The FBI arrested one Russell Sprague (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2075640) in Illinois yesterday in connection with the Carmine Caridi dvd screener leak investigation (http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=439998&section=news).

According to an FBI affidavit, most of the screeners were originally sent to Carmine Caridi, a 22-year member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences who has been sending as many as 60 screeners a year to Sprague for at least the past three years. Sprague supplied Caridi with Federal Express shipping boxes and mailing labels.
Sprague faces up to $500,000 in fines and up to eight years in prison -- three for copyright infringement and five for illegal interception of satellite signals.
Because of the hidden security markers, installed by Technicolor, that the studios put on Academy screeners for the first time this year, Warners had determined that VHS tapes of the films had been issued to Caridi.
Ultimately, Technicolor technicians determined that copies of such pirated movies as Warners' "Samurai" and "Mystic," 20th Century Fox's "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," Fox Searchlight's "thirteen" and Buena Vista's "Calendar Girls" all could be traced to Academy screeners that had been provided to Caridi.

Btw, there is already a thread (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0137142/board/thread/5516764) running on IMDB on Carmine Caridi (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0137142/)!

Btw, there is already a thread (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0137142/board/thread/5516764) running on IMDB on Carmine Caridi (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0137142/)!
Since many people have been telling the movie industry for years that it is mainly its own people who distribute good copies of movies on the internet and they have constantly denied it. Now I am sure, the fact that those leaks came from an industry insider will be quietly swept under the carpet.

Today it was announced (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3461121.stm) that Academy Awards bosses have kicked out Carmine Caridi for the first time in history after copies of confidential preview videos ended up on the internet.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences expelled him after they say he violated an agreement not to allow "screener" films to be distributed.
"We had hoped that this situation would not arise," Academy president Frank Pierson said after Academy governors voted for the expulsion.

This is such an interesting story. I was talking with some colleagues about it just yesterday. It throws so many holes into MPAA's anti-piracy campaign, that it makes it almost a total mockery.

But really, have you ever watched screener copies? They're totally annoying. Every couple of minutes, a huge text box comes up on the bottom of the screen. It is particularly annoying while watching films with sub-titles. I'd rather swallow the ginormous fees that the studios force on theaters and go see it on the big screen. :)