The IRONY with SOPA

I was watching a recently-released (in theaters) feature film the other day online. Since I never break the law, I was watching this at a friend’s house on her computer. At one point early in the film, some text appeared as an overlay while film was playing.

Possibly, it was a hidden element embedded in the digital film strip (that only appears when people record movies in-theater with a camcorder) – which made me wonder (thinking to myself, if this were the case), why wouldn’t the studios also insert a unique specifier-encoding along with this that indicates the theater name/location too (minimally)? Otherwise, what is the point? Well, I get the point – but where is the opportunity for recourse?

The irony is in the image itself. As I watch a streaming online movie (for free), a message appears telling me ‘not to duplicate’.

Honestly, why? Because I would never even consider the notion of duplicating the film. Why would I? When I can just sit back and watch – giving myself a badge for 100% compliance.