Canadian Anti-Camming Laws Net First Conviction
Written by enigmax on November 15, 2008Canada has its first conviction under the controversial Bill C-59. A man has been found guilty of ‘camming’ the movie ‘Sweeney Todd’ in Calgary on its opening day. The 21 year-old was given a $1,495 fine and placed on probation for a year. During this time he is also excluded from all theaters and is forbidden to possess any video recording equipment, even that on a cellphone. He avoids jail.
Early in 2007, Twentieth Century Fox announced that Canada had a major movie ‘camming’ problem, claiming that 50% of all such copies of movies originated from the country. The controversial claims caused panic and before long, theater staff were commonly being equipped with night-vision goggles in a bid to catch pirates.
On December 21 2007, Richard Craig Lissaman of Calgary hid a camcorder in his clothing and went to the Empire Studio 16 theater. There the 20 year old joined the matinee performance of the Johnny Depp movie ‘Sweeney Todd’ on its opening day. Sitting at the left of the theater at the back, Lissaman hid the camera in a sock and hid the tell-tale LED lights on his camera with duct tape to avoid being spotted.
Unknown to Lissaman, an investigation financed by the Canadian and US movie industries had been underway for months – and his luck was about to run out. According to Crown prosecutor Rob Bassett, “The house lights were turned on and the movie was shut off and Calgary police arrested him. The accused (later) admitted he had recorded the picture.”
Charged with one count of the unauthorized recording of a movie, Lissaman became the second person in Canada to be charged under new legislation designed to crack down on camcorder pirates. Previously, under Canada’s laws the authorities had to prove that any camcorder movie recording was destined for sale, rental or other distribution to get a conviction. But with changes that took effect on June 1st 2007, any image recorded without consent could result in a prison sentence of up to 2 years.
Yesterday, Lissaman, now 21, pleaded guilty as charged and was sentenced by Judge Catherine Skene to $1,495 in fines and 12 months probation. During this period, Lissaman is excluded from going into any movie theater and is banned from owning or possessing any video recording equipment, including video-enabled cellphones.
Virginia Jones, a director of policy and legal affairs for the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association said: “We would have liked to see jail time, sending a stronger message. We hope this is just a starting point.”
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56 Responses
I will NEVER buy a movie again, same for music. Do not support these people.
Scrooges. Bah. They should be deeply ashamed of all their actions.
2 years sentence for camming a movie? Dictators and enemies of the people.
These actions cost more money than they make. But as long as a fat air head with a big cigar is at the top not even reading these comments of the people because he’s too busy filling his time playing golf with the owners of a random other company, to merge with and drop 2000 jobs, they will fail. And these bloodsuckers keep making their money in the most pathetic way.
I don’t care much for cams anyway. Where does the 50% statistic originate from though?
A coupla years at hard labor in chains would have done this young man some good.
yeah of course, 50% canada, 40% US ( http://torrentfreak.com/new-york-the-movie-pirate-capital/ )
probably also 30% russia, 20 % poland etc and at least 110% from other third world countries
@3
A couple of years of you getting your ass pounded might knock some sense in to you.DO you really belive for recording a video which he is paying for(rental, how ever fucked that is) that he cannot create a legal recording of what he has seen?
Whats next? You get your brain wiped of the movie you just saw so you cannot recreate scenes in your mind to describe to friends.
Whats next,movie critics being sued for giving an opinion on a movie that makes people not want to go see it?
People like you are the reason we are where we are now.You’re not “reasonded” like you may think but your brainwashed by the corporate greed.
Banned from owning ANY video recording equipment? that’s far too harsh – surely banning him from theaters would be enough.
Screw them, every movie I get streamed over the ‘net anyway. No distribution = no crime.
And this is surely why The Pirate Bay really, really sucks. Its so slow, loaded with fakes, low quality crap and PPI infected applications.
Fuck The Pirate Bay!
It would have been a lot better if this young riff raff scum had recieved a 5 year jail sentence and been prohibited from ever owning/using a personal computer or using any form of the internet ever again.
