# Dear MPAA: Take your little "anti-piracy" dots and shove them somewhere uncomfortable **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 22, 2007, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149 "2007-04-22T03:57:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/21 "2007-04-23T14:47:00Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] So the dots work. The dots alone are not meant to stop piracy but they do their job. [/QUOTE] If, by doing their job, you mean annoying legitimate customers and failing to prevent a single CAM from making its way to the Internet within days of release, well then yeah, I guess they are. > [@](#): > > After the security shows up the pirates move to other locations and the process starts all over again. Seems awfully similar to the unsuccessful War on Drugs, doesn’t it? Push one bubble down, another pops up. Repeat as necessary without making one iota of difference until roughly the end of time. In this case, said bubble often pops up in other countries, with the movies being recorded by $10,000 cameras in empty theaters using direct audio feeds, resulting (as we see time and again when it comes to all forms of copy protection) in a poorer experience for the paying viewer and a better one for the pirate. A crafty bootlegger, if so inclined, could even pull from multiple sources and splice the movie together sans dots, thus avoiding detection. > [@E-Sabbath](#): > > These dots are bigger and not in the same place. I saw those, too. The burnt holes in the corner. These are one every 300 frames or so For those not familiar with framerates, that averages out to one occurrence every 12.5 seconds. Enjoy your moviegoing experience! ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/22 "2007-04-23T15:12:40Z")
Rather, they cover more space. The holes in the corner are larger per hole, but the red dots appear in multiples. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/23 "2007-04-23T15:30:31Z")
[QUOTE=vibrotronica] They must destroy their product in order to protect it. [/QUOTE] Or perhaps it is, as with [_Harrison Bergernon_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron), an attempt to bring the audience all down to the same intellectual and attention level, therefore distracting from how bad the movie is. Now I want to write a movie where the characters are involved in some big action scene and are themselves distracted by the flashing dots, so they all stop and start looking into the screeen, trying to figure out what’s with the dots. Then they all agree to join forces and blow the crap out of the MPAA. The dots, by the way, are known officially as “CAP code”, or by projectionists and movie aficionados as “crap code.” The purpose, as previously noted, is to track the specific reel set that the film was copied from. This assumes that the film was copied by filming it at a cinema, and does nothing to prevent filched preproduction prints or DVDs that have been decrypted and pirated. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/24 "2007-04-23T19:28:28Z")
Related poll. What annoyed you more: - The appearance of dots every 300f/s - The (yet again) close-up shots of toes - Tarantino once again reaffirming the fact his big ego can’t mask his lack of acting skills ---
**Author:** ![Ex\_Scientia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f1d935/32.png) [@Ex\_Scientia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ex_Scientia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/25 "2007-04-23T19:50:17Z")
Hold on, that black oval I see all the time to the top-right is to help film reels get on right? I thought I was crazy or something. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/26 "2007-04-23T19:50:18Z")
I had no idea that’s what they were. Interesting, but I can’t get too worked up over it. Not when I can’t rent or buy a movie and burn a copy to my ipod for my own personal use when I get some freakin’ time to watch it. As soon as that is addressed, I’ll be open to hating the MPAA for another reason. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/27 "2007-04-23T22:21:46Z")
[QUOTE=Ex Scientia] Hold on, that black oval I see all the time to the top-right is to help film reels get on right? I thought I was crazy or something. [/QUOTE] A little history… Back in the dark ages, the light in projectors came from carbon arcs. The rods would burn for slightly over 20ish minutes, thus a reel of film was about 20 minutes long. The timeing cues happen near the end of the reel, first to warn the projectionest to start the second projectior, and a second time a few seconds later to indicate changeover. With modern Xenon lamps and platter systems, the film is spliced together to make a large reel, and having two projectors is no longer needed. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/28 "2007-04-24T12:36:26Z")
On a related note, I get occasional “Update Reminders” for my laptop, which usually asks if I want to install a security patch or two, which I usually do. Not this time. This time they asked me to install “Windows Genuine Advantage Notification.” Are you not familiar with this great program? Let me share the details: Size: 1.2 MB The Windows Genuine Advantage Notification tool notifies you if your copy of Windows is not genuine. If your system is found to be a non-genuine, the tool will help you obtain a licensed copy of Windows. :rolleyes: Wow! What a great “advantage” for me, the customer who bought her copy of Office directly from the MS Website and later registered with MS! It sounds like a great idea to add more clutter to my toolbar so that I can help MS catch pirates! I guess MS thinks bothering its paying customers in order to catch thiefs is good business. I don’t and I won’t be installing this great program. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/29 "2007-04-24T13:31:09Z")
Yep. I refused to install it the first time it came up, but it came back one or two times. I guess they wanted to hook as many people as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/30 "2007-04-24T15:09:20Z")
[QUOTE=Una Persson] I can see them, and they are a distraction. Maybe when people start going to the theatre owners in droves and complaining, then the system will be scrapped. Most likely, it’ll take something like the dots spelling out “nappy headed hos” in Braille before anything happens. [/QUOTE] Best. Prank. Ever! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/31 "2007-04-24T15:09:54Z")
[QUOTE=athelas] Yep. I refused to install it the first time it came up, but it came back one or two times. I guess they wanted to hook as many people as possible. [/QUOTE] How do you delete the update so it won’t keep bugging you? I’ve been refusing to install this piece of malware, but every time I log in, it pops up a dialog. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/32 "2007-04-24T16:17:45Z")
[QUOTE=Finagle] How do you delete the update so it won’t keep bugging you? I’ve been refusing to install this piece of malware, but every time I log in, it pops up a dialog. [/QUOTE] When you get the updates dialog, if you uncheck the WGA box and click “continue” (instead of just cancelling), it should ask you whether or not you want to hear about it again. Say no, and it’ll go away (until the next time MS decide to load a new version, which isn’t all that frequent IMO). ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/33 "2007-04-24T16:24:50Z")
Does the CAP Code really help against copyright infringement, anyway? It’d be quite easy to write some code to scan through a digitized copy of the movie, find and fix the CAP dots. They intentionally make the dots easy to detect. :smack: Once you’d found an infected frame, just put in a copy of the previous frame. Duplicate frames are much harder for the human eye to notice. Unless there’s more subtle alterations, I don’t see how this could help against bootlegging. Edit: “eye” not “I” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Phatlewt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Phatlewt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phatlewt)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149/34 "2007-04-24T17:24:25Z")
If it’s really horrible, demand your money back from the theater manager. Explain that the dots ruined your movie experience, and that you won’t be paying to see movies that use those dots to punish paying moviegoers. If enough people hit theaters in the pocketbook, they’ll demand changes from the MPAA / studios. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-mpaa-take-your-little-anti-piracy-dots-and-shove-them-somewhere-uncomfortable/401149.md?page=1)