Illegal Copying in BuyMorea

My favorite television show incorporated illegal copying into its latest episode in a plotline that proved integral to the episode's outcome.

NBC's "Chuck" deals with an average nerd-next-door who works a low end job at a "Buy More" (think Best Buy). Part of Buy More's "Nerd Herd" (think Geek Squad), Chuck Bartowski was a brilliant electrical engineering student at Stanford, before his roommate--Bryce Larkin---had him kicked out of school, and stole his girlfriend (of course, in the world of dramedies, the plotline is much more extensive than this, but it's a great show that I don't wish to spoil).

Bryce Larkin (Chuck's former roommate/nemesis) ends up working for the CIA. The CIA and the NSA have been compiling all of their data and "secrets" onto a governmental computer. This is known as the "intersect"---the intersection of the NSA and the CIA data. Of course, the "intersect" becomes in demand of every major criminal and terrorist around the globe, all seeking to destroy it in order to preserve their innocence before the US government and to avoid governmental intervention. When Bryce is being attacked by enemy spies, he emails all of the intersect information to Chuck.

When Chuck opens it, all of the NSA and CIA governmental secrets download into his brain. Therefore, Chuck becomes the new "intersect" and is subject to the dangers of every terrorist and criminal group on the globe. The show chronicles his life as both a CIA agent, and as a Buy More employee. Of course, none of his Buy More co-workers can know about his secret spy world.

Chuck Bartowski's best friend and fellow Buy More co-worker, Morgan Grimes, is an underachieving, ethically questionable video game fanatic. He obtains illegal software that allows him to avoid "copy protection" to copy videos, DVDs, CDs, etc. His exchange with Chuck is as follows:

Morgan: "Canada has just delivered its most delightful gift since Shania Twain. Behold, the Q36 Game Copier. Check it out. Now all we have to do is rent a game, rip it, and we never have to pay for our entertainment again."

Chuck: "Yeah, Big Mike is going to be thrilled, seeing as how we SELL video games."

Morgan: "Come on, dude. This thing can ignore all forms of copy protection. It can copy ANYTHING. Highly illegal..."

This device ends up playing a pivotal role in the success of a mission. Chuck and his CIA/NSA cohorts stumble upon data that lists all of the rogue agents of the CIA that have been involved in a corrupt agency known as Fulcrum. Because these agents were embedded within the CIA, they were impossible to detect, and the information is crucial to the CIA/NSA.

After obtaining the information, all seems to go well for Chuck and his girlfriend, Jill---who was his former flame at Stanford and who was stolen from him by Bryce Larkin after being kicked out of Stanford. She has re-entered his life, and their relationship is more passionate than ever.

Unfortunately, a weekend getaway between Chuck and Jill results in Jill being kidnapped. In exchange for her life, Chuck is offered an ultimatum: hand over the Fulcrum operative information, or Jill will be shot.

Chuck hands over the information, which is immediately destroyed by the Fulcrum agent---to the utter despair of Chuck's fellow CIA/NSA operatives.

Thankfully, Chuck was clever enough to use the Q36 Game Copier to overwrite any copy protection on the Fulcrum flask disk, and was able to formulate a copy of the information that the agent was unaware of. The information, then, was preserved, unbeknowsnt to any Fulcrum operatives.

While this is not a realistic example of the uses of copy protection, it certainly is a fun example.

Check out the episode here: http://www.nbc.com/Chuck/video/episodes/?vid=838461#vid=838461