Mayor Launches Anti-Piracy Campaign

Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a campaign to combat film piracy yesterday, stepping up his effort to clamp down on pirated DVDs and illegal videotaping of films.

The announcement came as he signed three bills into law at a ceremony yesterday, including one that stiffens penalties for illegally filming movies, making it a misdemeanor offense. Another bill extends health benefits to family members of correction and sanitation employees who die in the line of duty. The third revises the city's lobbying law so lobbyists will no longer be required to list the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of their children. The only exception is if the child of a lobbyist makes a campaign contribution.

The New York film industry loses an estimated $1.49 billion each year because of film piracy, according to an industry-sponsored study.