Don't steal--or edit--this movie!

Do you remember stuntman Manny Perry? Or how about set painter David Goldstein? If you recognize either of these names then you’ve probably seen—and later ridiculed—one of the “Movies—They’re Worth It” commercials that have been running in theaters across the country since July 2003. The ads are part of the Motion Picture Association of America’s campaign to promote awareness of movie piracy and its detrimental effects on Hollywood. The MPAA hopes to avoid a commercial downward spiral akin to the one that the record industry has been entwined in for the last few years.

The commercials, however, are only the first step in the MPAA’s multi-front attack on Internet pirates. In August, the MPAA took a major hit when it lost the option to hold companies that operate peer-to-peer networks liable for copyright infringement. Since then, entertainment industry lobbyists have been working overtime to put legislation like the Piracy and Deterrence and Education Act into action.

Among other things, this bill would make exploits like using an audio-visual recording device in a movie theater (the most common way to rip a flick) a felony. During its 108th session, Congress has considered at least five separate bills intended to expand the federal jurisdiction over copyright infringement and to intensify the punishment for copyright violations. Due to protests from everyone from the Consumer Electronics Association to the American Library Association, few broad initiatives to counter piracy have been enacted. On the other hand, 5,000 civil lawsuits have now been brought against individual P2P users by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Last week, the ongoing debacle reached a new climax: just as the House Judiciary Committee was about to pass the Piracy and Deterrence and Education Act it decided to attach a separate, anti-Hollywood bill onto the first, pro-Hollywood bill. The second bill is known as the Family Movie Act and has been a thorn in Hollywood’s side since it was introduced in June.

The Family Movie Act is a simple bill that would make it legal for companies to produce and distribute technology that would enable parents and their children to watch “clean” versions of any film. Films are “cleaned” using filtering technology—which modifies but does not permanently edit a film—that includes both automatically muting obscene language and skipping over scenes of violent and sexual content.

Directors like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese have publicly denounced the use of this filtering technology, citing the infringement of their creative jurisdiction as filmmakers. Meanwhile, conservative watchdog and parental advocacy groups have trumpeted the technology for instilling parents with means of further protecting their children from potenitally objectionable materials. Thus the fusion of these two bills has thrown a wrench into Hollywood’s anti-piracy progress.

For now the entertainment industry will have to revert to a wait-and-see approach. Digital pirates can breathe a sigh of relief—the hour at which they walk the plank has once again been postponed indefinitely.