Warning And A Movie

The next battle in the entertainment industry's war against online swapping of movies will soon be waged in theaters.

Fox Group chief executive officer and News Corp. president Peter Chernin said Tuesday a leading theater chain has agreed to run public service announcements before movies that warn against copyright infringement.

The spots, which would also appear on network television and on videos, say that downloading movies free instead of buying a ticket or a video would hurt the movie industry's little guys — makeup artists, janitors and the like, Chernin said.

"These are people's livelihoods at stake. It's not just a bunch of fat cat Hollywood people," Chernin said during the last day of the Aspen Summit, an annual gathering of information technology leaders held by The Progress and Freedom Foundation think tank.

Chernin would not name the theater chain involved.

The anti-piracy educational campaign is part of a multipronged approach needed in the war against online piracy, said Motion Picture Association of America president Jack Valenti, who also spoke at the summit.

The film industry is using legislative, judicial, educational and technological avenues to go after people who copy material illegally.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Malcolm said at the summit that half a million movies are downloaded illegally every day. He called the Internet "the world's largest copy machine."

He said more must be done to combat copyright violations.

"Stealing is stealing is stealing, whether it's done with slight of hand by sticking something in a pocket or it's done with the click of a mouse," he said.

Chernin argued that piracy will not only hurt creators of original content but also consumers if movie studios lose so many ticket sales that they begin cutting expenses.

He said online piracy does not seem to have the same stigma as shoplifting.

Chernin also decried fans' efforts to download copies of the latest Star Wars installment. About 10 million people tried to download "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones" and "Spider-Man" in the weekend after its release, and 4 million succeeded, he said.

"It took about four years to make that film, about four clicks of a mouse to steal it, and that crime was perpetrated 4 million times," Chernin said. "If looters stole 4 million dresses from Wal-Mart, this country would condemn the act in a nationwide chorus."

But Consumer Electronics Association head Gary Shapiro suggested there should be a distinction between stealing real property and copying intellectual property like music or movies.

"When you copy intellectual property, there may or may not be harm," he said. "They assume that every copy made is a copy lost. That's not always the case."

A number of speakers at the summit encouraged cooperation among creative and business leaders in combatting copyright infringement.

Bickering, though, has led to disagreements on solutions.

Chernin said one problem with piracy is that it can be so easy that not just hardcore Internet thieves do it.

"Everyone assumes you need the perfect technological solution. I think an imperfect solution to deter 95 percent of the public is enough because I think 95 percent of Americans are honest," he said.