‘maVen’ was Montreal movie pirate
p2pnet news | MPAA News:- Hollywood’s MPAA is well pleased with itself.
It figures it’s successfully nailed one of the top camcording pirates in North America.
“Gérémi Adam became the RCMP’s poster boy for the federal government’s recently adopted copyright legislation during a news conference yesterday,”says the Montreal Gazette.
Under intense pressure from the Bush administration, Canada’s enfeebled Conservative government recently introduced new laws making it a criminal act to use a camcorder to record movies in theatres.
Ottawa law professor Michael Geist believes the new laws were/are unecessary.
Meanwhile, who was this unmasked raider?
Torrentfreak’s enigmax knows.
“Anyone into downloading pirate movies from the internet over the last few years likely knows that the label ‘maVen’ on a video release was usually a mark of a high quality ‘cammed’ movie’ ” and, “After dozens of major releases and investigations by the FBI and Canadian police, ‘maVen’ now faces 6 months in jail,” he says, going on >>>
Between 2004 and 2006, not many movie release groups could keep up with the mighty ‘maVen’ when it came to releasing quality ‘Telesync‘ versions of pirated movies onto the internet. From great versions of the ‘Bourne Supremacy’, ‘Collateral’ and ‘Spongebob Squarepants’ in 2004, through to their 2005 releases ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ and ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ to name just a few, maVen consistently delivered the goods. 2006 saw ‘maVen’ releases of serious heavyweight movies including ‘Underworld Evolution’, ‘Mission Impossible 3′, ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, ‘Cars’ and ‘Superman Returns’. (full list available here).
Then, at the end of July 2006, ‘maVen’ releases mysteriously came to an abrupt halt.
According to reports, an FBI investigation into ‘maVen’ had been running for some time and was handed to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in April 2006.
‘He was referred to us by the FBI,’ said RCMP Staff Sgt. Noel St-Hilaire. ‘They had an investigation in the States.’
In September 2006, it all started coming together for the RCMP. Assisted by information from the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, police arrested Geremi Adam (now 25) outside a Montreal theater after allegedly ‘camming’ the movies ‘How to Eat Fried Worms’ and ‘Invincible.’ They seized his laptop and other equipment and later released him, only for him to be arrested again at another theater just a month later.
According to the police, Geremi Adam had been selling copies of movies on the internet using the alias ‘maVen’ (asking between $300 and $1,000 each), which were then re-sold on the web and the streets. There had previously been rumors on the internet that ‘maVen’ had been dealing with commercial pirates but both sets of allegations are yet to be proven. Although ‘maVen’ releases ceased, another group called ‘maVenssupplieR‘ immediately took up the slack.
Following Adam’s arrest came a 14 month wait as the police combed computer systems and equipment looking for evidence to convict him. He now faces two counts of distributing copyright material on the internet.
However, luckily for Adam, he was arrested before tough new legislation was introduced to crack down on movie cammers in Canada, so he will escape the most severe punishments, unlike Louis-Rene Hache who was caught recently by the police and faces two years in jail.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Noel St-Hilaire explained: ‘Unfortunately at the time there was no legislation that forbid anyone from filming in a cinema. There’s not much we could do then other than issue a warning.’
Geremi Adam will appear in court on 30th January 2008 where he will face the possibility of a $25,000 fine and six months in jail.
Stay tuned.;
Also See:
top camcording pirates – Montreal ‘movie pirate’ faces jail, December 5, 2007
Torrentfreak – Police Charge ‘maVen’, ‘World Leader’ in Internet Movie Piracy, December 5, 2007
were/are unecessary – Canada anti-camcording law: who needs it?, December 5, 2007
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December 6th, 2007 at 8:48 am
pwnage
December 6th, 2007 at 9:51 am
i think if he really was selling his versions, then he deserves what he gets – he is a “pirate”.
unlike the majority of filesharers – who have nothing to do with piracy – he was making $300-$1000 per film (according to the above article) by selling them to larger piracy groups who must have made a bundle selling them on the street.
what maVen did (and others still do) unfairly lumps innocent filesharers into the category of “pirate” (in the eyes of the feds), even though p2pers don’t earn a single cent by sharing legally purchased or legally recorded media.
his arrest and subsequent fines and/or prison time should also serve as a lesson and a warning to others who like to “tag” their files with a group name or screen name: “DON’T DO IT!” it’s an open invitation for arrest for scene groups and others who like to compete by identifying themselves to all and sundry.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Yes, there’s a world of difference between what this guy did and a paying customer wishing to make a backup of an owned DVD because they just know that the kids are going to scratch it.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Considering his stuff was posted for free downloads on usenet, its hard to imagine anybody giving him 1000 bucks for his cams. Anybody that wanted to sell copies would just dl a file and make their own copys for free. It sounds like, once again, law enforcement feels they need to exagerate what happened to make the bust look important.
Use yer head: if this guy could really make a grand on a cam, wouldn’t there be a whole load of cammers at work, each undercutting the next highest? These guys do their camming for glory, not money.
December 6th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Glory ? the sad self deluded geek did it as he thought people would respect him for it , the freeloading thieves dont give a toss , they watch the film or whever and thats the end of it , haha if he goes to jail I dont think there will be a wife or girlfriend to miss him , hes just another sad loser , off to jail and a lifetime of a sore arse and anal tampons is ahead for him .
December 6th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
I cant see how people would pay for cam rips on teh street or at swap meets for anything more then a couple of bucks. I dont agree with people camming or downloading and then sell it to make a profit. The odd time someone wanted some music i have i dont take money from them. I always tell them to check out the music and if you like it go buy the cd cause in the end it will last longer and sound better.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
I think $300~$1000 is for the original that he sold to piracy groups who then burns more for sale? It’s somewhat worth it for the risk and digital enhancing?
Then someone who bought the copy uploaded online.
But man, how retarded is this guy to go back recording again after getting caught once?
December 7th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
“According to the police, Geremi Adam had been selling copies of movies on the internet using the alias ‘maVen’ (asking between $300 and $1,000 each), which were then re-sold on the web and the streets.”
Why would anyone buy it when they could download it for free? Authorities inventing lies to justify the expense / resources used to snare him? Maven was a scene group, they can all be downloaded for free. I smell deception!!
December 7th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
People are making the mistake of assuming what they are saying is fact, and that he sold them for money.
December 7th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I always assumed they did it for prestige rather than money. Maybe I’m naive.
June 25th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Maybe he did sell maybe he didn’t, i can only point out from a technical point of view that “maVen” TS’s were the best the cost of the cam and significant risk he ran deserves a little pay back in any case (especially when they pay Ben Affleck 12 million for a film that should never have got passed the initial reading of the script). “They” being the company’s that support the riaa/mpaa.
Long live the scene ! you will never stop us all, most fed’s don’t know what a bnc is if it dropped on their foot… good hunting