Things like these are when law enforcement have gone a bit too far. The next time you think of recording the cute Jacob transformation scene or Edward’s departure from your mobile phone, consider this. A 22 year old woman from Chicago is jailed and faces up to three years in prison for accidentally recording three minutes of ‘New Moon’ at the theater using a camcorder.

The woman was preparing for a surprise birthday party for her sister, hence she brought the video camera into the theater. While celebrating, she took pictures and videos of friends and family singing ‘Happy Birthday’. Too bad she also accidentally captured a few minutes of footage from ‘New Moon’. A theater worker noticed, grabbed her and ushered her out. The managers called in the police when they saw that the woman had taped “two very short segments.”

Now she could have been warned and sent away. But the managers insisted on pressing charges instead, which resulted in her being taken away by the police and spending two nights in jail before her release. Now she faces up to three years in jail for one count of criminal use of a motion picture exhibition. “It was never my intention to record the movie,” she defended herself.

Other than the astounding fact that there was a birthday party going on inside a movie theater, this is no fault of the studio but rather of greedy theater managers who were too harsh on someone who wasn’t aware of the situation. Did they really think she would upload a bad quality 3 minute footage of the movie mixed with screams and cheering on the internet illegally?

Either way, beware the next time you try to do this as I’ve personally seen people recording songs or action scenes especially with hot new releases.

Was the decision deserved?