Can I ask a question. Does this mean I'm not allowed to send home made DVDs (family videos, etc) to friends in the UK? Cause how will the dogs tell the difference?

Do what we used to do in the Army - use powdered aniseed on the package, one good sniff and the dogs out of commission for quite a while.

Also, put mothballs in with the DVD / CD wrapping - this will keep all the other sniffer dogs away.

We used aniseed and dried (powdered) blood to neutralise tracker dogs on Army exercises!

I hear the dogs are forming a guild and have a new program to teach Hollywood execs to sniff out good scripts. Perhaps they will finally make a good movie.

wtf what if your parcel contained a DVD with videos of your family or other private stuff, that is just f*cking breaking into your privacy.....

I knew some day my tax dollars would buy one more waste of money project. I just figured it would be monkeys who fling poo at anyone smuggling dvd's. Not dogs.

ROFLMAO

FACT trains sniffer dogs to locate DVDs
11 May 2006 16:41 by Dela

The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) is celebrating after successfully training two sniffer dogs, Lucky and Flo, to locate DVDs. The two black Labradors were part of a project supported by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Eight months after their training commenced, the dogs can now successfully locate DVDs amongst other cargo items. The dogs passed a test at FedEx's UK hub at Stansted Airport where they were successful in identifying packages and parcels containing DVDs.

However, since legitimate pressed DVDs smell pretty much the same as counterfeit DVDs, the DVDs the dogs successfully located were in fact legitimate. In total the dogs identified three packages, which customs officers then opened. Despite the failure of the dogs to locate a single counterfeit DVD, FACT is claiming the initiative as a great success. Usually dogs are used only to find explosive substances or drugs.

"This is the first time dogs have been used anywhere in the world to search for counterfeit DVDs and the results were amazing," said FACT director general Raymond Leinster. "With the cooperation and assistance of FedEx and Customs we were able to properly test the dogs in a real life situation and prove that they can work in a busy airport environment." Mary Callahan of the MPAA also praised the dogs. "Lucky and Flo’s immediate success in locating DVDs in transit offers us a new and highly effective means of detection for counterfeit discs." she said.

Source:
The Register

It sounds like the dogs are seizing lots of ditch weed in those packages. MPAA idiots who smoke too much of it, just might get the crazy idea, that a dog can smell DVDs and tell one from another. People can't tell the difference either unless they work all day in factory which presses them.

Somebody ought to rig a booby trapped package for those suckers and the file lawsuits for false arrest. We aren't going to buy their CDs and DVDs that are pre-packed with smell of fresh $h!+. Then again, you don't need a dog to pick up that awful scent...

This is nothing. I'm being sued by the MPAA. I train my dogs to smell out crap and they attacked four MPAA execs...sheesh

"FACT has so far been successful in seizing over 2 million pirated DVDs during 2005."

Yet only caused 21 million ppl more taxes and 6-8 weeks long shipping delays and cost FedEx millions of customers.

Pfft. These dogs are nothing! My golden retriever is cuter, and not only finds DVD's, but chews them into unrecoverable oblivion!

Pirates, fear my pooch.

P.S. He also finds and destroys remote controls, digital and analog wires, pillows, etc. Will work for food.

lmao..

Thanks man. That was great.

I've got a cat that can do similar damage. Perhaps I should hire him out the RIAA.

bulls***

So what do illegal DVD's smell like? And how do they smell different from a DVD that I would burn with home video on it and send to my grandma?

dude, the dogs are british, they have powers!

These idiots are getting WAY out of control!

So does this now mean that I have to worry about damage & delays every time I order DVDs (recorded or blank) online? If this is so, who doesn't order blank media in quantities of at least 50, usually 100 or more?, or are they able to distinguish between virgin and burned media? Can they sniff out both R and RW?

AND if they do sniff out virgin blank media, whatcha wanna bet they'll "make a note" of any bulk orders of blank media they discover?...and mark the receiver as a potential pirate of course!

I do love this bit of the article..."The packages have been opened but so far no pirated movies have been found." Sounds like tax money well spent to me, how 'bout you? ROFLOL

Next will they have them on the local forces, stopping anyone with DVD/CDs on their person?

