So why do the studios do it? Why do they hassle voters, piss off filmmakers, and risk losing awards (and the financial rewards thereof), just to prevent piracy in a group that isn’t likely to pirate in the first place? It’s because breaking international piracy rings is hard, and stopping individuals from swapping MPEG files on the Internet is impossible. But hassling people who love movies—be we awards show voters or just ordinary moviegoers—is easy, because they know where to find us. In short, the studios are looking for their keys where the light is best, even if it’s miles away from where they dropped them.

Jacob Weinstein has an interesting post about the screener DVDs that the studios send out to people who vote on movie awards.