Piracy in NZ
The issues discussed in lectures and tutorials this previous week on piracy and hacking etc were probably the most interesting topics, for me, we've done so far in FTVMS 203 this semester. Thus, after the lecture I came home and 'googled' NZ Piracy laws as I found it astonishing that our laws meant we could not even copy our own CD's etc.
I have never myself pirated a DVD and do not necessarily condone it. However, I do think the "You wouldn't steal a car" advertisement you constantly see before movies at the theatre and now even on bought material is a bit ridiculous! How can you compare? Yes, it is similar as they are both theft but I'm curious as to whether others think it could or should be considered different as it is a bit less personal than physically grabbing a handbag from an old lady?
In the link above it states that our copyright laws where this is concerned is governed by the 'Films, Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Act 2005' which is an amended version of the 'Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993'. According to this, "This Act makes it an offence to possess or trade in "objectionable" publications. Individuals convicted of knowingly trading in objectionable material can be imprisoned for up to 10 years. Convictions for knowingly possessing objectionable material can result in a fine up to $50,000 or a five year term of imprisonment." Although this is on a slightly different scale to that I was talking about above, as in it is referring to trading rather than copying, I would be very interested to know what people thought about this sentence for trading. Personally I think the fine seems perhaps reasonable but, depending on the extent of the crime obviously, is the term of imprisonment a bit over the top?
-Lydz
(A.K.A Lydia McKinlay)
I have never myself pirated a DVD and do not necessarily condone it. However, I do think the "You wouldn't steal a car" advertisement you constantly see before movies at the theatre and now even on bought material is a bit ridiculous! How can you compare? Yes, it is similar as they are both theft but I'm curious as to whether others think it could or should be considered different as it is a bit less personal than physically grabbing a handbag from an old lady?
In the link above it states that our copyright laws where this is concerned is governed by the 'Films, Videos and Publications Classification Amendment Act 2005' which is an amended version of the 'Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993'. According to this, "This Act makes it an offence to possess or trade in "objectionable" publications. Individuals convicted of knowingly trading in objectionable material can be imprisoned for up to 10 years. Convictions for knowingly possessing objectionable material can result in a fine up to $50,000 or a five year term of imprisonment." Although this is on a slightly different scale to that I was talking about above, as in it is referring to trading rather than copying, I would be very interested to know what people thought about this sentence for trading. Personally I think the fine seems perhaps reasonable but, depending on the extent of the crime obviously, is the term of imprisonment a bit over the top?
-Lydz
(A.K.A Lydia McKinlay)
posted by Anonymous at 1:16 pm
2 Comments:
I have always felt by playing that 'you wouldn't steal a car ad' and then showing these astronomical statistics for video piracy, it is quite strange. I mean, how long do you get for stealing a car? what about a purse? can't be 10 years, and you certainly wouldn't have to pay $50,000...
so does that mean it's better to steal froma shop then at home? sometimes I don't understand the law...
Those anti-piracy clips at the start of films only result in philosophical discussion amongst my group of friends about whether we would infact steal a tv .
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