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Canadian Movie Camcording Addressed With Legislation
dottyslashdottydot writes "During Arnold Schwarzenegger's visit to Ottawa yesterday, it was confirmed that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be introducing a bill to make camcording in movie theaters illegal in Canada. However, people are skeptical that this will make any difference in the amount of pirated movies available. Doug Frith, president of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association was quoted as saying, 'is really the first step — not only for the movie industry — where the government has shown it will seriously address the whole area of intellectual-property theft.'"
How big of a deal is this, really?
I've always found captures of camcordered movies to be of crap quality. It has never stopped me from later buying the DVD, or from even going to the theater. From me, they've never lost a dime because of this.
Well, okay. Once when in high school, when living in Europe, the only way we got to see some movies was camcorder rips of U.S. screens. There may be one or two that I never actually paid theater tickets for. This was back in the days of VHS and 300 bps modems.
Still, considering the amount of money being made in theatrical releases, is this really a problem or just another smokescreen?
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Except the MPAA can't summon police forces to take care of inside jobs... that would be civil infractions that wouldn't immediately carry criminal charges (maybe they can peg fraud or something, but IANAL).
If camming is made illegal in the letter of the law, however, now they don't have to do any work though their Intenal Affairs departments. Fighting whatever percentage of priacy that comes from cams can basically become outsourced to government.
More Twoson than Cupertino
I would like to take this opportunuty to thank my American friends for allowing their corporate owned administration to spin so far out of control as to spill their misguided witch hunt into my country. Now not only will YOUR taxpayers money be wasted on chasing, prosecuting, and imprisoning IP "criminals", ours will too!
I would also like to thank my own government for being such slack-jawed pansies and allowing the Governator to actually influence Canadian policy.
I want to wretch.
I refuse to go to a movie theatre that searches people. I used to go 30-40 movies a year, I don't go at all anymore since they started this practice, and I've made sure they know exactly why I'm not attending.
To continue with this. What is next?
Making it illegal to sell illegal drugs to an undercover officer wearing a bikini within 100 yards of a fire hydrant?
My point is that copyright laws, and probably a few other ones, already makes camcording a movie illegal. Or at least the distribtion of it, which is what I would assume the law is designed to prevent.
I'm not a fan of minutely specific laws because 99% of the time a more general law already makes the behavior illegal.
Thats the thing most of what the scene calls good releases are not camra recordings, TS can sometimes be okay, but I think what hurts the industry more is the DVD releases that perviewers leak and such. I mean I love going to the movie, but if its not something I really really am excited about like the 300 or spider-man 3 or what ever and I can get a DVD release and watch it at home without the little kids yelling, I would prefer it.
Thats why I rent and buy a lot of dvds and wait for video release. I don't think camera recordings hurt the industry as much as leaks in their own security. I doubt that this legistlature will effect much, and I don't think it matters too much to people in general. I think it is a slippery slope I hope they don't start writing up bills for pirated music and such like in the states. That would scare me, I know alot of people that use P2P networks up here in Canada. I don't do that kind of thing...