*Rant Warning:*
I say put our tax money to legit use, not funding to protect private corporations' assets. I wonder if the gov't would kowtow to "we the people" if we were all to play "big business" and claim losses because we didn't meet out "projected" earnings each year!

STOP THE MADNESS!!!

sing along with me..."if I had a hammer...there'd be no more MPAA/RIAA/FACT members..." (insert maniacal laugh here)

The question in my mind is "Are the dogs capable of distinguishing bootleg DVDs from normal DVDs?" If they aren't then this is all a colossal waste of time. There are underground DVDs that are so sharply produced it's hard for anyone to tell them apart from legitimate pressings.

If the dogs are sniffing out printer ink (used for dustjackets) or sharpie pen (used to mark CDs and DVDs) then it's equally useless.

What about private plane to southern Ireland... into lorry... drive to Northern Ireland... then ferry across to England.

"Hide in plain sight"

And what if the pirate copies are shipped with a number of legit DVDs? The pirates could even ship the same legit DVDs back and forth.

In fact if the package appears to come from a recognized outlet I doubt if they will open it.

(AFAIK) Tesco's DVD come from Jersey. So simply make the package appear to come from Tesco.

Just a thought !

I think bourgeoisdude is working for the entertainment industry. I've read 7 posts (in the span of 1 hour) by this user and they are all the same drivel lawyers for the MPAA/RIAA recite religiously. It wouldn't surprise me if he was one of their crony’s trying to generate buzz and support for yet another failed policy. Instead of understanding the underlying social issues of why some of these items are pirated, they’ve decided to form another consortium with another fancy acronym. The FACT of the matter is, it's another failed policy and a waste of resources. Here's a thought how about actually have all packages coming into a country sniffed for drugs, people, biological, chemical, or nuclear material. Just a thought but hey that doesn't generate revenue for the MPAA, personal safety is low on the list of priorities. Only in the world of Hollywood would hiring dogs to sniff packages for movies makes absolute sense. Who says Hollywood is out of touch.

I assume the reply to this message will be from bourgeoisdude and yes I did read the article.

So in your world:

Respect, Integrity, Ethics, Morals and Responsibility = Working with RIAA?

Funny, I thought RIAA employees would be the exact opposite.

the MPAA/RIAA companies have a long history of Extortion. Until now they could only do it to there own. look back in the 40's. This year it's Pellicano. Pellicano might take down most of the top leaders of the MPAA/RIAA. Show everyone how Ethical they really are. But they do write the news..

I will counter your argument by saying--

WOW! Someone has actually read 7 of my posts! I feel important now! :)

I work for a callcenter doing extended warrenty tech support for PCs, if you must know.

Sit Ubu sit, good dog! Woof!

You know...I betcha this is the reason the Music and Movie industry is losing so much money. Not because of Piracy, but because they are spending all this money on training dogs to sniff out DVDs...........

I have an idea! Let's spend government $$$ on doing a study to determine how much money wasted on training dogs to sniff DVDs! There's where the money is wasted--RIAA are the least of our worries IMO.

As long as these dogs can't sniff out ones and zero's in the digital realm, all is good in the world

LOL, packet sniffers :D

next they will be suing old grandmas...

oh wait, THEY ALREADY DID!

LOL! Yeah, RIAA/MPAA/whatever they are called today/ really went too far on that one. Especially regarding suing that DEAD guy. Yes, "mmmEntertainmentIndustryDroppings", even I must agree that RIAA/etc. (LOL) went a little far on that one.

You know, back before things became so stuffy when travelling (like the "did you pack your own bags" question is really going to put the kibosh on some jack head looking to go jihad on someone), I was tempted to put dog bones in my buddies luggage to see if the drug dogs would pick it up and he'd get hauled off the plane.

Now it looks like I should smear peanut butter on the inside of a CD case and stick it in his bag. My dog goes nuts for peanut butter, I wonder how they'd react. ;-)

I can see how they're going to train the dogs now. "OK Fedo (notice FedEx is hosting this), if you smell up to five DVDs, then it's OK, but if you smell six or six hundred, you go nuts."

Glad to see that the MPAA is making enough off of the CDs to be able to fund this sort of crud.

