92 year old WWII vet bootlegs 300,000 DVDs and sends them to American soldiers in Afghanastan

[harvz]

the guys a legend, he's brought so much joy to the soldiers in Afghanistan and, as unfortunate as it is for Hollywood that they cant add that new solid gold room to their castle on the moon, he's managed to dish out this joy on such a scale which, were he to buy older movies for say $10 each, is about 100x the scale of if he purchased those movies.

I really dont think that he should be punished, infact, Hollywood should see this as a challenge, to out do his efforts in sending over new release movies on a massive scale.

 

[TurtleCannon]

Piracy- not all that good
Pirating 300,00 DVDs- impressive
Doing it for soldiers- Legendary!

 

[RyoScar]

Even though he's 92 and a war vet, I can see the film companies having no problem trying to sue him into the ground. If they'll sue children, they'll sue him. Sad but probably true.

 

[Breadline]

I love the hypocrisy up in this thread. Almost everybody has just advocated piracy.

Because it was for a good cause. In the greater scheme of things, most of these soldiers have bigger things to worry about than picking up a movie, so it's not like they would have bought them anyway. Might as well get some good PR.

But there are plenty of people on this site who will say that piracy is bad even if the game is unavailable in your area. So how is that any different, still no lost sale?

Then obviously those people who claim piracy is bad no matter availability weren't the ones commenting... You're calling people hypocrites for something different people have said.

You realize how blatantly generalizing that is, right? Escapists don't speak for each other.

 

[ecoho]

Firts and for most this man has my respect,though what he did may be wrong his heart was in the right place.
now to all the missinformed/too selfintitled to actually do reasearch people, who say being a solder isnt worth respecting, these people join up to serve our Country knowing they will almost NEVER get thanked for it,will be abused by the ignorant and be used by politicians to futher their agendas. they still fight for us. they would still die for us. They will do everything in their power to make sure our lives are better. yes even those of you who hate,discredit,and abuse them.

If you have read this a still wish to say solders dont deserve our respect i ask you to leave our country for a place without solders who give a dam about you for you have NO idea what you have in these men and women.

 

[Dryk]

Is there a way for them to readily access current movies over there? If so I'd chalk this up to another case of another gap in demand that pirates have decided to fill.

Even though he's 92 and a war vet, I can see the film companies having no problem trying to sue him into the ground. If they'll sue children, they'll sue him. Sad but probably true.

At the same time, he's well aware of what he's doing, and the article says he feels like it gave him a purpose in life again. I think he's prepared for them to take that away and sue him, at which point he has nothing anyway... well a son... but the son seems to be alright with all this too

 

[Snotnarok]

How did he make that many DVDs??? What a boss.

Time, patience, determination, long fingernails apparently.

OT: Usually everyone on this site hates pirace, no matter what. Even if there's decent reasons this is odd to me.

 

[Xan Krieger]

now to all the missinformed/too selfintitled to actually do reasearch people, who say being a solder isnt worth respecting, these people join up to serve our Country knowing they will almost NEVER get thanked for it,will be abused by the ignorant and be used by politicians to futher their agendas.

Oh how ashamed I am. I have been called out by someone who doesn't seem to have the ability to discern differing values from ignorance on my part. It isn't worth respecting in and of itself. They do get thanked for it from some people. Also doesn't mean they deserve my respect because they don't get thanked for it. One reason gone. Abused by the ignorant? Given your... discerning eye I'm going to guess you mean people who disagree with respecting the military, which isn't such a terrible hardship. And being used by politicians? Signing up after you know that will happen won't gain my sympathy nor respect. No reason for it to. Serving our country is such a vague phrase. It has to actually do a fair amount of good for me to care.

they still fight for us.

Since when did I need someone fighting for me right now? When I need one I'll acknowledge what they did for me. When I don't need one, well then they didn't do anything for me.

they would still die for us.

Okay and that means I should think highly of someone? They'd be willing to die for us? Not good enough really.

They will do everything in their power to make sure our lives are better.

No, I doubt that they all will. And they're not doing it right now for me, so why do I care? My interests aren't being served by them right now.

yes even those of you who hate,discredit,and abuse them.

Yes, because we've shown such terrible animosity by not thinking they deserve free movies.

If you have read this a still wish to say solders dont deserve our respect i ask you to leave our country for a place without solders who give a dam about you for you have NO idea what you have in these men and women.

I'm not leaving. Maybe you should leave.

This kind of post is worthy of a freind request. I fully agree with everything said here. I really don't agree with all this soldier worship. For one thing 2 people I know joined the military because they needed jobs and the military was the only place hiring. They're not fighting for freedom, they're fighting for a paycheck to support their families. I know other people who joined just so they could afford college given the tuition increases. Besides the only people attempting to take away our freedom has been the US government with crap like the patriot act and SOPA. Soldiers to me are no different than anyone else, we're all working to support ourselves, some work in different fields than others.

 

[Elate]

So, I'm a young, naive 19 year old, can I go pirate tens of thousands of DVDs a year and give them out to over seas political representatives? Oh wait, no, it's against the law. This man knows it's against the law, and soldiers sign up for that crap, they know what they're getting into.. How is any of this justified.. Jail, blatantly he won't last long enough, he should be fined, and just because he's old doesn't excuse him of, y'know the law, that applies to everyone, I mean after all, he can spend $30'000 setting up the operation.

 

[Danz D Man]

I read they whole front page and didn't see any jokes about his name being "Hyman".
I am disappointed.

 

[NightHawk21]

I really hope no one goes after this guy for 2 reasons. The first (and obligatory good guy response) is that the man is a vet and old, plus what he did was nice. The second (and what I think is more interesting) is the precedent this would set in piracy cases.

Way I see it, they have two options. Convict the man and throw him in prison for what's left of his life (or at least fine him hard) and commit PR suicide, or don't do anything and leave a nice big thing that can be thrown up against them at any subsequent piracy hearing.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I love the hypocrisy up in this thread. Almost everybody has just advocated piracy.

You'll have to elaborate. While the trend amongst posters here is to be against piracy we do have a minority of people who do support it or don't see it in pure black and white.

 

[Corporal Yakob]

To hell with piracy laws, that is such a damned decent thing to do for soldiers-kudos Mr Strachman!

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

That is so awesome. Soldiers need to be able to relax. Their job is pretty much the definition of stressful and tedious.

 

[Rawne1980]

I love the hypocrisy up in this thread. Almost everybody has just advocated piracy.

It's not hypocrisy if those people have never argued that it's bad to start with.

Not everyone views piracy as a "terrible" thing ... obviously, or it wouldn't exist.