Motion Picture Association of America news stories on Newser

Anonymous Deletes CBS Site

Neal Colgrass — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:23:40 CST

Those pesky online pirates known as Anonymous struck again today, knocking CBS.com offline for "a good period of time" and deleting all of its files, Gizmodo reports. Unlike earlier strikes this week against the Justice Department and the Motion Picture Association of America, the hackers actually deleted everything, leaving...

Reid Delays Anti-Piracy Vote

Kevin Spak — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:38:05 CST

Harry Reid has postponed Tuesday's test vote on the Senate's anti-piracy bill, after a storm of online protests convinced several of the bill's co-sponsors to switch sides, the AP reports. Democrats have now emerged as the main backers of the PROTECT IP Act, the Wall Street Journal reports; at least...

'Male Nudity' Scares MPAA

Kevin Spak — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:43:22 CDT

Watch a trailer for Jackass 3D , and you might notice that it’s rated R for, among other things, “male nudity.” This struck Brian Patrick Thornton of Jezebel as odd—why specify that it was men who were naked? He did a quick scan through the past five years of ratings...

Twilight 'Bootlegger' Sues Theater After Jail Stint

Kevin Spak — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:20:00 CDT

An Illinois woman who spent 2 days in jail for taping part of Twilight: New Moon is suing the movie theater that ratted her out. Samantha Tumpach, 22, says she wasn’t trying to pirate the movie; she was out celebrating with friends, and the video she shot was primarily of...

DVD Dogs Sniff Out Pirates

Rob Quinn — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:27:50 CDT

Two dogs trained to sniff out counterfeit DVDs are so good at their jobs that infuriated pirates have put a bounty on their heads, Wired reports. The dogs—Labrador retrievers who were taught to detect the scent of polycarbonate—have helped locate millions of fake discs hidden in warehouses and...

Pirate Act to Take Senate Floor, Again

Zach Samalin — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:55:57 CST

Legislation that would enable the Justice Department to prosecute those who partake in peer-to-peer copyright infringement is coming before Congress—for the fourth time—now sponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy and John Conryn. But while it's popular among lawmakers and corporate copyright holders alike, the Pirate Act hasn't seen too...

MPAA Snuffs Onscreen Smoking

Dustin Lushing — Fri, 11 May 2007 05:37:14 CDT

Cigarette and cigar smoking will be considered alongside violence, profanity, nudity, and drug use in assigning ratings, the MPAA announced yesterday. Any film that glamorizes the habit or features lighting up outside of "an historic or other mitigating context "could face a box-office-busting R.