Posted by Greg Carr on 01/26/07 04:04

A cloud over broadcast policy

November 13, 2006
Michael Geist
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters, which represents Canada's
major television and radio broadcasting companies, celebrated its 80th
anniversary last week in Vancouver. CAB President Glenn O'Farrell
opened the organization's annual conference by arguing for dramatic
changes to the Canadian broadcasting law framework.

O'Farrell expressed fear of a growing asymmetry between regulated and
unregulated competitors, citing emerging competition from websites such
as MySpace and YouTube as examples of unregulated competitors that are
attracting growing audiences and advertising dollars. While
acknowledging that this year there has been "an unprecedented level of
regulatory review, from telecommunications, to radio, to the future of
television in Canada," O'Farrell concluded that "we need to pick up the
pace."

Adapting the Canadian broadcasting system to the Internet environment
may indeed be necessary. However, while the CAB was meeting in
Vancouver, across the country in Ottawa a flurry of questions in the
House of Commons about the fundraising practices of Canadian Heritage
Minister Bev Oda threaten to derail the reform efforts.

The controversy unfolded on Tuesday - the day after O'Farrell's
speech - when NDP Canadian Heritage critic Charlie Angus noted that
Oda was planning a major fundraiser in Toronto sponsored by the head of
regulatory affairs for CanWest, one of the country's largest media
companies. The fundraiser, which directly targeted the broadcast
community, was to have featured Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, Oda's
cabinet partner on broadcast and copyright policy matters.

With a broadcast regulatory review in the offing, Angus pulled no
punches in stating that "the broadcast review happens in two weeks. The
cash grab happens next week. Why is the minister using her office to
trade political access for political contributions?"

Oda responded by arguing that the fundraiser was fully compliant with
Canadian law. Hours later, she abruptly canceled the fundraiser, with a
spokesperson indicating that Oda wanted "to avoid any negative
perception." Under legislation introduced this past spring by the
Conservatives, such a fundraiser would be banned starting next year.

Despite the cancellation, questions about Oda's fundraising practices
persisted throughout the week. On Friday, Angus noted that Corus
Entertainment was host to another Oda fundraiser in 2005. Angus linked
the fundraiser, which raised $15,000, to the current search for the
next chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
Commission (current chair Charles Dalfen has announced that he is not
seeking a second term), sarcastically asking whether "passing the hat
around a boardroom table constitutes a fair assessment process for
choosing the next head of the CRTC?"

In fact, further investigation into Oda's past campaign financing
demonstrates that the close ties between Oda and industry lobbyists may
run deeper than even Angus realized.

According to Elections Canada data, Oda held a similar fundraiser in
May 2004 - before she was even elected to the House of Commons -
that attracted enormous corporate support from the broadcast industry
including Alliance Atlantis, Astral, CanWest, and CHUM, as well as from
more than a dozen senior executives from major broadcast and cable
companies.

Once elected, the support continued. With Oda installed as the
Conservative Canadian Heritage critic, her riding association last year
reported contributions from a veritable who's who of broadcast and
copyright lobby groups and companies. These include broadcasters
(Corus, Vision TV), cable companies (Rogers, Shaw, and Cogeco), record
companies (Sony, Universal, Warner, EMI), and copyright lobby groups
(Canadian Recording Industry Association, Canadian Motion Pictures
Distributors Association, Entertainment Software Association).

Moreover, as the odds-on favourite to become the Minister of Canadian
Heritage, Oda accepted thousands of dollars from broadcasting and
copyright interests during the most recent election campaign, with her
two largest contributions coming from individuals linked to two
industry giants - Rogers and Standard Radio.

While there have been no allegations that the fundraising was not fully
compliant with the law, it does raise the potential for repeated
questions about the fairness and impartiality of the policy process.
Oda enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the broadcasting
industry before entering politics, yet her close ties to lobby groups
will unquestionably cause some discomfort for Prime Minister Stephen
Harper, who has emphasized greater government accountability and
reduced influence of well-heeled lobby groups.

Moreover, should the government proceed with a major broadcast review
or introduce new copyright legislation, Oda's fundraising practices
will likely come to the fore as critics wonder aloud whether those
groups obtained political access and exercised greater influence over
the policy process.

This cloud over Canadian Heritage policy could not come at a worse
time. With the need for a new CRTC chair, the prospect of a new policy
initiative to address the future of Canadian broadcasting and content
rules, and the focus on copyright reform, the department promises to be
in the spotlight in the months ahead. These initiatives may now be
forced to share that spotlight with a regular stream of questions about
Oda's fundraising activities that could leave Canadians asking whether
there is a hefty price tag associated with key government policies.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and
E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can
reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online at http://www.michaelgeist.ca.

http://www.thestar.com/article/153999
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50% movie piracy from Canada: Hollywood

Vito Pilieci
CanWest News Service


Thursday, January 25, 2007



CREDIT: Disney Enterprises
Here's the scenario: You have a story about movies. But your story is
also about pirates stealing movies. Clearly you have no choice but to
run a picture of Johnny Depp playing a pirate in a movie. And voila,
the Circle of Life is complete.

As much as 50 per cent of the world's pirated movies come from Canada,
prompting the film industry to threaten to delay the release of new
titles in this country.