We need higher, more severe levels of punishments for crimes like this. They cause harm and loss of earning to the good movie industry and the MPAA should be applauded for their hard work and stance on these vital issues.
If he’s not allowed to go to a movie theater I guess I know what he’ll be doing for a year… :P
Going to the theater was a fond part of growing up. As an adult I can’t stand it. Waiting in line, the high cost for a ticket and concession items, cramped seating, sticky floors, transportation and parking costs (winter is especially bad in Canada). Now you see they’re starting to search people, plus you get disturbed every five minutes by some pimple faced usher coming in to spy on the audience which totally sucks me right out of the movie I’m watching. Oh, and you can’t pause the movie while you get a drink or go pee. I honestly can’t see why anyone even goes to the theater anymore. I don’t, not when my home theater is so much better.
lol @9.
This could have been so much worce though – its a bit shitty that it happened yeah, but at least he’s not in jail
Get a life … #7.
You make yourself look like a dumb leecher.
shit all over my egg plants, if u hang upside dowwn and take a shit, the poo will go all over your arse and balls then u will be called poocock for the rest of your life :)
Welcome to the soviet republic of Canada, brought to you by the MAFIAA.
“The house lights were turned on and the movie was shut off”
and then the rest of the audience went home and looked for a copy online that didn’t have such an annoying intrusion in the middle of it.
that friggin thief got off too easy.
They had no proof on what he planned on doing with that recording. The mere act of recording it should not be a crime, redistributing it however should be. Whats next Canada? Going after kids recording clips of movies with their cellphones?
Ok, its annoying that people get caught, but in the eyes of the law it is on the wrong side! DAMN THE LAW TO HELL :)
People know the risks now-a-days… and anyway there is a simple way that would ruin cams/TS from the internet and make them even worse to watch. This would be putting an Infra-Red layer of light between the audience and the screen. As we cannot see infra-red normally it would not affect movie goers!
To be honest we are in a revolution, and they (The corperate “idiots”) need to realise that people do not want to go to the cinema to watch the movie first, they want to do it in the comfort of their own home. Some people of course want to go to the cinema and good for them… But others do not, and why should they wait to be able to see the film?
MeH
Mayhem excites Hell
Let there be retribution against Virginia Jones. This person deserves bad things happening to him.
“We would have liked to see jail time, sending a stronger message. We hope this is just a starting point.”
Let Virginia Jones be sent to jail. That should send a strong message. That should be just a starting point.
Roze
http://www.10ch.org/
@Reasoned Mind – Lame troll is lame
@1
I do whole-heartedly agree. I do not care for cams myself, and have never seen any, but I must say that what has happened is still an injustice, which must be corrected one way or the other.
As for Virginia Jones, he definitely deserves to go to hell – right now. Someone should send him to hell – right now. Why should any of these blood-suckers deserve any joys here on Earth? All of these blood-suckers ought to be sent to hell – right now.
Roze
“I do not care for cams myself, and have never seen any”
right, so how do you know you dont care for them ?
I Never Download CamRips.
They hurt my eyes, better not to Cam/download them.
People from Afghanistan only have the intelligence to understand very short video clips, typically around 10 minutes. After that they have multiple effects if they don’t cease viewing – including but not limited to pain effecting the eyes. The Arab brain is less evolved than the Asian brain.
Don’t shoot the messanger, the evidence is there for you. Mr.Afghanistan, thank you for your honesty, how’s the terrorism training going?
I don’t agree with his actions but I think not being able to possess any video recording equipment is a bit harsh.
and now they sue all the clients you can use BUT
utorrent which they own , PROOF it isnt about what your doing or how much it costs , its about control CONTROL
CONTROL CONTROL
CONTROL
CONTROL
CONTROL
yes we have a cam prob all right in canada like the UK walk out your door and poof the govt is the problem
400$ fine eh, if h edont pay that equates to about 150 days
or 5 months wonder what people that break into your home average.
what about punching you in the nose?
ya thoght so he should appeal this law as cruel and unual punishment on the grounds they are abusing th erights of copyright, what the diffeance of you paying that amount for the dvdr and making a backup?
