Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Politics
Earlier this month, Erik Davis alerted us to the anger over at Warner Bros. concerning movie piracy in Canada. According to the anti-piracy division of the company, "Canada is the No. 1 priority in terms of anti-camcording legislation." To try and curb this supposedly rampant recording in movie theaters, the company is stopping pre-screenings north of the border, starting with Ocean's Thirteen and continuing with Harry Potter. But go figure -- both are being released or screened internationally before they hit stateside. To me, that seems like a flaw in the rationale, but that's right, there's that 70% number that Warners is throwing around.Now this past Wednesday, as part of his visit to Canada, the Terminator politician Arnold Schwarzenegger met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Although Arnie is traveling around to discuss climate change, the PM brought up the movie issue and announced that he was going to crack down on Canadian movie piracy by strengthening the laws dealing with using camcorders in cinemas -- making it illegal to tape in theaters. One American official is quoted as saying: "We think it's a good first step." Only the first though, because you have to leave room for the movie criminals to be shipped to big companies and clean the dirty floors with their tongues.
And what about China? I guess "Blame China" doesn't have the same ring that "Blame Canada" does. If this country is to blame for so much of the Hollywood's struggles with fiendish movie pirates, I want to know why they're letting Chinese bootlegs and pirated copies float around. Doesn't big business (in this case, the rampant pirate state of Canada) always tromp the little guy (this case, Chinese pirate imports)? It's just silly. I think Erik had it right when he said: "While Canada certainly needs to step up and join the fight against piracy, I also think we need to evaluate these ridiculous trickling release schedules." Shouldn't you tighten and strengthen your ship before attacking the pirates?Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
