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Subject: Police raid video dealers at Motor City Con | Author | Messages | 
John Jackson Miller
Posts: 1007
 | Posted: 5/19/2006 11:21:32 PM | Opening-day surprise hits convention
Police raid video dealers at Motor City Con
Special to CBG from John Jackson Miller and Jim Johnson
Novi, Mich. (CBG) -- State and local police, accompanied by investigators from the recording and film industries, conducted a major anti-piracy raid of video dealers at Motor City Con on May 19, seizing pallets of videos and escorting several dealers from the floor.
In what has become an increasingly familiar occurrence at American pop culture conventions, undercover agents from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) entered the convention's new home at the Rock Financial Showplace early on opening day, visiting the booths of dealers selling DVDs. Around 5 p.m., Michigan State Police, assisted by members of the Novi, Mich., police, raided an estimated 14 different booths in the hall, according to Con Promoter Michael Goldman.
Novi officers were seen leading four dealers from the floor in handcuffs, and police said 10 additional dealers were escorted to police headquarters. Dealers were not arrested, but instead brought to the station to provide statements and officially surrender certain merchandise, one such dealer returning to the convention said.
Several booths were back in business before the end of the day, police keeping any items on their warrant. Dealers who reopened told CBG police were targeting both films and certain television recordings they suspected of being bootlegged. Some dealers never actually closed, as police targeted a number of dealers for whom videos were a small part of their merchandise. One retailer had only 20 videos on his table, his partner said.
Officers had been prepositioned to cover various ends of the large hall, a Novi officer told CBG -- and rolling pallets were brought into the hall to remove videos that were on their list of suspect items.
The sudden appearance of uniformed officers and agents wearing RIAA apparel in the hall -- and the subsequent searching and complete removal of entire booths -- attracted attention throughout the hall, and convention staffers fielded questions from many attendees.
Motor City Con 2006 has more than 200 dealer booths and more than 250 creator and media guest tables -- and while the number of raided booths was small, they were spread across the long hall, making the raid visible to most attendees. Convention officials said this is the largest Motor City Con in the show's 18 years.
Goldman told CBG that the Motor City Con exhibitors' agreement clearly forbids the display or sale of bootleg items. A similar raid previously occured at Wizard World Philadelphia.
[Note: I am attending Motor City as a creator guest of the convention; expect photos and follow-up from CBG's regular staffers.]
JJM's UPDATE, 5/23: Well, I sure didn't expect this little adventure would result in the highest-traffic day in the site's history by far, but that's what it did. (Hey, and speaking of intellectual property, could all you folks reposting the photos from here please credit Jim Johnson? Thanks!)
Anyway, now that I'm not sitting in a hotel lobby, I can add a few more notes. Again, I was not attending in the role of a reporter, so there is an element of hearsay here; all I can say is that what I heard I did hear from dealers, organizers, and investigators.
• Why here? Several dealers and insiders I spoke with said they had been told that a video dealer under charges in another municipality had "flipped," directing police to four specific dealers at the convention. Then, once in the hall, the RIAA had the police expand the search to include ten other dealers, some of whom had very small amounts of merchandise relative to their other wares. The officers I spoke with on the scene did not confirm or deny these reports.
Another source said one of the RIAA's few field offices is in Detroit.
• Both film and TV programs were apparently targeted. Looking at items that were left on shelves after the raid — and allowed to be returned to shelves later in the day — many speculated that, either owing to the limits of the MPAA's bailiwick or perhaps something in the warrant, TV programs and anime weren't targeted in the raid.
But a source closer to the investigation said there was actually a "hit list" of specific items that did include some prerecorded television programs. (Since many of the same studios that make films also own TV content, that makes a certain amount of sense.)
And contrary to one of the rumors that circulated, I must say that on my several tours of the room before the raid took place, I did not see any visible signs of any "in-theaters-now" films on DVD. I obviously can't swear there was no Da Vinci Code or the like in the room somewhere, but there were no blatant displays such as I've seen at other shows "back in the day," when one might see new releases playing on TV screens in booths.