NONE
and i love the egg signs the farmers put up everywhere
great idea
BUY EGGS AND HELP LOCAL ECONOMY
Um, my question is, HOW are they going to keep him out of all the movie theaters. Will they show his picture to all theater employees or something. How is that actually going to be enforced.
I haven’t paid for a single piece of entertainment since OiNK went down.
I also have 5-6 terrabyte hard drives filled up.
are you people doing your part?
Does anyone still watch cams?
He got off too easy.
It’s a start though.
I couldn’t give a flying fuck if the industry makes money – contrary to what the ads have you believe, the key grip guy is gonna get paid no matter what, and it’s the execs that bitch and suffer ’cause their huge bonuses aren’t huge enough. The cam “problem” all comes down to this: if the movie is a good one, then people are going to see it in theaters to get the full experience. If it’s some bullshit film to fill the Friday night void when you and your buddies are sitting around with a 30-pack, then watching a crappy CAM torrent isn’t gonna matter all that much.
Let’s see…what movies did I go see in theaters? No Country For Old Men, Wall-E, Burn After Reading, The Band’s Visit, Dark Knight, Mongol…And what movies did I watch on my laptop? Iron Man, The Hulk, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, Hellboy 2, Step-Brothers. Sensing a pattern yet? Mind you, I could have waited and downloaded great-quality DVD-rips of the former. But I chose to spend my money on them. Some, like Wall-E, Dark Knight, and Mongol, I wanted to experience on a big screen. Some I went and saw because I wanted to go to the movies with my girlfriend, and those are the movies I chose on that particular night.
The industry needs to wise up and actually pay attention to modern consumer trends: let people stream movies (either for free with ads – HA! – or for a very small fee) a week or two after they came out. Then you wouldn’t have this fucking problem. Bullying people and using scare tactics is just not gonna cut it – shit like this is just going to encourage people to download movies, if for no other reason than spite. People are going to do whatever the fuck they want anyway, and the RIAA & MPAA are never going to own the internet, so they might as well adapt in the best way they can.
why do live in Canada; I ponder that because of shit like this?
I never watch cams, they a crap. I’m going to start boycotting the cinemas by not going anymore.
Rip all your DVDs and uploading them people, this is WAR.
@34
How is the best way to conduct this war? I strongly believe that the best way is to send them all to hell.
Roze
“Dr. Doom
Rip all your DVDs and uploading them people, this is WAR.”
Screw that… a bunch of amatuerish rips hitting the internet. Stick to scene files where people follow rules to maintain quality.
@36:
I’m not scene… check my rips… I don’t think I’ve seen anything better for the size, no disrespect to others. NewArtRiot, Unisonband, and others are also excellent.
My point is not to be egotistical, but to show that we can have great rips. Go to http://forum.doom9.org. Sign up, and read.
A lot of scene rules actually impair quality… I understand why they have them, but a fixed system, while reliable, can never be as good.
I will give tips if anyone wants them, message me on Demonoid… or somewhere else…
The scene does not share, except among themselves. You see scene rips because they were leaked. Joe ripper can still own.
give up this foolishness of trying to stop people from sharing because as one guy said its only a matter of time before someone replaces one of their eyes with a lens and then what are you gonna do?
You know, by banning him from theaters and stealing $1,495 from him, all they really accomplished is making it very likely he’ll just stay home and torrent videos instead of going out to the movies and buying DVDs, now.
BTW, if anybody wants to avenge him, I suggest they:
A. Download $1,495 worth of copyrighted material. Or better yet…
B. Go out there and cam a movie.
Oh, and for the all the little MAFIAA sockpuppets rejoicing at this “victory”, I feel I should explain something.
If the Canadian anti-camming bill only managed to lead to ONE small conviction in the span of almost an entire year, then the Canadian anti-camming bill is one of the most miserable failures in the history of lawmaking.
At best, this is a small victory for the MAFIAA wrapped inside a crushing defeat. But hey, who knows. Their luck could always change. Like maybe next year… They’ll catch TWO cammers! Hahahaha!
