If you've ever browsed a torrent search engine you've probably been amazed that a great deal of the movies floating around haven't even been released on DVD yet. The obvious question is, how do these "screener" copies get out there? Well, according to this post on Cinematical, Paul Sherman, a freelance movie critic, is being accused of selling 117 movie screener DVDs for $4714. The bad news for Sherman, besides being blackballed by Hollywood, he could face up to a $250,000 fine and 3 years in jail.

Sherman must be shaking in his shoes (and looking for a new line of work) because the MPAA's battle against piracy is starting to resemble the "war on drugs" Ronald Reagan spearheaded in the 1980's, and he could wind up as the MPAA's Pablo Escobar. — Brian Ward

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Technorati tags: piracy, movies, mpaa.