comScore
Uncategorized Friday, April 27th 2012 at 12:58 pm

Prolific 92-Year-Old DVD Bootlegger Sends Thousands of Films To Troops Overseas

By ( ) Comments

When you think of pirates and bootleggers, there’s typically two places your mind might go: Punk kids, or vast organizations of bootleggers, all with thick accents. Hyman Strachman is neither of those, instead, he is a 92-year-old World War II veteran. He is however, probably one of the worlds foremost bootleggers. For eight years, Stachman has been running a pretty impressive bootlegging operation from his apartment, copying thousands of first-run movies, and sending them to U.S. troops overseas. Hardly some punk kid.

Over the course of his bootlegging career, Strachman went from burning the DVDs on his own personal computer to purchasing a $400 rig that would let him copy 7 at a time. Amusingly enough, Strachman does not actually torrent or download the films himself or anything, but rather buys them from a local bootlegger, and then proceeds to bootleg said bootlegs. Though his methods may seem a little roundabout, his record is impressive; he’s sent at least 4,000 boxes of DVDs, free of charge, to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

From The New York Times:

“It’s not the right thing to do, but I did it,” Mr. Strachman said, acknowledging that his actions violated copyright law. “If I were younger,” he added, “maybe I’d be spending time in the hoosegow.”

Aside from being a heartwarming story, Stachman’s little operation also casts some light on an oft-ignored motive for piracy: lack of availability. Much more common in countries besides the United States that often have to wait for releases, lack of availablity issues tend to be brushed over by rightsholders who think potential customers should wait, not pirate. These guys in the Armed Forces don’t have much of a choice. Granted, in this case it’s piracy by proxy, but with some kind of legitimate program in place, perhaps it could have been purchase by proxy.

All that aside, while Strachman surely is no friend to Hollywood, at least in their eyes, he definitely has been to countless troops, and to all of us really. Would you really want someone who hasn’t gotten a chance to see The Hangover fighting on behalf of the United States? Of course you wouldn’t. That’s just not fair to anyone involved.

(via The New York Times)

Relevant to your interests

Filed Under | • •
  • Dr Coene

    What a freaking boss.

    SALUTE!!!

  • Jackbondnj16

    Where’s Russell?

  • Anonymous

    I hope that someone at one of the major studios sees this and decides to start sending sanctioned copies to the troops overseas. But I have zero faith in studio execs as human beings so, this probably won’t happen. 

  • Zeonchar

    Some companies will offer some of their TV Shows and movies to be shown on the military network, AFN, free of charge. Most of the shows are pretty much what is airing at the same time as the U.S. Also, I remember there being a dedicated movie channel where someone in Baghdad put a DVD in every time one stopped and broadcasted that on AFN. That being said, not everyone has access to AFN at all times. People have a lot of laptops and portable DVD Players, so they usually want to get some DVD’s. There are plenty of cheap bootleg shops around, hell, even like 3 on our base where troops could get bootleg movies, anime, and t.v. shows. I don’t really have a problem with what this guy is doing. He is help alleviating the downtime, which can really be the worst part of being there.

  • applegreen

    i hope that there will be no ill-consequences from publishing this story. the studios now know his name, they might just arm themselves with lawyers and go after him so there will be no copycatters  

  • Ssj4chibi_gohan

     I don’t think so. He’s 92 years old. To do so, and put him out on the streets at that age is similarly like ordering his execution.

  • Anonymous

    Supporting our troops… like a boss!

  • applegreen

    I hope you are right. 

  • NaTaS

    Hope he gets put in jail

  • Xwharrison

    Hymie, you the MAN!!!

  • http://pat-test.org/ Pat Test

    I can’t see any real harm in this but would not condone it.

  • http://www.home-security-plus.com/security-monitoring-services.html Shante Seward

    he’s sent at least 4,000 boxes of DVDs, free of charge, to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  • Riibitti

    Boss son but a little worried about “lashbacks” with all this SOPA/PIPA crap that tried to pass just last year 2011!

  • STARCHY

    My brother in law did two tours and brought back stories of how the troops are nickel and dimed ALL the time. like long distance phone calls. these guys actually have to PAY long distance charges to call home. fucking ATT cant cut them a break??

    BTW: I sent him and his boys dozens of burned DVD’s and I felt GOOD about it

  • http://twitter.com/SoftwareWorlds SoftwareWorld

     Just tell them to use Skype instead of AT&T .

  • http://profiles.google.com/vulpisfoxfire Christopher Forsyth

    Flat out honest? This is something the movie companies themselves should be doing. After all, they make ‘vanilla’ versions of movies (versions that have *just* the movies, without all the extra features the regular retail DVDs have) for rental companies like RedBox, with so little overhead that the companies can afford to charge $1/night rentals–why can’t they ship a batch of those over to the troops in support, rather than it taking some 92yr-old to do it?

  • Davidkgames

    Yes, lets go after a 92 year old that is sending thousands of movies to troops overseas and providing them with much needed distraction. This would destroy anything good that may still be thought about the industry.

  • applegreen

    Ooooor they can sue him  to make an example out him and send the troops sanctioned copies themselves, for possible a fraction of the cost… 

    truth be told, you are likely right, because there is not much to gain from this guy, and yet the lawyers would still need to be paid the big bucks in order to sue him.