Britain: Hollywood’s new ‘pirate’ horror
p2pnet news | movies:- Having succeeded in menacing the Canadian government into writing legislation aimed at curtailing the so-called camcording pirate threat, Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney are turning their attentions to Britain.
Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association boss Douglas Frith, the ex-MP and ex-VP at famous spin-firm Hill & Knowlton who was front and centre during the Canadian fiasco, now says the problem could cross the pond to Britain which, he says sadly, “has yet to impose criminal sanctions on unauthorized camcording”.
And now a new prime minister, Gordon Brown, has taken over from Tony Blair, expect to see the screws tightened there, and hard.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, “They (Britain) will require this [new anti-camcording laws] under their criminal code. The lobbying will intensify to pressure that jurisdiction to change its laws,” Frith said last month.
How long before California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who gave Canadian prime minister, George W. Harper the benefit of his wisdom, shows up on behalf of Hollywood in the UK ?
The Hollywood Reporter has Frith saying recruiting a range of Canadian industry groups such as the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, ACTRA and the Directors Guild of Canada was key to the Canadian success.
However, ‘recruiting’ might not be the correct word. ‘Ordering’ might be a better one a given that the above organisations are, to all intents and purposes, Hollywood controlled.
How long before Frith is elevated to the position of head of the MPAA’s anti-piracy operations?
For now, expect soon to see the UK corporate media media reporting shock horror stories about how camcording pirates are wreaking devastation in the British Isles.
(Cheers, Masha)
Also See:
Hollywood Reporter – Frith: Canadian law will drive pirates to U.K., June 26, 2007
benefit of his wisdom – Canadian Movie Piracy Bill cometh, May 31, 2007
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July 8th, 2007 at 5:47 am
Don’t us brits get most movies so long after the USA that nobody gives a shit if we cam em or not because there are already screeners/r5s usually about before most stuff makes a cinema appearance here lol – or at the least there’s already cams/ts from other countries.
One country at a time though I guess – slowly but surely the mafiaas are going to succeed in making everything copyright related criminal. It’s the only way they can keep their overpriced and outdated business model with it’s endless diet of recycled plots, big stars, and throwaway popcorn movies alive.