I think artists should drop the labels altogether and just start putting their stuff for sale directly on iTunes. Imagine how much money they'd make even on a $0.99 sale? Probably at least 50 cents and that's probably more than they make per song now.

I couldn't stop laughing when I read this on Slashdot 6 hours ago....

What a total waste of money.

Morons.

Stopping 2 million illegal DVDs is hardley a waste of money to me, but--heh--maybe I'm the moron.

It's like they think they can do any good. It will cost more money per year to run their operation than the money they save on piracy.

It's the same with the drug war. They will never win it. They need to just legalize drugs and tax them just like Alcohol and Tobacco. You think Alcohol is not worse than Weed? Come on.

They'll spend 50 billion dollars just to save
20 billion dollars.

People sure love to make departments to run other departments and companies to supervise other companies, etc. No wonder our country has a huge amount of debt.

I don't know. I bet the two dogs can't be that expensive.

Dog License - $10
Weekly Dog Food Bill - $30
Dude to walk the dogs and pick up poop - $10hr
Catching 2 million illegal DVDs - Priceless

roflmao...

That was awesome. Almost lost another keyboard there. (And this one cost me $70)

Was it a Logitech? :)

Was?

Still is.

G15. Yummy. I just wish they put a damn ROM chip in there to store the macros on the keyboard instead of in software.

My brother says that Logitech makes the best keyboards and mice. I agree with him.

Just a friendly reminder--read the article before posting. That way it doesn't make you look bad since the RIAA and MPAA have little if anything to do with this story. FACT is doing the work, and MPAA is just telling them "We're behind you guys." That's the extent of MPAA's involvement here (which, by the way, started THIS year and not in 2005).

I heard that crack sniffing dogs are fed with crack because they have to recognise the smell. Does it mean that the FACT feeds the dogs with DVDs?

They eat that new format DVD-RB, or DVD-ReByteable :)

They need to make jokes that bad a federal crime.

DHL is cheaper anyway...lol.

I know you are just being sarcastic, but just in case you aren't, FedEx is only ONE example, they will cover ALL the bases, USPS, UPS, Flying Tiger, and any other international shipper..

And they ALL go through the same airport.. so once it reaches the terminal EVERY package gets sniffed, regardless of origination.

Don't you guys get it? The only reason this is a "news" story is that the MPAA/RIAA strategy is FUD. If they remind you to be afraid of them, they're effective. They do so by planting feel-good stories like this.

No one give a flying hoo-hoo about a dog, but a dog is cute. Dogs "fight crime"... that's what this is about.

I don't have any problem with Customs snaring illegal, pirated stuff. That's awesome. But leave it to the MPAA morons to take credit for the hard work that Border Agents do for us every day. Shameful.

Very true. Its all a big reminder.

You missed it too--MPAA BACKED the "FACT" in doing this, but FACT was doing this before the MPAA was even involved. Please read the FBI Warning screen on your next DVD movie. It is HIGHLY illegal to smuggle DVDs, CDs, or even VHS tapes internationaly, and always has been. Yes--even before RIAA and MPAA existed it was illegal to transfer "movie reels" to any foreign nation. Look it up.

Is May 11 the equivalent of April Fool's anywhere???

GAY.......................!!
Waste of time, and invasion or privacy!

If you smuggle illegal merchandise, how is that invasion of privacy?

Its only invasion of privacy if they search the wrong bag, but how are they going to know that?

I guess criminals should just announce themselves?

By law, customs may check *any* bag entering or leaving the country.

Privacy has nothing to do with it. It's all part of a little thing called "National Security".

Being able to also check for illegal substances/goods is just a perk.

So how do they understand the difference between a legit DVD containing personal information and an illegal copy of a movie? Do illegal movies smell differently :)

If not are they going to search every package that contains a DVD?

Never have noticed the difference between burned DVDs and pressed DVDs before, eh? Actually, almost all DVDs that travel internationally are likely illegal--geez, nobody reads those "FBI warning" on the screen before the DVD movie plays? Try to read it on the next DVD you play--oh, that's right! You don't legally own any DVD's, correct?

There isn't a link to the original article, but that is EXACTLY what they are doing. If the dog "hits" on a package, they open it. The article stated that the dogs were surprisingly successful and that MOST of the packages were legitimate/legal DVD's.

