Hong Kong lovers lose privacy as cinemas get night goggles

Bizarre News

Feb 6, 2008, 12:49 GMT

Hong Kong - The back row of the cinema in Hong Kong could lose its appeal for lovers because of a move to issue staff with night-vision goggles, it was revealed Wednesday. The move is aimed at catching pirates making illegal recordings of big movies. However, others fear it will disturb all movie-goers including young lovers enjoying the favourite dating spot immortalized in the Drifters song Kissing in the Back Row of the Movies. The International Federation Against Copyright Theft (Greater China) paid 130,000 Hong Kong dollars (16,000 US dollars) for 23 pairs of the goggles to clamp down on people making illegal recordings. The goggles will be used to check on suspicious behaviour by moviegoers when the lights are turned down during screenings. Federation executive Sam Ho said staff who discover and report anyone making an illegal recording could stand to benefit from a 2,000-Hong-Kong-dollar reward. He stressed the goggles were for surveillance only and did not have a recording function. Assistant professor Chung Kim-wah, of the Polytechnic University's department of applied science, said the idea of surveillance at the cinema was 'offensive,' especially as illegally recording films was not a serious problem in Hong Kong. 'If I knew somebody could see me very clearly in the dark during a two-hour movie, I would definitely be uneasy,' he told the South China Morning Post. It's a feeling shared by young lovers. 'It sounds creepy,' said 15-year-old Rebecca Li, who regularly goes to movies with her boyfriend on dates. 'Cinemas can be romantic when you choose a nice film. A lot of my friends go on dates to movies,' Li said. 'It's nice holding hands, sharing popcorn in the dark. But I would feel really strange if I thought someone could be watching us.' A spokesperson for the International Federation Against Copyright Theft in Hong Kong stressed the goggles would not be used to invade privacy and would be mainly used by investigators and only on request to cinema staff. 'We have internal guidelines to our investigators to prevent the abuse of use of the night vision goggles,' she said. 'The use of the night vision goggles will focus on illegal camcording activity and target suspects only. It will not disturb the romance of the cinema.'

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honestlyspeakingAug 19th, 2008 - 09:59:49

The Pirate coppies are sold even before the movies are relased in Hongkong cinema. And the piracy is controlled by the triads. Infact thwey are given the best position to shoot the movie. If they dont provie them, the triad wouldblow up the cinema.
All goggles purchase is to put themselves in good light.

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