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Police raids Polish subtitle site (Blorge)
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Polish police have “held for questioning” at least six people in a crackdown on online movie piracy. Their crime? Providing free subtitles.
In at least four cities across Poland, police were part of a joint operation with German police — and a Polish anti-piracy group affiliated with the recording industry. In Krakow, Slask, Podlasie, and Szczecin, police arrived at the suspected subtitlers’ homes at 6 a.m. — and took them into custody.
The story first appeared on the Polish Linux site, which states that “According to Polish copyright law any ‘processing’ of others’ content including translating is prohibited without permission.” Newspaper accounts report that the detained subtitlers face two years in jail if they’re convicted of illegally publishing copyrighted material — presumably including translated movie dialogue.
The Polish Linux site said they’d received an email from the administrator of the targetted site, Napisy.org, which announced that “[M]ost of the amateurish translations appear long before a ‘professional’ translation is prepared.” It even claimed that “a lot of ‘professionals’ use (or steal, naming the things) our translations to do their job.”
What’s interesting is how many countries have gotten involved, in both the police’s action — and the response. American movies received free translations in Poland, which were sent to a server in Germany. After the German and Polish police moved against the subtitlers, a tip was sent to Blorge’s publisher in Australia. He contacted a reporter in the United States, who researched the story using….Polish web sites.
This proves that while the enforcement of copyright legislation may be a multi-national effort — so is the public reaction! |
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Gepubliceerd op 19-05-2007 |
