I love Canada. Fûcking fruitcakes.
From CBC News:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Proposed legislation to toughen penalties for buying illegal satellite services
OTTAWA - People caught illegally buying foreign satellite television service could face stiffer penalties if proposed legislation is passed.
Bill C-2, an amendment to the Radiocommunication Act, would increase penalties on individuals from maximum fines of $10,000 and six months in prison to $25,000 and a year in prison.
Fines on corporations would increase from $25,000 to $200,000.
"If we have a law that does not have prohibitive penalties that will discourage people from engaging in illegal activity, the criminal activity will continue and flourish," Glen O'Farrell, the president of the CAB said.
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters estimates it loses $400 million a year from people buying services from American satellite TV providers.
Critics of the legislation say the bill makes no distinction between people who take Canadian satellite signals without paying and those who pay U.S. providers for channels the Canadian industry isn't willing to offer.
Most of the channels involved offer programming in foreign languages such as Russian, Arabic or Spanish. Canadian providers say the Canadian market is too small to make it worth their while to offer a wide selection of these channels.
Paul Fitzgerald of the IberoAmerican Congress of Canada said he has a dish and pays a monthly subscription fee to Bell ExpressVu.
But the company won't carry his favourite show on Mexican channel Telemundo, even though it is licensed for broadcast in Canada. Fitzgerald pays an additional fee to a U.S. provider.
"This is the equivalent of somebody going into Chapters and trying to find a book and Chapters says 'we don't actually sell that book.' So you buy it from Amazon.com. If Chapters then turned around and complained, you'd have to say 'well, look, you had the choice of selling me the book but you chose not to do that.'"
Fitzgerald says the government is selling out Canadians' freedom of choice and freedom of expression, in order to please an industry lobby that has recently donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Liberal Party of Canada.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
(emphasis added)
To review --
1) Fines for corporations are 800% that of individuals, for the exact same crime. Serves those filthy, money-grubbing corporations right I suppose -- serves them right for being in Canada and not leaving for somewhere that will treat them better.
2) Canadian broadcasting companies are pushing for this, because Canadians are buying services that said broadcasters do not sell in the first place and which they do not intend to provide in the future.
What a lovely place.
Phaedrus
From CBC News:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Proposed legislation to toughen penalties for buying illegal satellite services
OTTAWA - People caught illegally buying foreign satellite television service could face stiffer penalties if proposed legislation is passed.
Bill C-2, an amendment to the Radiocommunication Act, would increase penalties on individuals from maximum fines of $10,000 and six months in prison to $25,000 and a year in prison.
Fines on corporations would increase from $25,000 to $200,000.
"If we have a law that does not have prohibitive penalties that will discourage people from engaging in illegal activity, the criminal activity will continue and flourish," Glen O'Farrell, the president of the CAB said.
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters estimates it loses $400 million a year from people buying services from American satellite TV providers.
Critics of the legislation say the bill makes no distinction between people who take Canadian satellite signals without paying and those who pay U.S. providers for channels the Canadian industry isn't willing to offer.
Most of the channels involved offer programming in foreign languages such as Russian, Arabic or Spanish. Canadian providers say the Canadian market is too small to make it worth their while to offer a wide selection of these channels.
Paul Fitzgerald of the IberoAmerican Congress of Canada said he has a dish and pays a monthly subscription fee to Bell ExpressVu.
But the company won't carry his favourite show on Mexican channel Telemundo, even though it is licensed for broadcast in Canada. Fitzgerald pays an additional fee to a U.S. provider.
"This is the equivalent of somebody going into Chapters and trying to find a book and Chapters says 'we don't actually sell that book.' So you buy it from Amazon.com. If Chapters then turned around and complained, you'd have to say 'well, look, you had the choice of selling me the book but you chose not to do that.'"
Fitzgerald says the government is selling out Canadians' freedom of choice and freedom of expression, in order to please an industry lobby that has recently donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Liberal Party of Canada.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
(emphasis added)
To review --
1) Fines for corporations are 800% that of individuals, for the exact same crime. Serves those filthy, money-grubbing corporations right I suppose -- serves them right for being in Canada and not leaving for somewhere that will treat them better.
2) Canadian broadcasting companies are pushing for this, because Canadians are buying services that said broadcasters do not sell in the first place and which they do not intend to provide in the future.
What a lovely place.
Phaedrus
