They should be going to prison for their cheesy logo alone

I have Netflix. And Amazon Prime. HBO and a bunch of other non-streaming stuff are part of my cable package. (No, I haven't cut the cord.) Occasionally, there's something that catches my interest on Hulu or AppleTV, but the interest is only fleeting and I don't want to sign up for yet another service.

So I wouldn't have been a candidate for Jetflicks, even if I'd heard of them. Which I hadn't. At least not until I read that five guys who've been running this illicit streaming service since 2007 have been convicted by the Feds in - where else? - Las Vegas.

The streaming service could be subscribed to and provide users with illegal copies of hundreds of thousands of copyrighted television episodes. The five men used "sophisticated computer scripts and software to scour pirate websites" for the copies, officials said in a news release.

Jetflicks had a streaming catalog larger than that of Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Amazon Prime combined, authorities said. (Source: MSN.)

First: Vudu. What in god's name is Vudu?

Second: There's already too much to choose from on Netflix and Prime to sign up for an even larger streaming catalogue. Sure, I'd like to see every episode of Route 66 and Spenser: for Hire when I want them - and they can't always be had - but still not worth adding another subscription. And the moment of desire always passes, anyway. (Intersting, however, that even with choices to infinity and beyond, half the time there's still nothing on.)

The service generated millions in subscription revenue, court documents said, with "tens of thousands" of people subscribing to the service every month.

I wonder whether the subscribers knew they were getting the streaming equivalent of hot goods. Probably not. They probably just thought they were getting a good deal. 

After all, there are folks too naive to understand that some good deals fell off the back of the truck. My mother was one of them.

We had a family friend - the long time girlfriend of my Uncle Charlie - who had a nephew who was a fringe member of the Worcester mob. Sue was always lining up some bargain for my mother. One item was a gorgeous winter coat with a fur collar; another was a Selectric typewriter. We would point out to my mother that the bargains were too good to be true, and that whatever it was had fallen off the truck. 

My mother was an unfailingly honest person. On more than one occasion, I had to trek over, dime in hand, to the neighborhood grocery store when my mother discovered that they had undercharged her ten cents for a jar of pickles. 

But she couldn't believe that the bargains Sue lined up where a bit on the shady side. (Her role as a second order black marketer - and her notorious chain smoking - aside, Sue was actually a wonderful woman who'd had a successful career and a rather glamorous life, compared to my mother, anyway. Why she put up with my feckless uncle for all those years remains a mystery. They were together for 25 years before he died; she survived him by 30 years. Interestingly, my parents were married for 25 years, and my mother survived my father by 30 years.)

My mother, of course, asked Sue whether the bargains were honestly gotten, and Sue always insisted that her nephew was just good at getting deals. 

Anyway, purchasers of hot goods (and services) may be completely unaware that they're dealing with purveyors of hot good (and services). 

But the Jetflicks Five sure knew that what they were doing was illegal. Four of the five are facing up to five years in prison for "conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement." The fifth man was convicted of additional counts for money laundering. He's looking at up to 48 years.

Me? As a marketer, if I were the judge doing the sentencing, I might just tack on a few months for that cheesy logo. Not to mention the cheesy play on Netflix.