Well just so you know Virginia Jones was a women a very ugly geeky looking one, anyways if anyone has any questions about my case or wants to interview me please add me on face book Richard Lissaman or e-mail me at richard@vivewave.com, i’ll post the true store of what happened in the court room here the one you read in the papers or online is total Bull Crap thanks a good night,,
Is it a man, is it a nerd … no it’s SUPER TROLL!!
Columbia is fighting… why shouldn’t we? but how…
On another note: Police kill three in overnight chases in England. A police spokesman said ‘it’s really been a quiet night, we thought we had a chance at breaking the police world record for murders in a single night’.. Go get em cops. Speeders & drunks deserve to die. Oh & pirates.
These idiots in the media make enemies of us. But what i really want to know is why? Seriously I think they deserve to die. So this guy has to live as a cave man for a year? I mean if they want to go arround doing this then I could not care less if they where made immortal, chained to a rock and had ravens pick them apart every day.
I do not support the industry’s of the corrupt media. Decentralization is the future. I do not pay for 99.99% of the digital information i consume. I do this simply because it is mostly crap. Even so its nearly allways over charged for what it is. Often the p2p versions are better (have no drm, bug fixes, uncesored, etc..). And then i am only 15 so i can not by most things as they are rated to high. I am only 15 so im not like rich or anything. Tv is rubish it ahs shows i hate and to many adds, turns volume up in adds to :(. And the stuff i normally would buy i mostly now do not simply because they started drm, lawsuits etc etc against people. The media industry is not my friend and they try to make a point of the fact that they hate me and they want me to die. So i say fuck you, you die. And i do not buy any of their good stuff. Of course there are allways exceptions where there is a decent product made by a decent company that is sold for a decent price and that i can have given im only 15 and all the ratings are stupid. Like a game with only a bit of blood in is rated r17 or something. So yeah i pirate nearly everything. REmember guys and girls its not the product that counts, its the product, who makes it, who their friends are, if their nice, if its reasonably priced, if its uncesored, if your old enough to *legally* buy it, if its easily available and if you have the money to buy it. So do not support the corruption that trys to supress our freedom. Fight back. Once the governements of today are gone things will improve. Currently many governments take our money and abuse it. Now we do better keeping it ourselfs and controlling what its spent on. If no one wants roads then no one donates for them. If no one likes policemen then no policemen. simple fair and proper democracy. None of this enforced democracy. I think that we could look to the middle east for support. As currently we are both struglling for the same thing against the same thing. Freedom from the corrupt system of the government. Decentralization is the only way. And decentralization is often made to look bad because the people with power fear it. But decentralization can be by far more efficent than centralized systems. So stuff the fuking governments. I dislike all their bueracractical bull shit. I call for implementation of my policy of “minimal to no government compliance” simply refusing to comply wont get them anywhere. me own quote here lols -> “they can kill me, they can kill you, and they can kill thousands more. But they can not kill us all”. Simply put, they can not do enough to stop us if we all ignore them. “divided we conquer, united we stand”. We are at war, a war for intelectual property. But the war is allready won, we just have to end it. We controll their fate. They can not live forever and they can not be imune to physical harm. If it where up to me i would systematicly bomb hollywood to dust. I would hold a public executioning of the mpaa asehole. They attack us for no reason. They are “cyber terrorists” they deserve to be hung like the criminals, and dictators that they are. They inflict suffering on countless innocents for no reason. How many people have commited suicide after their lives where wreked by the media. They lie on tv, they lie on the internet, they lie lie lie. They steal our money, fun, enjoyment and lives. They essentially murder us with this. They diserve to die. They will die. And i will be happy when they do. The media industry will burn. Join the side of good. The revoloution will come. When it does it will be swift. Do not support them. Suport “the people” not “the dictators”. Why should media organisations like itunes rip of song writers, many song writers say fuck the media to. I seen many videos of big music people saying that pirate my stuff if you want i dont care. they say “im rich and anyways theyre stealing my money to not just