007 'captured' by pirates
2006-11-23 07:27
London - James Bond is normally adept at dodging villains but he fell victim to pirates less than 48 hours after his new film, Casino Royale, was released, an internet intelligence firm said on Wednesday.
The latest film in the British spy series is already circulating on the internet and on illegal DVDs available on the streets of London.
The movie premiered in London on November 14 and went on general release in some countries the following day.
It had already been illegally downloaded off the internet more than 200 000 times by Monday, said Envisional, which specialises in piracy surveillance.
A first version was freely available online on November 17, which apparently came from Russia, was filmed on a camcorder over the heads of a cinema audience and had poor quality sound.
By early November 18, a second, better version, possibly from Italy, hit the web.
"In the face of this international conspiracy, Bond is really up against it," said David Price, Envisional's head of piracy intelligence.
"There are now several million active digital pirates. Many of them are ordinary families that have got into the habit of downloading the latest episodes of American television hits.
"And they don't have any qualms about using file sharing networks to copy new movies without paying."