Really wanna mess with them? Ship DVD's with every package, label the DVD as "random movie name" but leave it either a) blank or b)put a home movie of you peeing on the **AA symbol. They will have to open and view the DVD to see if a crime has been committed. Good way to waste their time.

Not really. DVDs sold in my country are pressed in another country. That's not uncommon in other places as well. Anyway, they can detect DVD media, then a human :P reads the transport manifest and sees how it's declared and the company sending it.

Anyway, I don't believe dogs can detect that easily DVD media. But I might be wrong. :D

Don't leave it blank. Burn something to it so they cannot write said "random" movie to it.

Use the discs as cocaine sniffing surfaces first ... it'll drive the biches wild!

funny thing about getting searched by dogs is, all you need to do is put red pepper powder on your luggage and it will kill their noses, then bam no more doggy problems huh?

oh and i doubt very highly the mpaa has the authority to search you should you resist.

Dude, how 'bout a hit of whatever you've got, please!

"oh and i doubt very highly the mpaa has the authority to search you should you resist."

Did you read the part of the article that says "The MPAA has backed the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) in training the two dogs to sniff out DVDs in packages coming into the United Kingdom"? Apparently not.

In case you still missed it--yes, FACT has the authority to search "should you resist". Still unsatisfied? Test the theory for me--"resist" being searched for anything at any airport and see what happens for me :)

You are a dumb ass. You don't think columbians try that? Yeah, that was a scene from "Blow", and it was done 30 years ago, you think they haven't tried that? Along with coffee beans, and perfume?

You need to quit watching the movies, they aren't real.

The MPAA doesn't have the authority you dim wit, that's why they are involving the REAL authorities.. MPAA doesn't employ the dogs, the law enforcment does.

exactly. Why do people not read the articles?

My name is Tony F===ing Montana-- nobody better try to search me or else!!

"You are a dumb ass."

Wonder why nobody hears you out, rijp? That's why. Try editing it to say this:

"The MPAA doesn't have the authority, which is why they are involving the REAL authorities. MPAA doesn't employ the dogs, the law enforcement does."

Says the same thing without the steam. What I have to do when a post infuriates me: read it, wait 5 minutes (or read another betanews article), and THEN post a reply. This makes it harder to be angry at the person and easier to become angry at the issue, because let's face it--you aren't really upset with the person who posted the message, you're upset about the 'type' of person. People who refuse to read, refuse to get an education, and refuse to make any effort towards getting a job, then they blame the government for anything and everything--that type of attitude is ASSLIKE TO THE EXTREME. However, the people themselves are not necessarily evil or asslike. I cannot know their true intentions or their heart, but man their attitude annoys me to the max.

Hate the type, the attitude, the feelings--but not the persons. Wow, way off topic again...

As long as these dogs can't sniff out ones and zero's in the digital realm, all is good in the world

lmao..

You speak to him as if you think he cared about the feelings of the person to whom he responded.

Silly you.... ;)

This is a public forum. If they can't hack a little name-calling, they need to toughen up a bit.

Yeah, it may not be the best way to go about things, but it's not like you're actually going to change rijp, right?

Besides, why be asslike...when you can be an ass?

Actually FACT cannot search you they have no power in this regards. HM Customs and Excise on the other hand do and they work with FACT. The funny thing is the only reason HM C&E have this power is the parts of the Airport or Port they work in aren't British territory so the laws protecting British people normally don't exist here.

However HM C&E regularly raid houses without warrants and this is illegal its just most people don't realise it so nothing gets done about it.

I doubt that they will go too far out of line in the future ever since the EU made a fuss about them illegally blocking personal purchase of goods across the EU.

Anyway the legal standing of HM C&E is very much in doubt and always has been. They can't legally crush vehicles without giving the owner time to take the argument up with the court but in most cases its done within a few days. They're the only office in Britain that exercises power without the right of appeal, they don't actually hold such power and there are more and more cases of people taking the argument up with the courts.

never seen it, but these arent law enforcement dogs these are fact dogs, customs can search my bags all they want, but i doubt you have to submit to searches by these dogs.

so what about shipments of blank dvds? do they smell the same?