Some Actual Data On Canada's Supposed Movie Piracy Epidemic
from the doesn't-look-so-big-now dept
We've been talking about the movie industry's recent big push to get stricter laws in Canada concerning recording a movie in a theater. It's a silly push for a variety of reasons -- not the least of which is that the movie industry can't even agree on a number for just how big the problem is. Every day a different article comes out with a different statistic, none of which seems to be backed up with any proof to show that Canada really represents a big problem. The folks over at PC Pitstop realized they could shed some light on the subject and wrote in to let us know: " While PC Pitstop doesn't have the ability to see what is going on in Canadian movie theaters, we are able to take a look at how Canada compares to other World-wide regions for the prevalence of PC peer-to-peer file sharing, DVD decryption and ripping and CD audio recording software applications. Based on our research, Canada appears to fall in the middle of the pack of the World-wide regions for the prevalence of these three software application groups. Our results do little to support the premise that Canada is a safe haven for digital media piracy." Of course, "Canada is sort of in the middle of the pack" doesn't make for as exciting headlines as the ones that claim that Canada is a huge source of pirated movies.
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Irony
There is an irony however in Hollywood, which produces so many movies glorifying the most horrific crimes, getting all bent out of shape over a little white collar crime.
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Really....
Just a thought
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Re: Really....
so to clarify .. Comes out in US first. Gets pirated before it is played in Canada...
i am so smrt
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The real problem
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Re: The real problem
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Re: What else to do?
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Re: What else to do?
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Re: The real problem
So far, we've come up with "Kaneidien"
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ummm....
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Wow...
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- we have real beer
- most P2P downloading is legal here (for now)
- we have real beer
and most of all he failed the mention the nightly orgies and parties we have to keep warm through the canadian winters. Although I don't think he's been invited a lot so he may not have been aware (j/k).
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Canada ..
=D
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RE: Canada
2) lots of other natural resources, precious metals and strategic minerals.
3) large farming areas to feed the world as large parts of it become to polluted to feed themselves (India, China)
4) Massive country with 30 million citizens
5) Balanced budgets in federal government combined with paying down our debt for many years
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Canada
Beauty eh. We are like just normal average nice people who are stuck in our cabins all winter.
So no wonder we do this.
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Piracy & Canadian Culture...
Canada has a different culture to that of the USA. We are very proud of our accomplishments, and we hold things like "Public Broadcasting" very near and dear to our hearts. In fact - our constitution has actual laws in place that protect our freedom to make copies of things we purchase. Specifically when it comes to copyrighted materials, and signals broadcast into our homes.
For instance... "Hockey Night In Canada" used to have disclaimers at the begining and end of each broadcast which prohibited the viewer from making copies (in whole or in part) of any portion of their show. The Canadian government stepped in, and reminded them, that - under our broadcast laws - we have the right to make a copy for our own use, or for private archival purposes.
Much like the constitution of the USA has been used as an excuse for every family there to keep untold numbers of firearms and assult rifles, so too do Canadians have a constitutional right to make copies of any media that is broadcast into their home.
For those film companies (including Canadian film companies) which wish to bitch profusely that people are video taping their motion pictures in theatres... I say "Get a damned metal detector" and stop people bringing the cameras into the theatres. For that matter - have police start arresting people who are doing it.
The irony in this particular issue, is that the sound quality on many of the theatre recorded video is obviously considerably better than one would expect in a theatre full of people etc... I personaly watched "RV" online from a "taped theatre showing" and noticed very quickly that there was no laughter coming from the audience. That would suggest that it was the staff of the theatre that did the recording, and even plugged the sound directly into the camera, from the source.
As a professional videographer, and sound engineer for a number of live theatre companies... I can assure you that making a recording of a theatre projection is NOT a simple task (if you want it to look and sound good).
The other side of this is common sense. Movie producers are suggesting that Canada is the source of their problems? So their solution is to delay the release? Well - as a movie buff, I will be most happy to ignore theatres entirely if that is the case. And I'll stop purchasing their movies entirely - then I'll just sit in the comfort of my home, and download all the wonderful pirated content that their own staff have been dishing out to the globe.
The problem isn't "Which country is most guilty" simply based on the fact that it only takes ONE file to be shared by millions.
The problem isn't "How do we stop this from happening" as US Citizens, the majority of those sharing these files would constitute a democratic right to do so. Or have them wonderful folks in the U.S.A. forgotten that the MAJORITY rules in their country?
Blaming Canada is a bloody joke. Canada is where the majority of thier blockbusters have been filmed. Canada (and Japan, which has been pirating U.S. products for 40+ years) has provided movie makers with nearly 80% of the technology that they use to create the films in the first place. And Canada has only 10% of the population the U.S. has... how on EARTH could we be the reason that the film industry is doing so badly? NOT!
Independant film and lower budget productions have become FAR MORE popular than the "flash in the pan" bullshit that hollywood has been producing for the past 10 (or more) years... and THAT is the reason they're losing profits. If anything - Piracy has given them another avenue for advertisement and their too damned stupid to figure it out.
As for those of you who make the rediculous "Cabin / beer / up-north" statements. Grow up... or submit your comments to Tray Parker for his next epic film creation. At least he'll make them funny.
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