Hyman Strachman does not look like he would take anything from anyone. “Big Hy” is a serial bootlegger — he is not motivated by money, but by patriotism.
The Long Island resident's seven DVD burners. He copies new movie releases for the sake of boosting the morale of U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Strachman believes he's shipped over 300,000 bootleg movies to troops since he started his little hobby in 2004. Which costs Strachman about $30,000 a year.
“Our downtime is spent watching movies as we clean our weapons,” one handwritten note said.
Strachman gets bootleg copies from a dealer at a local barbershop. He then clones them to blank DVD's seven at a time.
The MPAA's only statement on the matter. “We are grateful that the entertainment we produce can bring some enjoyment to them while they are away from home.”
Source: nytimes.com