As was mentioned previously on Breakdown, Slashdot is reporting that Ohio has passed a law that prohibits all recording devices in a theatre. According to the original AP wire article, three quarters of all movie leaks come from industry insiders, and bootleg copies via handheld cameras are poor reproductions at best. Yet the Motion Picture Association of America has enough lobbying might to push through a broad and ambiguous bill that goes far beyond the stated goal of curbing piracy. This law now makes using a recording device around copyrighted video material a felony, i.e., the kind of crime that could cause you to lose your right to vote, your right to bear firearms, or your right to stay in the country. The problem is that we are talking about a copyright violation here, not a violent crime, and that draconian safeguards have a tendancy to be misapplied whenever it is in the best interest of the government or corporation to abuse them. The MPAA has every right to defend their intellectual property, but the government must be held to their responsibility to defend civil liberties and represent the interests of all of the people, especially those who can not afford lobbyists.