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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.

11 of 382 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Phones will be getting good video by icegreentea · · Score: 4, Informative

    When the person next to you, or behind you sees you holding up your cellphone pointed at the screen for 20 straight minutes. Seriously, use some common sense. The people running theatres aren't all dumbasses. They'll put up some rules about cellphone use, and since they won't want to piss off their customers, they'll make the rules reasonable, and in return, they'll ask people to report other people who have their damn cell out for 30 minutes at a time.

  2. Re:Your Movie Rights Online. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Oh please. There are plenty of cell phones without cameras. You don't ALWAYS have to go for all that flash. Mine doesn't. My kids don't. My husband's has a camera but not video.

  3. Re:Why not place IR floodlights around the screen? by Snowtred · · Score: 2, Informative

    Could easily be countered by a cheap IR filter, no? There are dozens of sufficient ones in our optics lab. I wonder if this would stop even the directed IR?

  4. Note to editors by damn_registrars · · Score: 2, Informative
    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  5. Re:Riight... by eggnoglatte · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, a police raid sounds loads more interesting than the crap they have been showing in theaters lately ;-)

  6. Re:Why not place IR floodlights around the screen? by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 1, Informative

    And give radiation poisoning to everyone in the theater, sure.

    How about UHF? We can jam their cell phones at the same time.

    --
    "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
  7. Re:I'm curious... by SpeedyDX · · Score: 2, Informative

    Perhaps you misunderstood the poorly worded summary. There are two ways to read the summary: 1) You cannot create video footage in a theatre; or 2) You cannot create video footage of a movie that is being shown in a theatre. The statute is as follows (emphasis mine):

    432. (1) A person who, without the consent of the theatre manager, records in a movie theatre a performance of a cinematographic work within the meaning of section 2 of the Copyright Act or its soundtrack

    (a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years; or

    (b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

    The statute states clearly that you can't create video footage of the movies that are being shown on the screen of the theatre, rather than not being allowed to create video footage in a theatre. If you wanted to create video footage in a theatre, it's fine so long as you have the permission of the theatre, and there is no movie being shown in said theatre (unless you have permission from the copyright holder and/or the movie has gone into the public domain). There are no more or less hoops to jump through than before, because recording movies shown in a theatre for the purpose of distribution was illegal prior to the amendment, IIRC.

  8. Re:Your Movie Rights Online. by zippthorne · · Score: 2, Informative

    The ones with no camera are *cheaper*. You're just not looking hard enough. A cursory glance at my cell provider's offerings brought up the i335 by Motorola and S1 by Sanyo (i stopped looking after that) both free with 2 year agreement.

    Most of the pre-paid phones don't have cameras, either, and they're actually pretty small and sporty, and refreshingly no-frills.

    In fact, the one option you can't find is precisely the one you claimed you didn't want: a pricey up-scale wealth-announcer. You can't get a camera-free iPhone.

    --
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  9. Re:The judge's comments annoyed me in this one by CSMatt · · Score: 2, Informative

    Based on this article I don't see why. The article (and even the Slashdot summary) makes it quite clear that under the new Canadian law, it's necessary to prove that there was intent to re-distribute the illegal recording before any charges can be laid.

    No it doesn't.

    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.

  10. If you were right, you might be right, but, ... by reiisi · · Score: 2, Informative

    That's not how I read the article. In fact, if I remember the article correctly, it said something to the effect that, under the new law, they don't have to show any evidence of intent to sell.

    The old law, they did have to prove something, and that was why the RIAA wanted to change the law.

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  11. Re:Phones will be getting good video by Phroggy · · Score: 2, Informative

    what's wrong with texting?

    The backlight from your phone, which you hold up while you do it, is distracting to the people behind you. Also, even if you have it set to vibrate, I can probably hear it every time a message comes in.

    --
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    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;