Early shoppers who lined up quick at their local video vendors this morning got a one-time special treat with their DVD copies of The Dark Knight.  No, not the free digital download code that allows you to get a second copy of the billion-dollar actioner (unless, of course, you own a Mac, or want to be able to play it on your iPod, or something crazy like that).

No, I'm talking about the hilariously misguided -- though is there any other kind -- anti-piracy 'public service' advertisement that precedes the movie.  Anyone who ponied up for a copy of the latest Christoper Nolan Batman flick -- and are thus by definition not engaging in piracy -- got to watch a bunch of footage from Casablanca in which Rick Blaine estimates those who would violate studio policy as being morally somewhere south of Major Strasser.

There are a lot of genuine arguments to be made in favor of the anti-piracy stance.  But exhuming the corpses of people involved in the creation of a classic Hollywood film and pressing them (without consent, naturally) into the sevice of the corporate digital rights management issue -- which is unquestionably a political one more than it is a moral one -- is a lot sleazier than buying a DVD and making a copy for a friend.  You stay classy, Warner Brothers.

Related Posts:

Why So Serious?  The Dark Knight in the Political World

Apple Falls Far From Tree