Huge counterfeit movie bust
p2pnet news | Crime:- Police in Ontario, Canada, may charge as many as 21 people for allegedly selling counterfeit discs for as little as $4 each at a market.
Some 75,000 copies of movies were seized in Peel Region, “capping off an eight-month sting operation that investigators say ended in one of the largest anti-piracy busts in Canadian history,” continues the CBC.
The fakes were sold out of a Mississauga flea market at Mavis Road, as well as at least one other Mississauga market, police said, according to the story.
Investigators said business was brisk at the illegal markets, it says, going on, “Even as officers were slapping cuffs on suspects, loyal customers were asking when the stores would reopen, the lead investigator told CBC News.”
“You’ve got all walks of life coming in there – old, young, men in wheelchairs coming up asking for a television series they want and giving their names and phone numbers,” detective John Mans is quoted as saying.
“It’s amazing. People are just completely oblivious to the fact that it’s entirely illegal.”
Also See:
CBC – Peel police smash illegal DVD ring, net 75,000 pirated films, August 20, 2007
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August 21st, 2007 at 12:28 pm
“It’s amazing. People are just completely oblivious to the fact that it’s entirely illegal.”
Either that, or they just don’t care. With all the insane shenanigans being pulled by the entertainment cartels, who could possibly show them any sympathy?
August 21st, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Why SHOULD people care? The cartels have proven over and over again that they are corrupt and greedy. So why should people feel a need to support them?
And I BET that this is only a mere drop in the bucket when it comes to pirated films being sold in that country…they will probably just go and sell the movies at another stand, somewhere else in the city.
Though I do not support ANYONE who SELLS pirated content!
August 21st, 2007 at 1:48 pm
It isnt that they are oblivious they simply do not care. For years the cartels have bent the public over and raped them on prices of the products they sell and people just dont care about those who are making millions and millions of dollars and cry foul. If gas was in a digital format you had better believe it would be on p2p.
August 21st, 2007 at 11:11 pm
I’m curious, from a legal perspective it seems like the charges the police laid might not stand up in court. My non-lawyer’s understanding of fraud is that it requires some deception. I think the crown would have a hard time arguing that the buyers were defrauded given the price difference and possibly a lack of convincing packaging as well as the sellers behavior. I mean its not like the location looks like a HMV or other store that would sell real dvds. It seems that the police would need to prove someone reasonably thought they were getting an original when they weren’t. Also fraud requires intent to defraud. I think the accused’s intent was to sell pirated dvds not defraud anyone. Finally the possesion of property obtained by crime charge will only stick if the fraud charge does unless the police charge them with something else. While I don’t support people selling pirated products, I also believe that this should remain a civil not a criminal matter. Let me know what if you agree or disagree with my reasoning.
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:12 am
In a world where 200 people have as much wealth as 3 billion people, that’s half the world’s population and an obscenity, the vast majority of those who can’t afford to access even a fraction of the world’s cultural output should not have even one moment of guilt, NOT ONE, about using file-sharing to actually be able to access more than just a tiny fraction.
Buying someone’s talent thus turning it into private property, and then wielding this property in a social fashion and in a social way, all for your own private gain — this is the most inhuman thing i can imagine, except its not just the buying of talent, its the entire process of capitalism, the buying of labor and in return the labourers get to live another day. What a nightmare we live in. By participating in file-sharing, you are actually helping to prevent the capitalists from being able to resolve the very reason they do this — if you hand over the money, they win. If you don’t hand it over, you win. Simple. And the more people YOU recruit to file-sharing, the harder it is for them to make a filthy profit.
What a revolution file-sharing is.
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:13 am
The best way to destroy the law is to pass laws that punish the inocents. People lose their respect for the law and the jusitce system and bye bye society.
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:51 am
to polybomber:
Who can say? Should google execs go to jail because they HUGELY profit from illegal copyright infringement? Most would argue no, so therefore maybe you are right.
Granted, Google isn’t saying “here is copyrighted material, give me 3$”, but youtube exists because of copyrighted material, I think most would agree. Therefore, they are not quick to replace their current system and have been stagnant on filtering it for over a year now. At some point, the civil process breaks down. To many websites are “selling access to free content”. Filesharing was all about keeping it free. That changed with the coming of blogs, and I think it’s a turn for the worse.
I own personal IP, and it feeds my family. My program is all over filesharing networks. Cracks and keygens exist for almost every release I have. The only people I go after, are the ones selling my product, mostly on ebay. But in a way, even thepiratebay is selling my product, even though its free. So should I not be upset with them too? I really could care less, it is great exposure. I sit more with microsoft, in that, piracy eventually, and always leads to market share. Media is not the same as software though, and the MPAA knows this i think. We don’t NEED them, they need us. Anyone who says we don’t need microsoft, is deluded. Maybe in 10 years the same won’t be said. But the majority, yes the vast majority of people need Windows and will need Windows for a long time.
August 26th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
gonna miss you guys it was alot faster and easier. just download myself using peer gaurdian