, soldiers never have to buy them. He's also funded the entire operation himself - $30,000 of his own money, about 10 cents a disc. I'm assuming most of it goes to shipping, and that he buys blank DVDs in bulk.

The more I look at this story the more I realize that this guy, right or wrong, is a pretty awesome dude. Especially since he knows it's wrong, but doesn't particularly seem to care.

 

[-Torchedini-]

While I believe what he does is amazing it sort of contradicts what the soldiers fight for to protect.
While it is easy to say now that the guy is awesome what he does clearly violates the law. And those soldiers over there fight to protect that law and way of life. So I am of the opinion that he needs to stop doing this. While he does it without any objective to monetarial gains he still ignores the value of the work of so many other people. This is not really about the big stars in those movies but more about the people in the background. They are being affected more than those big stars.
And while those troops are doing fantastic work but that doesn't make them viable for a different treatment. They knew the risks when they signed up. And if they didn't there still is a possibility to switch jobs. And if you say now "yeah but they are getting underpaid" I say that piracy isn't the option here. If you think that they are underpaid buy a dvd at walmart and send that one.
Also this isn't comparable to taking food and giving it to the hungry, That is justifiable, bored soldiers is something the military itself should solve.

 

[Supertegwyn]

This guy is awesome. Those soldiers are away for a few years, in harsh desert conditions and being shot at by natives who want them all dead.

They deserve some awesome movies.

 

[Starnerf]

Did he think of asking a local movie store to do this legally? It seems like it would be great publicity for them, and the MPAA wouldn't care at all.