As reported by CNN, a former employee of the Department Of Labor recently confessed to running a bootleg DVD operation out of the department’s Washington D.C. headquarters. Now, we don’t really follow what’s happening in the government here at The A.V. Club—at least beyond which political figures are being lampooned on The Simpsons this week—so we don’t know if this is the biggest scandal to have ever hit the Department Of Labor, but it is certainly a scandal. Also, we’re not sure what the Department Of Labor is or does, but that’s not really relevant. (It has nothing to do with giving birth, right?)
Anyway, the guy—Ricardo Taylor—pleaded guilty to a federal charge of copyright violation, and he was sentenced to 24 months of probation with no time in prison. Taylor worked in the Department Of Labor for over 30 years and was the supervisor of its mailroom until he left in 2013. Luckily for him, the office had a five-bay DVD burner which he used to get his movie pirate business off the ground. Apparently, he’d sell the copied DVDs for “$4 or $5 each,” and he would also use his official Department Of Labor e-mail and contacts to take the orders (which is probably a bigger issue). Taylor also kept detailed records of who had bought what but, unfortunately, those records haven’t been released, so we don’t know how high up in the government this operation goes. What are the odds Obama has a copy of Gravity with the title written right on the disc in Sharpie in his collection?