The NY Times has a wonderful feature on 92-year-old Massapequa, Long Island resident Hyman Strachman who devotedly sends care packages to troops overseas. And what's in the packages? Bootlegged copies of Hollywood blockbusters, which troops receive sometimes before they are even in the States. Strachman admitted to violating copyright laws, but explained, "Every time I got back an emotional e-mail or letter [from a soldier], I sent them another box."
The Times guesstimates that Strachman may have sent 300,000 discs since 2004 (translating to a possible "personal outlay of over $30,000") and offered the poignant, possible motivation behind his actions, "After Mr. Strachman’s wife of more than half a century, Harriet, died in 2003, he discovered a Web site that collected soldiers’ requests for care packages. He noted a consistent plea for movie DVDs and wound up passing his sleepless nights replicating not only the films, but also a feeling of military comradeship that he had not experienced since his own service in the Pacific during World War II."
Strachman buys the movies from bootleggers at Penn Station, uses a professional DVD duplicator to make the copies (he eventually destroys "originals") and sends them to an army chaplain, who pass them on to soldiers. He hasn't had to face the law yet, "I thought maybe because I’m an old-timer." The Motion Picture Association of America's Howard Gantman spoke to the Times, which reports that his "sole comment dripped with the difficulty of going after a 92-year-old widower supporting the troops. 'We are grateful that the entertainment we produce can bring some enjoyment to them while they are away from home,' Mr. Gantman said."
Soldiers will be getting movies like The Artist and Moneyball from Big Hy soon. And, for reference, the man who shared a bootlegged copy of Wolverine before it was released was sentenced to a year in prison.
