Jari Ketola
10 Sep 2003 14:41
The guys at VCDQuality have noticed that strange markings have started to appear on some recent movies. The dots are most likely used by MPAA to track the source of illegal movie copies spread on the Internet.
Many of the first copies of movies appearing on the Net are so called "cam" copies, which are shot using a camcorder in a movie theatre. By inserting unique identifying tags to a couple of frames in a movie, the copyright holders can narrow down the origin of the pirated copy, and possibyly even track down the offender.
Removing the markings is possible, but laborious. I'd bet MPAA has other methods for identifying the copies as well. It remains to be seen if MPAA will be engaging in a high profile pirate hunt similar to RIAA's.
Links:
An example frame with the markings (T shaped dots)
More information at VCDQuality.com