Warner Pictures was right about Canada for once

There was recently news that Time Warner would no longer be doing preview screenings in Canada because our laws are very lax in some areas... like it isn't against the law to take a camcorder into a theatre to record a movie.

And for once, I am actually agreeing with the studios on this. Our laws in this one particular area should indeed be strengthened.

Most of the demands that movie and music studios make generally go overboard, but I think it is reasonable for the studios to be upset about this particular practice. I mean, I didn't know that people were apparently taking video cameras into theatres in full view of movie theatre staff, so these pirates were being brazen about the whole thing. That is what makes it so troubling to me.

So yes, I would be willing to tell my member of parliament that I would support closing this particular loophole and I believe Warner Pictures' actions are entirely fair based on the circumstances. But I hope our government doesn't implement overly draconian measures because, as we have seen in the United States with the laws the MPAA and RIAA advocate, the trade organizations don't have consumer's best interests at heart either and will lobby for as much power and control over their product as they can.

So my advice to the leaders of my country is take a Buddhist approach. Chart the middle way. There is a reasonable compromise to be made between protecting intellectual property and invidual liberty and consumer's rights.

Tags: warner, time, movies, preview, summer, harry potter, ocean's 13, laws, theatre, piracy, studios, mpaa, riaa, liberty, consumer's rights, intellectual property