Dodgycam film piracy up 20 percent

Cinema staff have been asked to remain vigilant to identify criminal syndicates taking dodgy camcorder footage of films, with that form of piracy up 20 percent in the region in the past year.

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) said that 99 illegal recordings had been "forensically matched to theatres in the Asia-Pacific" this year alone.

"This represents a 20 percent increase over the same period in 2009, when there were 82 [incidents]," the federation said.

"We are fortunate in Australia that our movie exhibitors are highly diligent when it comes to identifying and preventing possible illegal recordings in cinemas,"AFACT executive director Neil Gane said.

"However, we encourage both cinema staff and audiences alike to stay on the alert."

The dodgy films could be distributed on the internet within hours of the recording, Gane said.

In response AFACT has updated a training package for cinema employees, which ominously deconstructs the server network elements it alleges were used by criminal syndicates to share illegally-recorded films on the internet.