MPAA: Watching new movies online is theft

CHICAGO, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- The Motion Picture Association of America said if U.S. residents watch new film releases online they are still committing theft.

MPAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman said while new film releases can be found on various Web sites, visiting those sites and watching films for free is akin to shoplifting from a store, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday.

"Nobody who isn't a criminal would walk into Blockbuster or Wal-Mart or Best Buy, wherever they're selling or renting DVDs, take it off the shelf, put it under their arm and not pay for it," Kaltman said.

Copyright attorney Steve Englund said while individuals who post copyrighted material online without permission are indeed committing a crime, those watching that material may not necessarily be guilty.

"It is a little more complicated question whether it is illegal to watch it when someone else has put it online," he told the Sun-Times.

Kaltman said more than 90 percent of the illegal versions of new release films found online are recordings made by an individual using a camera inside a movie theater.