Free Pirated Movies

[Salvador Baltimore]

Whilebeing in the small town of Dudley, known for its eccentric charm, there was a notorious flea market tucked away and forgotten about years later. One fateful day, I found myself at the supposed flea market, filled with cheap DVDs of movies and TV shows.

Upon returning to my home, I eagerly inserted the first DVD, The Brave Little Toaster, into my XBOX 360. To my dismay, the movie played in poor quality, distorted and filled with glitches. However, the strangeness unfolded during a scene where the main characters end up at the workshop filled with the ruined sorts of appliances.

Suddenly, the screen abruptly cut to an unsettling Emergency Alert System message warning of a civil danger. A chilling male narrator described unidentified serial killers going around in local areas and whatnot. The message abruptly shifted to live-action security camera footage from a school hallway. Four terrified children ran in panic while masked men in black suits and ski masks mercilessly attacked and murdered them. The horrified teachers watched helplessly as the brutal ordeal unfolded for what felt like an eternity, which went on for 30 minutes, leaving me disturbed and bewildered. The DVD soon ended without even resuming the film.

Shaking off the unsettling experience, I reluctantly proceeded to play the second DVD, Chicken Little. Once again, the movie played in poor quality and distortion, and during a scene where Chicken Little, Abby, and Runt ventured into an alien spaceship that landed on a baseball court at night, the nightmare intensified.

Without warning, the scene suddenly cut to an old cartoon from the '70s, revealing a young boy as the protagonist. Shockingly, he witnessed a gruesome sequence of events. 3 hooded figures with red eyes executed the boy's parents and younger sister with unimaginable brutality. The mother was dismembered with a chainsaw, the father was decapitated with a large machete, and the sister was burned alive using a blowtorch and gasoline.

The scene concluded with the boy receiving a fatal gunshot to the head. The screen then faded to a 3-minute slideshow of photographs depicting streets filled with lifeless bodies, accompanied by a distorted and off-key rendition of Beethoven's "Fur Elise." The DVD abruptly ended without continuing the film, leaving me even more unsettled.

With trepidation, I inserted the final DVD, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. The movie played in poor quality, mildly distorted, and during a scene where Alex and Gia practiced their trapeze act at sunset, something enveloped the screen, and it scarred me even deeper.

A live-action video replaced the animated film, showcasing a dimly lit bedroom occupied by a 90s desktop computer, a chair, and a bed adorned with 2 pillows and a blanket. The only source of light emanated from a Luxor lamp on the desk. The room's open door revealed an abyss of pure darkness, gradually revealing a ghastly, gray face with black eyes and a grotesquely elongated mouth. The video persisted for 2 agonizing minutes before transitioning to a disturbingly low-quality scene from the 1984 computer-animated short called "Snoot and Muttly" by John Berton Jr.

The distorted colors and warped audio of the short film cast an ominous pall over the room. Following this, a torrent of disturbing videos and images flooded the screen. Scenes of death, animal cruelty, and twisted snippets of old cartoons merged with distorted blood-curdling screams and disquieting ambient music. The DVD abruptly ended with the movie discontinued, and I feel extremely terrified, confused, and enraged.

Haunted by these malevolent visions, I endured a month of harrowing nightmares that invaded my sleep, leaving me in a constant state of dread. Desperate for answers and resolution, I eventually contacted the authorities, sharing the story of the pirate DVDs purchased from the dubious flea market.

Acting swiftly, the police apprehended the seller, named Aaron Laurier, who is responsible for peddling the supposed collection of pirated movies and TV shows. It was revealed that he had sourced the disturbing content from the dark web of sorts.

SEVP is a part of the National Security Investigations Division and acts as a bridge for government organizations that have an interest in information on nonimmigrants whose primary reason for coming to the United States is to be students.

According to court documents, Davis Norman III, 36, of New Orleans, duplicated and sold copyrighted motion pictures and music using a home DVD/CD burner. Norman then sold illegal copies for $10 from his car in a parking lot located along North Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans.

Undercover HSI investigators purchased three DVDs from Norman in May 2012 that contained illegal copies of films still playing in movie theaters and not yet available to the public. HSI and the Louisiana Attorney General's office subsequently executed a search warrant at Norman's home where investigators seized more than 1,000 pirated DVDs and CDs worth an estimated retail value of at least $12,890.

This investigation was supported by the HSI-led National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Coordination Center in Washington. The IPR Center is one of the U.S. government's key weapons in the fight against criminal counterfeiting and piracy. As a task force, the IPR Center uses the expertise of its 21-member agencies to share information, develop initiatives, coordinate enforcement actions and conduct investigations related to intellectual property theft. Through this strategic interagency partnership, the IPR Center protects the public's health and safety and the U.S. economy.

Some say that it is stealing and therefore forbidden by the Ten Commandments. Stealing in the Bible refers to someone taking something which belongs to someone else. It means the stealer obtaining something he ought not to have, and at the same time depriving the victim of something he ought to have. In the case of piracy it is not clearly the case that it is stealing as meant in the Bible since it does not deprive the owner of that which is his.

Some say that it is important to obey the civil law and that if something is against the law of the country then doing it is sinful simply because it is disobedience to the civil authorities. Not all countries however have such laws and where they exist may apply only to certain other countries. For example, in the current circumstances, the civil and Islamic authorities in Iran may not forbid "piracy". In that case this particular argument fails.

Another argument against piracy is that it effectively deprives a workman of his wages. You are benefitting from his labour without paying for it. Here, the particular circumstances may also be a factor. Due to sanctions it may be illegal for the author, according to the laws of his country, to sell you the software etc. The author therefore has no legitimate right to any payment from you for using his software or reading his book, so you are not therefore depriving him of any entitlement by not paying for it.

A similar argument to render to everyone his due may help in some circumstances, but it does not help address the question of whether anything is due to the author of the "pirate" software. According to the law of his country, nothing is because it would be breaking sanctions, and according to the user's country his government may allow or encourage it anyway.

For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him

Here is a possible argument. What does the Bible mean by theft? We have "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maid servant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is thy neighbour's". This sounds like tangible property to me. I imagine that it included not cutting down the neighbour's crops. I am not convinced that the concept of intellectual property existed in the Ancient World. According to Wikipedia:

The earliest recorded historical case-law on the right to copy comes from ancient Ireland. The Cathach is the oldest extant Irish manuscript of the Psalter and the earliest example of Irish writing. It contains a Vulgate version of Psalms XXX (30) to CV (105) with an interpretative rubric or heading before each psalm. It is traditionally ascribed to Saint Columba as the copy, made at night in haste by a miraculous light, of a Psalter lent to Columba by St. Finnian. In the 6th century, a dispute arose about the ownership of the copy and King Diarmait Mac Cerbhaill gave the judgement "To every cow belongs her calf, therefore to every book belongs its copy." The Battle of Cl Dreimhne was fought over this issue....

It is essential that Christians spend time studying God's Word, not just so we can learn how to behave in Christian fashion, but also so we can battle against the schemes of Satan and the temptations that befall all of us.

To call oneself a Christian means we have to act in a Christ-like manner. We can't do that by our own efforts - we need God's wisdom, grace and strength to enable us to overcome temptations. That is something you can take up in prayer the next time you speak to God. Meanwhile, trust in this promise:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:16-17)

It is a sin because some people will hate you for it - so you will lead others into sin. But the sin is much lesser than the sin of refusing to help people save their lives (e.g. for $100 you can buy few Personal flotation device and food rations for people who try to escape from Libya to Europe), instead of giving them to those who already have mountains of money.

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