• Local TV showed up, but didn't make it into the room. At least one local TV station did a report on the raid from the scene on Friday, but the cameras remained outside the actual assembly center.
There did not appear to be local newspaper coverage immediately afterward, either — the Detroit News running a "Holy Comic Con, Batman!" piece on Saturday touting the Batman TV show anniversary celebration and making no mention of the arrests. (Actually, as of this writing, there still doesn't appear to be anything in the Detroit News about it.)
• Tempers flared. Right at the beginning of the raid, CBG columnist Jim Johnson and I were standing at the booth of one agitated dealer who was in a heated discussion with a plainclothes officer over whether the state had a right to look inside his booth. The dealer contended that, as he was subletting the space from the convention as an agent of the Rock Financial Showplace, that space thereby became his "store," and thusly the state would need a search warrant specifically for that -- as opposed to one for the entire center.
The officer was adamant, saying that if the dealer didn't cooperate, the entire booth would be impounded -- as happened elsewhere (as seen in Jim's images of comics boxes and all being carted away). The dealer called his lawyer and finally assented, shutting down the booth temporarily.
His partner reopened the booth later in the evening, shifting merchandise displays to compensate for the material that had been removed.
• It was a Friday phenomenon. Because of the reopened retailers altering their displays — and because of neighboring retailers claiming the booth space of retailers who did not return to set up — there was no way on Saturday or Sunday for a newcomer to tell that anything had happened on Friday. Except, possibly, in that the selection of video merchandise was thinner...
Best,
John Jackson Miller
Comics & Fiction at Faraway Press
Comics circulation resarch at The Comics Chronicles
Webcomic: Sword & Sarcasm | 
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/19/2006 11:34:32 PM | This was a very strange and almost scary thing to be caught up in, as it unfolded right in front of JJM and myself. About an hour after the raid began, police were still carting off dealer merchandise, like this Novi officer was doing here.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm |
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/19/2006 11:34:32 PM | This was a very strange and almost scary thing to be caught up in, as it unfolded right in front of JJM and myself. About an hour after the raid began, police were still carting off dealer merchandise, like this Novi officer was doing here.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm |
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/19/2006 11:39:47 PM | As JJM said, it wasn't just local police in on it, either. Here, an RIAA agent and Michigan state police oversee the takedown of one dealer's booth.
No, Imperial stormtroopers weren't part of the raid, contrary to how it might look in the foreground.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm |
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/19/2006 11:39:47 PM | As JJM said, it wasn't just local police in on it, either. Here, an RIAA agent and Michigan state police oversee the takedown of one dealer's booth.
No, Imperial stormtroopers weren't part of the raid, contrary to how it might look in the foreground.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm |
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/19/2006 11:42:04 PM | This was one of the few clear shots I could get, as the authorities involved were not too keen on the happenings being photographed.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm |
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/19/2006 11:42:04 PM | This was one of the few clear shots I could get, as the authorities involved were not too keen on the happenings being photographed.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm |
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/19/2006 11:44:51 PM | Here, an RIAA agents hauls away a good stash of merchandise, much of which appears to be more than just bootleg video.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm |
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/19/2006 11:44:51 PM | Here, an RIAA agents hauls away a good stash of merchandise, much of which appears to be more than just bootleg video.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm | PM
Posts: 219
| Posted: 5/20/2006 7:33:00 AM | You guys have all the fun 
It'll be most interesting to see how this all turns out!
| 
calliopes
Posts: 6
| Posted: 5/20/2006 12:37:00 PM | I see that they made sure to take several long boxes full of books just in case anybody needed something to read while awaiting booking.
The Most Unique Comic Shop Around | 
Maggie Thompson
Posts: 1049
| Posted: 5/20/2006 12:49:46 PM | Well, I'm not sure how much they took in the way of books. Most of what I see in the photos are videos -- and long boxes can hold videos, as well as comics.
