According to the new bill passed in the senate:
The bill also calls for three years in cases where a person is caught recording a movie in a theater with a camcorder – and six years for a second offence. It also indemnifies theater operators against all criminal and civil liabilities arising from detaining suspects “in a reasonable manner.”
Sooo if I murder someone (manslaughter), my penalties would probably be less than the penalties for *gasp* filming in a movie theatre. I don’t approve of filming in movie theatres, but I certainly don’t think it worse than murder. Nor do I even think it worse than shoplifting. Nothing is actually stolen (oh no! a shaky copy on a camcorder!), and no one is hurt much less killed.
It’s ignorance really, the cam-rips in the piracy world do not come from consumers of the North American cinema market. Simply fact. So why instate such draconian laws? Ahh right forgot. The MPAA/RIAA owns the Senate.