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Canadian Movie Camcording Addressed With Legislation

Posted by Zonk on from the cameras-down dept.

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.'"

3 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Does this really matter? by chill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.
  2. Re:My comment to the CBC by Applekid · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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
  3. They started doing that in Toronto.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.