According to an investigation by Twentieth Century Fox, most of the
illegal recording, or "camcording," is taking place in Montreal movie
houses, taking advantage of bilingual releases and lax copyright laws.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Global National Online Extras
» Mike Armstrong reports
» More Global National News


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Quebec, it is much more advantageous because you get both English
and French. You cover a bigger part of the world," said Ellis Jacob,
chief executive of the Cineplex Entertainment theatre chain. "They are
using Canada because they can have the movie out on the street in the
Philippines and China before it even releases there."

Jacob said he was warned in a letter from Bruce Snyder, president of
Fox's domestic distribution, that if Canada doesn't do something to
curb its growing piracy problem, Hollywood will.

"They are definitely thinking about delaying releases in Canada," said
Jacob. "This is very, very bad for our Canadian consumer and it's bad
for the industry as a whole."

Recent movies including Children of Men, Borat, Night at the Museum and
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest have been made available on
the Internet days after they were released.

The movie industry has complained that the Canadian Copyright Act, as
well as the internal policies of police forces including the RCMP, make
it extremely difficult for them to crack down on movie piracy.

Under the act, anyone caught copying a movie without the studio's
consent can face criminal charges and jailed or fined up to $25,000.
Copyright holders can also take civil action against someone who has
infringed on their property.

However, Jacob said convicting someone is difficult.

"You have to prove that the person was camcording and using it to
generate revenue. It is virtually impossible to do that," he said."
Unless you can assign blame to the person recording in your theatre,
your law doesn't have any teeth."

Serge Corriveau, vice-president and national director of the Canadian
Motion Picture Distributors Association, said law enforcement agencies
don't see movie piracy as a big problem.

"We are not getting any enforcement," said Corriveau. "The only thing
they can do is kick them out."

Cineplex's Jacob said theatre chains all across Canada already employ
security guards who are equipped with night vision goggles and other
surveillance equipment to try to catch pirates.

But he questioned how far the industry must go to protect itself.

"I don't want to make it an uncomfortable environment to go to the
movies," said Jacob. "At the end of the day, we don't want to turn
these places into airport check-ins."

Changes to laws in the United States have seen movie piracy in that
country plummet.

According to Jacob, one man caught with a camcorder in a theatre was
jailed eight years and fined $250,000.

"We need some tougher laws to deal with this situation," he said.

Philip Kerr, an Ottawa lawyer specializing in copyright law with Bowley
Kerr Nadeau Professional Corp., said Canada's copyright law already has
plenty of teeth.

"It surprises me that they say they can't do that stuff," he said." We
have a very good and aggressive copyright regime available."

Because of movie piracy, a U.S. congressional committee has added
Canada to a "country watch list" that includes such well-known piracy
havens as China, Russia, India and Malaysia.

According to the 2006 watch list, "piracy in these countries is largely
the result of a lack of political will to confront the problem."

The document says movies recorded in Canada are quickly filtered
through organized crime groups and circulated around the world. It also
claims that Canada has become a dumping ground for pirated content.

"Canada's lax border measures appear to permit the importation of
pirated products from East Asia, Pakistan and Russia. A co-ordinate
national program targeting importation of counterfeit goods at all
major Canadian ports of entry is needed."

Studios are able to trace pirated movies to specific theatres by
examining them for watermarks that are contained within the images, but
invisible to the naked eye.



© CanWest News Service 2007

http://www.canada.com/globaltv/national/story.html?id=b3dea202-82da-4ad9-b6f8-277923bc1f6b
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What lies!!! No one I know watches camcorded movies. I always suspected
they were put on the p2p networks by movie industry hacks trying to
ruin it for everyone. Ppl in India, Hong Kong and Mainland China do the
most bootlegging. The police do bust ppl for pirating movies. From time
to time uou read about an ethnic market or night market being busted
just for that. Hollywood is making billions and the laws shouldn't be
changed to suit these dishonest ppl.

Send a polite letter
or email to Minister Bernier expressing your concerns. Such a move in
theory could make it illegal to cut and paste magazine and newspaper
articles to USENET and chat rooms even if properly cited and lead to
ppl being prosecuted for taping documentaries and giving them to
friends or making an mp3 of a song from a vinyl record then giving it
to you spouse to listen in the car.


bernier.m@parl.gc.ca


Dear Minister,


I am writing to ask that you ensure that in changes to the Copyright
Act that practices such as time shifting and format shifting are
allowed to continue. Also that the common practice of cut and pasting
articles into electronic formats for purposes of non-profitable
discussion are allowed to continue unfettered. Please resist any
pressures you might recieve from the US govt and foreign corporations
on this issue.

Include your name and address and phone number as well as email address

to increase the chance of a response.







On Jan 25, 11:34 am, me <x...@pqr.org> wrote:
> from slashdot:
>
> "Copyfighting law professor Michael Geist, who previously uncovered
> financial links between recording industry lobbyists and Canada's
> Minister of Canadian Heritage Bev Oda (who is responsible for
> copyright policy), has now identified what big cash donations
> will get you. He reports that Oda met with the President of the
> Canadian Recording Industry Association on a monthly basis last
> year just as the government was preparing copyright reform legislation
> and Canadian artists were calling for an end to P2P lawsuits. Is it
> any wonder that Canadians seem likely to lose their fair use rights?"
>
> http://www.thestar.com/article/153999

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