http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/447347
The issue at hand is that piracy has spiralled out of control. The amount of profit gained from selling pirated copies of DVDs and CDs surpass the profits of extortion, drugs and even prostitution. It app
ears that our society is full of consumers who are willing to fund such organized crimes. This is followed with an enforcement system that has been extremely lenient on offenders. For example, “A June 2007 report from a House of Commons committee looking into piracy found that in typical cases, the counterfeiters end up paying less than $10,000 in fines and serve no jail time.”
Doesn’t it seem like our society leaves little room for those that are mass producing and selling pirated products to back down and stop? I mean some of them are gaining $200,000 profit; surely a $10,000 fine is not going to scare them.
Earlier this month, a new copyright legislation was announced to deter those who illegally make counterfeit productions to sell for profit. This new legislation is same as the old Copyright Act, a $1 million fine and five years’ imprisonment.
In my personal opinion, I believe now with such a heavy punishment in our legislation, what we need to do is to enforce it fully and hand them out to let offenders know we do not tolerate this. Not only is this illegal, it is wrong morally and ethically. Also, it seems like the police are not focusing enough on the underground trade. They perhaps need more people involve in catching these criminals. It is estimated that $34 million of tax is loss due to the sale of illegal pirated DVDs and an $118million annual loss for Canadian movie distributors.
This is not a matter of Robin Hood, stealing from the rich (Hollywood) and giving to the poor (buyers). This is a matter of what is legal and what is illegal. Our nation does not stand for piracy.
The question remains as how to we enforce a law that so many of us neglect? Even if we do enforce it, how are we going to stop consumers from supporting such a crime? What else do you think the government should do pertaining this issue?
-VL
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I think you are right when you say that the main issue at hand is enforcing the law. That seems to be a problem in Canadian society – we have all of these demanding laws in place that are meant to protect the welfare of the people but there is not enough enforcement by the officials. So the issue is not about enforcing piracy laws, but rather enforcing all laws in Canada.
Regarding the issue of piracy, I remember a couple of years ago, the police raided a store in First Markham Place, of all of their pirated materials, but a week later they were re-opened! Yes, the police did a good job of deciding to raid the store, but how were they allowed to be back in business within a few days? It makes no sense to me. They should have been out of business for at least a year, in addition to paying the charges.
So how can we enforce the piracy law as well as all the other laws? I’m pretty sure that constitutionally speaking, law enforcement is a provincial responsibility, but I personally think that it would be better if law enforcement would be placed in the hands of the municipal governments. I feel that the municipal government looks at what affects its specific area – they will be a lot more focused on protecting their area then the provincial government who has a greater area to cover and who has much more responsibility for other things. If we increase the number of employees in the police force, this could also have a drastic effect on the enforcement of laws. From the article that you linked, I found this quote:
“The RCMP is in charge of enforcing intellectual property laws. But they only have one dedicated full-time officer, Sgt. Sylvain St-Jean in Ottawa, co-ordinating the force's investigations. Several hundred officers investigate individual cases across the country, but only a few might actually be working on such crimes at any given time.”
There needs to be more full-time officers coordinating investigations, so they can cover all grounds of all issues.
Post a Comment