Hyman Strachman, 92-Year-Old Movie Pirate, Boosts Soldier Morale With Free DVD Shipments

Meet Hyman Strachman, probably the nation's most patriotic movie pirate.

For the past eight years the 92-year-old widowed World War II veteran has sent hundreds of thousands of illegal copies of movies free to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He burned the DVDs at his apartment on Long Island, knowing full well he was breaking the law, he told The New York Times. He is considered a hero in the eyes of the troops.

Of course, Strachman isn't the only American to devote his time to helping troops. The American Legion and Packages from Home are just some of the organizations dedicated to bettering the lives of men in uniform.

Read the NYT's entire profile of Hyman Strachma here

Movie piracy like Strachman's costs the U.S. economy $58 billion a year, according to an Institute for Policy Innovation figure cited by Freakonomics. More extreme estimates go as high as $250 billion a year, but Freakonomoics concluded that a true figure is impossible to calculate.

Some movie pirates, unlike Strachamn, do get punished. Hana Beshara, a 30-year-old woman known in cyberspace as "Queen Phara," was recently sentenced to nearly two years in prison for running a downloading service for pirated movies and TV shows, according to law.com.

Some in Hollywood have come to believe it's more than just cheap prices that draw consumers to pirated DVDs. At least one copy of the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo DVD appears to be nothing more than a DVD-R with the movie's title written with a black sharpie marker.

Hollywood has long been a morale booster for U.S. troops. The United Services Organization has been sending celebrities to entertain U.S. soldiers abroad for decades.

A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America expressed gratitude that the industry could provide entertainment far afield, according to the NYT.

It wasn't a salute, but it wasn't a condemnation either.

Comments

[Sean 6399]

03:47 AM on 04/29/2012

The guy is a thief.

[Kegfarms]

11:03 PM on 05/10/2012

Nope. He is a copyright infringer.

[dadw5boys]

12:09 AM on 04/29/2012

No one told this poor old man that most of the U.S. Troops has access codes that will allow them to watch any movies on any channel they can get for free. Priority Codes and they have code breakers too.
Poor old man might face charges he would not have if someone told him.
I have seen youtube Videos where they can play any video game on any machine using the codes they have. And getting movies is much easier.

[Almondo]

08:32 PM on 04/28/2012

An interesting and indisputable fact is that if the recipients would have never bought these movies had they not been sent to them then the true loss as a result of his action is exactly $0.00.

[koos458]

07:55 PM on 04/28/2012

I agree with the previous posters. Charging $20 for a DVD is a form of piracy. They'd make a lot more money if they sold DVDs for $5-10.

[Genders]

04:41 PM on 04/28/2012

That's free Enterprise, right? Don't need no stinking republic to regulate things, do we?

Well GOP and conservatives?

[castlerider]

01:01 PM on 04/28/2012

Hollywood should charge 8 dollars a DVD movie instead of 20. They'd make a lot more money in the long run, because that would be just about a good enough price for people not to bother with copying.

[King7David]

02:14 AM on 05/03/2012

Hey castle rider, even $8.00 is to much. They should be selling it for $5.00 dollars like Walmart.

[Bartolo27]

10:46 PM on 04/27/2012

Breaking the law?! BULL SHET. My ex was at Balad air base and spent 2 1/2 years in Iraq. The US military sold Pirate movies on the base to the soldiers and private employees for Brown and Root Halliburton etc. Better stop the Air Force from pirating movies first. They are stealing a lot more than one old man whose heart is in the right place.

[TeamNesscob]

09:10 PM on 04/27/2012

Ok, Hollywood needs to stop complaining about piracy taking away from profits because Hollywood is greedy, if they would stop charging $15.99 for a DVD people wouldn't pirate, how about Hollywood lower the prices on DVD's then they would see their sales increase! People are unemployed they dont want to spent $20 on a movie! Stop being greedy HOllywood and FYI online piracy does not make the economy suffer

[Jarrod38]

08:50 PM on 04/27/2012

Keep it up Hyman.

[loki]

07:19 PM on 04/27/2012

so if he burned them,and the troops accepted them knowing they are illegal, then everyone involved should be arrested for distributing and accepting illegal merchandise. If they dont, then they are saying its ok for some to accept or distribute illegal merchandise, but not others, and the law is useless.

[Aeryn Reid]

11:41 AM on 04/30/2012

I am waiting for Leon Panetta to issue a statement about being "shocked and disgusted". I guess if the soldiers pose with some dead taliban holding the dvds or something? ;)

[obe4]

06:02 PM on 04/27/2012

Way to go Hymann.

[Erdgeist]

05:43 PM on 04/27/2012

Gee, why doesn't Hollywood 'sort of do' what Newman's Own Foundation does who sells Newman's Own food products in our supermarkets? How about giving FREE DVDs to our troops?

[wizardneedsbeer]

03:16 PM on 04/27/2012

I dont think the punishment will be too bad
(for doing the right thing in the wrong way )

[stargazer13]

02:41 PM on 04/27/2012

well considering they don't get paid as much as the merc,s

they really can not afford it

Hollywood should have thought of this in my opinion
could have called it it supporting our troops in harms way

[Brian1111]

02:39 PM on 04/27/2012

Is this what you call spreading the wealth around? Since the movie industry seems to be big supporters of this idea to take from the wealthy and give to the poor/middle-class, I am guessing they will all stand up and call Mr. Strachman a hero.