Nearly halfway around the world from Hollywood, a 17-year-old high-school
student is trying to make a name for himself as a film distributor.
Unlike the moguls in Tinseltown, though, he and his colleagues in a
group called MysticVCD don’t cut deals, take meetings or campaign for Oscars.
Instead, their goal is to put a movie on the Internet first, long before it’s
officially released on tape or disc. If MysticVCD wins the race, the digital
copy it produces will be downloaded onto tens of thousands of computers around
the globe, potentially reaching more screens than the film itself did in
theatrical release.
MysticVCD is one of dozens of “ripping” or “release”
groups that obtain, prepare, package and feed movies, songs and games into a
secretive and complex distribution scheme that functions a bit like the illegal
drug trade — minus the bloodletting.
Insiders and piracy experts say the
groups are motivated mainly by ego. Instead of cash, the online underground is
powered by bartering — admission to these elite circles is granted only to those
with something valuable to offer, such as computer parts or a pre-release copy
of a DVD.
“I am in the scene in order to provide movies to the people”
and to gain access to private sites with pirated goods, the founder of MysticVCD
said via e-mail. Asking not to be named, he would say only that he lives in the
Greenwich mean time zone, which stretches from the British Isles south to
western Africa.
There’s also a social aspect to the scene even though
most groups’ members know one another only by code names such as “markalso” and
“bambino” and never meet in person.
Common to most groups is a disdain
for selling pirated goods in favor of giving free access to anything and
everything.
“Please remember: We do this for FUN. We do not make money
off this whole business,” said a posting from a group called Centropy. “All of
us go to the movies regularly and pay for our tickets just like everyone else.”
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