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Canadian Fined For Videoing Movie In Theatre
canadian_right writes "A Calgary man was fined $1,495 and banned from theaters for a year in the first conviction under a new Canadian law making recording a movie in a theater a crime. Until the new law took effect in 2007, prosecutors had to show evidence of distribution to get a conviction; now, recording without permission is sufficient. The Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association was disappointed that jail time was not given." The man was also banned for a year from possessing any video recording equipment, even a video-capable cellphone, outside of his home.
Am I going to be the only one who asks the obvious? Why should he be allowed to record the movie?
To share with your closet million or so friends?
Shouldn't you be able to record anything you see or hear with your own eyes, short of in cases of invasion of privacy?
It's just on a tape instead of synapses.
Um, you do realize that there are a few itty bitty fundamental differences between your brain and an electronic medium? Like, for example, the ability to upload the data for others to download and circumvent copyright laws, and therefore is significantly different than a brain.
Unless of course you're a cyborg from the future, in which case I for one welcome our apparently borderline retarded, shitty-analogy-making, time traveling, Cybernetic Anonymous Coward Overlords.
Serves that bastard right for using it for the wrong purposes.
Stay away from my guns though. I reserve every right to carry them around in public.
I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
Fine by me, i hate cam releases!
Watch the movie?
Mix sno-caps and popcorn together in one mouthful?
Hiss at my fiancee when she decides to try talking during the previews?
Pretty much the usual.
(Hey, you asked!)
...the first conviction under a new Canadian law making recoding a movie in a theater a crime.
Damn. Guess I can't use Nero Recode in the theaters anymore. I'll have to go all the way home to start compressing the video I took. What a pain...
What if I txt during the movie? At what point do the house lights go up and the police barge in?
As soon as possible, you inconsiderate clod.
I see what you did their...
3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
The problem is that IR lamps will make everyone hot. We should pick a frequency that won't heat up the body, but will stop the recording.
A strong gamma source should do it...
3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
What makes this funny is the comments from the Paramount exec:
From the TFA:
"Canada is a hotbed of movie pirating, which is a billion-dollar loss to the movie industry," Mark Christiansen, executive vice-president of operations for Paramount Picture's motion picture distribution, said outside court after reading his victim impact statement.
- Really? They caught one guy. You had a better chance of winning the lottery than getting caught for recording a movie.
"The perception is that Hollywood stars are the only ones hurt by this, but it affects everybody who works in theatres."
- I'm sure all the high school students getting minimum wage in the theatre believe that in all their hearts, their pay and jobs will be affected by some jerk recording a fuzzy copy of a movie.
Virginia Jones, of the Canadian Motion Picture Distribution Association:
"We would have liked to see jail time, sending a stronger message. We hope this is just a starting point," she said outside court, also after delivering a victim impact statement.
- She delivered a victim impact statement? Asked for jail time? The winner, for best performance in a dramatic role is Virginia Jones.
In the case of "Battlefield Earth", that would be a welcomed feature.
For everything else, there's Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
I bet a person in the movie theater could have some fun with a 9V battery, a resistor and a red LED.
Well recording a movie is one of the worst things you can do. Al Qaeda record movies all the time.
Am I going to be the only one who asks the obvious? Why should he be allowed to record the movie?
Infidel. How DARE you ask such a blasphemous question on Slashdot.
The answer is obvious: "Movies want to be free."