Best,
Maggie Thompson | 
claymore1745
Posts: 200
| Posted: 5/20/2006 1:03:33 PM | I remember my first convention. I was shocked to find all of these movies available. There was even TV shows that had not finished the year yet but the whole series was available. I thought that it was a special convention only thing until my father very delicatly explained things to me. Ah, the world of a child! I'm actually suprised that more of these raids have not occurred sooner. I just hope they don't hurt convention attendance.
Dave Gordon | 
Michael Tierney
Posts: 874
| Posted: 5/20/2006 10:29:39 PM | This isn't really connected to the story at hand, but the discussion about controversial videos at a convention reminded me of the cruelest thing I'd ever seen at a convention. The following occurred at MegaCon at Orlando, Florida, in 2002, whiere I had a booth promoting my Wild Stars comics.
The were a number of people in costumes at the convention, and the family of an excited young girl dressed as a Sailor Moon character had congregated in front of my booth for a while. You could that it was a Dad and his daughters, along with a domineering Step-Mom. She couldn't have been the girl's real mother. She was too jealous over the one daughter being the center of attention.
The girl dressed as Sailor Moon was excitedly carrying a plastic bag filled with Sailor Moon tapes that she'd obviously just purchased, and her Dad was asking what she wanted to do next. The girl pointed at a booth on other side of the floor, and the group started to walk off.
At that point the Step-Mom offered to carry the girl's tapes. The Step-Mom then swung the bag as hard as she could over her head, slammed the tapes into the floor, and said; "Let's go."
The family then followed the Step-Mom out of the convention, the Dad with his head hanging low, and the girl completely devastated as she tearfully cradled the bag of tapes that she had been so proud of earlier.
What made the whole event particularly cruel was the sneering smile the Step-Mom had as she strutted away.
I sure felt sorry for that little girl. My thoughts about her Step-Mom can't be stated in a public forum. But it rhymes with Witch.
Michael Tierney
www.thewildstars.com |
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/21/2006 1:30:31 AM | >> I'm not sure how much they took in the way of books. Most of what I see in the photos are videos -- and long boxes can hold videos, as well as comics. <<
I was watching the RIAA agent in the photo load up the cart, and I can say that at least some of the long boxes do in fact contain comics. I don't know why these were taken, or if it's legal, or if the retailer got them back, but they were confiscated nonetheless.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm |
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/21/2006 1:30:31 AM | >> I'm not sure how much they took in the way of books. Most of what I see in the photos are videos -- and long boxes can hold videos, as well as comics. <<
I was watching the RIAA agent in the photo load up the cart, and I can say that at least some of the long boxes do in fact contain comics. I don't know why these were taken, or if it's legal, or if the retailer got them back, but they were confiscated nonetheless.
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm | 
opifex
Posts: 92
| Posted: 5/21/2006 1:47:44 AM | That (the comix being grabbed too) sounds kinda creepy. Were yall (the witnesses) allowed a clear view of the proceedings?
There, but for the grace of God...whoops. John B. Vorderkunz | Gemini Man
Posts: 5
| Posted: 5/21/2006 2:40:02 PM | My first post here.
I was at the con on Friday. I'm sure I saw the Michigan State Police there before 4, but at least by 4:30. I left at 6, as I had other things to do.
Calliopes wondered if the police took comic books, too. I don't know for sure. I pretty much stayed away from what was happening. I did see them packing disc after disc and even vcr tapes into comic boxes. Could the police take the comics, too? Yes, they could. If it was on the warrant, they could take your underwear. They might also take anything else that they wanted to, depending on your attitude. They might be forced by a court at a later date to give back what they took, but they can take it.
Under RICO (racketeering laws), if they suspect you are connected to organized crime, they can take EVERYTHING you own, even your house. I suspect this will not happen with these vendors.
Opifex wondered if we had a clear view of what was happening. Yes, we did. They made no attempt to hide what they were doing.
I didn't see the dealers get handcuffed. What I did see was a polite competency from all the officers, Detectives, and others involved. I did see one dealer trying to argue his case with a State Police officer, but it makes no difference to the officer at that point. He is just doing a job at that point.
The fact that this has happened before at a different comics convention should have put an end to dealers carrying illicit tapes and discs, but if there is one thing you can depend on in life, it is that people will continue to do stupid things even after you warn them.
