This article from the Globe and Mail tells the sad tale of the poor movie companies being targeted by Canadian Pirates, avast!
The story talks about the lax or relaxed Canadian laws in dealing with those committing the heinous crime of camcording first run movies in the movie theatre!
Oh my God, lock up your daughters!
These bootleg DVD's will be the ruin of our society!
The really interesting part of the story for me is how each country dealt with a convicted Pirate. In Canada the Pirate was given a $5000 fine with a 12 month suspended sentence.
In the US a similar convicted pirate was sentenced to 7 Years in prison!!
The US authorities criticise Canada for treating Intellectual Property violations as a "soft crime".
Duh..that's because it is dummies. No one gets hurt, society isn't affected. The only thing that might be affected is a small amount (like a dot) of the bottom line of the film industry.
And they more than make up for it by exorbitant prices for tickets, popcorn and pop.
And the corporations sure don't mind ripping off the taxpayers with their loopholes and dubious accounting practices.
Bootlegging a DVD from the film industry is like stealing a pair of shoes from The Bay. Sure it's wrong but lets keep it in perspective. A $5000 fine versus 7 years in prison?
This all demonstrates that, in the United States, any crime against the wealthy or "the establishment" is multiplied tenfold in severity.
And they wonder why the world distrusts them?
US Tries Once Again to Bully The World
More on this subject here.