yours”. And hollywood is a load of crap. They say it costs so much to make a movie. Well their obviously not made by pros. They must be made by paper pushing noobs. Lots of their cgi movies like cars have crappy gfx. If it where done by pros it would look awsome. Like alot more lifelike, for alot cheaper and made alot faster and probably funnded via donations and made by people who have it as their hobby or to get 15seconds of fame. Man i feel like all the big corporates ripping me off. Pay so much and get crap in return. And none of these companies share or offer better services even if it costs them nothing to do so. The bigest scam of all is the internet. They are like omg it costs me so much to transfer info across a fibre pipe. WEll i got news for you. Fibre pipes carry a shit load of bandwidth at fast speed. They will be very hard to overcrowd. And if they are then youre doing something right. EVeryone using your service is good. More useres = more money = more spending in services = more capacity = happy custermors + growth = more custermors more money,etc. But many isps reject the idea of this. They simple want to charge as muchas the can and offer patheric web browsing capable internet. Well i wouldnt like it if tv took this view. I barely use mine. I would throw it out if all it could do was play adds. Now if people like this want to kill the internet then il build my own lmfao. I will make it out of tv parts or something. Maybe loot someplace owned by evil corprates and use their stuff :D. Get people to help and make a new IInet. (The II is because Inet is internet and two II stands for 2. very smart yes i know) Like there only asking for bad stuff to happend. I tell you, you dont want to be on the losing side of a peoples revoloution. Anyways down with the media. This is jacob coming in from down under, new zealand, city of the sails. Im going out. 1:55am and gona get some sleep. Leaving you with this message, down with the media warmongering, cash hogging, dicatorial, power hungry/crazed media.
Wow, thats absurd. Sounds like the Kangaroo Courts of Canada far surpass the idiot court system in the US.
Jessy
http://www.privacy.cz.tc
yup oh my we have an epidemic and taxpayers need to pay for all this shit , quick make it life in prison
the economy is on a slide
quick quick
ohhhh noooo
@45: Jacob – shut the f_uck up and get back on your medication. No one is reading your schizophrenic sh!t rambling except for you. Everyone can see that the crap you write is drivel from a clueless, medicated 14 year old school dropout and is thus worthless as a big fat sh!t in a toilet or maybe the sh!t has more worth.
Your mindless, pointless angst ridden drivel is effecting no one but yourself. Listen to your mother, she is right when she tells you need to think before you write something. Your all alone, no one is at your level of misunderstanding and as out of touch with reality. Go F_uck a sheep or whatever you do in that shitty little country of yours.
With The Dark Knight about to take $1 billion at the global box office, you can hardly say that people aren’t going to the cinema anymore…
Everyone should protest by going to the theaters with a cam.
Little thief got what he deserved.
7 Nov 15, 2008 at 13:37 by Anonymous
And this is surely why The Pirate Bay really, really sucks. Its so slow, loaded with fakes, low quality crap and PPI infected applications.
Fuck The Pirate Bay!
NO….FUCK YOUR MAMA….FUCK YOUR GRANDMAMA…..AND MOSTLY…FUCK YOU…
I am so sick of these idiots posting this shit on every article. Get a life you dickless idiot.
Your response is awaiting moderation.
WTF…..everyone else cusses up a bluestreak…put up my f**kin comment already/
@52 It takes approximately 1 minute for your comment to appear on TorrentFreak after it’s posted.
Reading comprehension is FTW
I love that picture. It’s great. Can you imagine some minimum wage movie theater attendant sitting all the way in the back wearing one of those $5000 night vision headsets?
People who send anonymous messages typically have one or all of several problems.
For example;
a) a cowardly nature. A character flaw seen and despised on common tv and movie depictions such as the foil in the tv series Lost in Space. Wars are often caused by such individuals who get into high political positions, and use someone else’s children to fight and die for causes they are willing to promote, but not to fight and die for themselves.
b) Limited intellect. They tend to put forth half-assed opinions as fully substantiated facts. Such people tend to listen to Rush Lamebrain and vote Republican.
There are more character flaws that could be elucidated, but the above illustrate the point being made
On the subject of pirating in general, I have no sympathy for companies who send their films to other countries to have their DVDs made and then cry when they are pirated.
Stealing is illegal, god darn it people.
http://www.stealingisillegal.com/faqs.php
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