By the way, the con opened at 1:00pm for prepaid ticket holders, 1:30pm for all others. All this happened just 3 hours after the con opened, so it was planned well in advance so that all the enforcement people would be in place.
That's all for now.
|
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/21/2006 7:19:59 PM | >> Were yall (the witnesses) allowed a clear view of the proceedings? <<
With the raid encompassing several different retailers, it was impossible to witness everything, of course. But I watched the RIAA guy in the pictures load up these boxes onto the cart.
Anyone else out there see anything?
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm |
Jim Johnson
Posts: 461
| Posted: 5/21/2006 7:19:59 PM | >> Were yall (the witnesses) allowed a clear view of the proceedings? <<
With the raid encompassing several different retailers, it was impossible to witness everything, of course. But I watched the RIAA guy in the pictures load up these boxes onto the cart.
Anyone else out there see anything?
- JJ
"You can live your life in a thousand ways,
But it all comes down to that single day
When you realize what you regret,
Which you can't reclaim but you can't forget."
www.facebook.com/QuiGonJimm
www.twitter.com/QuiGonJimm | 
Brent Frankenhoff
Posts: 3930
| Posted: 5/22/2006 8:10:57 AM | For more on Jim's observations of the show, click here.
| Mr70
Posts: 1
| Posted: 5/23/2006 2:49:58 AM | Well the Rico act could take affect once convicted. These people were not (and from what I have heard still not) charged. The RIAA are just guys with nice jackets. They are not law enforcement and have no authority to confiscate property themselves. So much of what THEY did was illegal. So if charges are pressed your pictures and statements might come into play. Sorry.
| 
Tony Isabella
Posts: 1711
| Posted: 5/23/2006 6:20:40 AM | But the law enforcement officers with them were certainly acting within the scope of their legal authority/obligations.
Forgive me if I shed few tears for pirates of copyrighted material. I just wish they could raid the online pirates who do much the same thing with copyrighted comic books. I would literally dance in the street to watch them pry the computers away from the moist soft hands of those comics pirates.
But that's me. I know of at least one comics writer of my generation who applauds such piracy.
Tony
|
John Jackson Miller
Posts: 1007
| Posted: 5/23/2006 11:17:05 AM | I haven't had a chance to return to this subject since I got back from the show, but I thought I would add some other notes from my time at the show before I get into any personal opinions. I'll also post this as an update in the top of the thread.
• Why here? Several dealers and insiders I spoke with said they had been told that a video dealer under charges in another municipality had "flipped," directing police to four specific dealers at the convention. Then, once in the hall, the RIAA had the police expand the search to include ten other dealers, some of whom had very small amounts of merchandise relative to their other wares. The officers I spoke with on the scene did not confirm or deny these reports.
Another source said one of the RIAA's few field offices is in Detroit.
• Both film and TV programs were apparently targeted. Looking at items that were left on shelves after the raid — and allowed to be returned to shelves later in the day — many speculated that, either owing to the limits of the MPAA's bailiwick or perhaps something in the warrant, TV programs and anime weren't targeted in the raid.
But a source closer to the investigation said there was actually a "hit list" of specific items that did include some prerecorded television programs. (Since many of the same studios that make films also own TV content, that makes a certain amount of sense.)
And contrary to one of the rumors that circulated, I must say that on my several tours of the room before the raid took place, I did not see any visible signs of any "in-theaters-now" films on DVD. I obviously can't swear there was no Da Vinci Code or the like in the room somewhere, but there were no blatant displays such as I've seen at other shows "back in the day," when one might see new releases playing on TV screens in booths.
• Local TV showed up, but didn't make it into the room. At least one local TV station did a report on the raid from the scene on Friday, but the cameras remained outside the actual assembly center.
There did not appear to be local newspaper coverage immediately afterward, either — the Detroit News running a "Holy Comic Con, Batman!" piece on Saturday touting the Batman TV show anniversary celebration and making no mention of the arrests. (Actually, as of this writing, there still doesn't appear to be anything in the Detroit News about it.)
• Tempers flared. Right at the beginning of the raid, CBG columnist Jim Johnson and I were standing at the booth of one agitated dealer who was in a heated discussion with a plainclothes officer over whether the state had a right to look inside his booth. The dealer contended that, as he was subletting the space from the convention as an agent of the Rock Financial Showplace, that space thereby became his "store," and thusly the state would need a search warrant specifically for that -- as opposed to one for the entire center.
The officer was adamant, saying that if the dealer didn't cooperate, the entire booth would be impounded -- as happened elsewhere (as seen in Jim's images of comics boxes and all being carted away). The dealer called his lawyer and finally assented, shutting down the booth temporarily.
His partner reopened the booth later in the evening, shifting merchandise displays to compensate for the material that had been removed.
• It was a Friday phenomenon. Because of the reopened retailers altering their displays — and because of neighboring retailers claiming the booth space of retailers who did not return to set up — there was no way on Saturday or Sunday for a newcomer to tell that anything had happened on Friday. Except, possibly, in that the selection of video merchandise was thinner...
Best,
John Jackson Miller
Comics & Fiction at Faraway Press
Comics circulation resarch at The Comics Chronicles
Webcomic: Sword & Sarcasm | Gemini Man
Posts: 5
| Posted: 5/23/2006 3:53:04 PM | RICO laws might not come into play in this case, but the RICO statutes allow for instant seizure of all the property. If you are found not guilty later, the State would have to return the property.
| PM
Posts: 219
| Posted: 5/23/2006 5:17:40 PM | This is one small step in attempts to stomp out piracy.
There's a long way to go.
Phillip Miller
| perryparsons
Posts: 16
| Posted: 5/23/2006 9:19:35 PM | I agree with Tony; I won't be shedding any tears for these dealers. I watched the agent/officers pack up two of the booths (actually they had the dealers packing up their own stuff) and I didn't see any comic books being taken. But again, I don't really feel sorry for these guys if the lost a few boxes of comics. I'm sure that the owners of the copyrights they have been ripping off for years have lost a lot more than that.
One thing that really amazed me was seeing fans actually trying to browse through the dvd's at one of the tables as the dealer was being handcuffed by the police. Of course the police were waving these people away from the table. Do these fans really not realize that these dvd's aren't legal?
I've been going to conventions for years (including Motor City) and have never understood why this type of raid didn't occur at every one of them. I also don't understand why the promotors of these shows have allowed these dealers to even set up at the conventions.
I can say that the police and agents I saw were being very polite to the dealers and the other people working at these booths; and they were polite to the fans walking by as long as those fans followed their instructions to stay away from the merchandise on the tables. It was clearly a planned sting and they seemed to descend on all of the targeted booths at the same time.
It will be very interesting to see if this has an effect on the future of these types of booths at other shows.
Other than that issue, it was a great show. The new locale is great.
Perry
| PM
Posts: 219
| Posted: 5/23/2006 10:26:00 PM | As with anything people acclimate.
So the more one illegally downloads or buys illegal items then the easier it can become.
| tapearso
Posts: 38
| Posted: 5/24/2006 10:51:34 AM | I have a question:
Since when is a LOBBYING CONCERN, i.e. the RIAA allowed to deploy "Agents" to accompany law enforcement??
Can any entity with a concern bef. the federal government buy a bunch of blue jackets with gold stitching and go around with the authorities directing acitivities??
What would happen if suddenly your business was invaded by the police being directed by some guys in blue jackets with "Vermont Restaurant Association" ( or "VRA" to seem more official ) and they just started siezing stuff and told you to cooperate or they would take it all??
The RIAA is a TRADE ASSOCIATION with business bef. the government and nothing more.
Has anybody asked how the RIAA could do this?
-Trevor
|
Maggie Thompson
Posts: 1049
| Posted: 5/24/2006 11:51:57 AM | If the Vermont Restaurant Association had had reports that dogmeat was being sold as veal and reported it to law enforcement officials and offered to send a forensic meat evaluator along to aid those law enforcement officials, my guess is that it would be invited to do so.
I have no idea concerning the specifics of this event, but it does involve copyright (a federal matter) and experts who could quickly identify which material is legitimately distributed and which is not.
Best,
Maggie Thompson | Gemini Man
Posts: 5
| Posted: 5/24/2006 9:09:29 PM | This was not a sting. A sting is where you set up a circumstance where a criminal or person of a criminal mindset does something in order to arrest them. A common way that this is done is to send out notices in the mail to known criminals that the police have not been able to catch, telling them that they have won a prize or trip. When the criminals show up, they are arrested.
These people were clearly doing something illegal and doing it in plain sight. They got busted for it. That is what this was--- a bust.
The RISS has the authority to do what they do because a law or several laws were written giving them the ability to be involved in these busts. I don't know what those laws are, so I certainly wouldn't try to say what they are, but as long as they have a warrant for the bust, people will get arrested.
| Gemini Man
Posts: 5
| Posted: 5/24/2006 9:10:39 PM | RIAA. Sorry.
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opifex
Posts: 92
| Posted: 5/25/2006 4:56:46 PM | I'm no lawyer (don't get me wrong I AM full of sh!t, I just haven't taken the bar), but a few things seem iffy here to me.
JJM mentioned that the search *may* have been extended beyond the original warrant.
Gemini mentioned that the cops are allowed to take anything they want; they'll return it to you at some point if it wasn't contraband.
So, follow my conspiracy addled brain here for a moment:
Agents of a large commerical organization (I realize the RIAA is a LOBBY group but that just makes them an extension of the commerical enterprise itself, so let's skip the semantics) direct police in the confiscation of property, of which the illicitness is To Be Determined.
SO, if any of these sellers had LEGAL material that was confiscated to be returned well after the convention ends, then the RIAA has effectively used the police to defeat fair market competition.
Just a theory.
There, but for the grace of God...whoops. John B. Vorderkunz |
Michael Tierney
Posts: 874
| Posted: 5/25/2006 6:56:28 PM | Speaking from personal experience, recoving confiscated materials from the police can be difficult, and tedious.
When I was a teenager, someone stole all my 8-track tapes and headphones out of my car (hey... it was the early Seventies!).
When the officer investigating the crime asked if I had any idea, I replied that I knew who did it. Work had gotten to me weeks before that a co-worker at the newspaper mailroom (my High School job) was planning the theft.
Based on that information, the police raided his house. Everything in that house was stolen. Even the beer in the refrigerator!
It took nearly two years to get my stolen material returned. And even then, a lot of switching had occured in my tape selection. Some good music was lost, and replaced by some terrible stuff, like an 8-track tape of Yoko (Oko?) Lennon.
That tape was nothing but coordinated screaming! Seriously. To give you an idea of how bad it was, one of the tracks was titled: "Don't worry Kyoko, Mommy's only looking for her hand in the snow."
If real merchandise has been confiscated, who knows when, or if, they'll ever see it again. By the time they get it back, the material could be as obsolete as my old 8-track tapes!
Michael Tierney
www.thewildstars.com | WSadler
Posts: 52
| Posted: 6/5/2006 12:21:42 AM | Without holding any brief for pirates, or making any excuses for them, and not having been able to attend many cons for the past few years (sob!), I am willing to admit, in advance, that I'm mistaken about this . . . but . . . for some time, hadn't there been sort of 'keep it on the down-low' sales of 'questionable' videos, etc., in dealers' rooms at various cons? I mean, were all those tapes in 'handmade' titleboxes that used to be sold within strict bounds of copyright and trade guidelines? Maybe they were, but they didn't look it. I never bought any of those tapes, but I certainly noticed them.
If I'm wrong, then, with a few exceptions (like those guys at Motor City Con and maybe scattered rogues here and there), virtually ALL tapes sold at cons have indeed been 'clean, pure and legal,' they just appeared otherwise. Or maybe 'amateur' dubbing and selling of tapes was considered, 'ok' back then. And, of course, there may have been a 'that-was-then-this-is-now' giant cleanup and sweep out of such things.
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