Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

I guess if you have enough lobbyists and enough money, you can actually convince the Canadian government to pass laws against crimes that don't actually exist.

Movie companies have apparently convinced the Canadian government that illegal camcording is such a problem in Canada that a new bill will allow police to arrest and proscute pirates:

In a united show of force, the departments of Industry, Justice and Heritage Canada will hold a press conference on Parliament Hill at noon today supporting an aggressive crackdown on the illegal camcording of feature films.

Few details of new legislation have been made public, but sources close to the government say it's expected to be a short bill that will pack a punch, amending the Criminal Code to enable police to arrest and prosecute film pirates.

And this without a single example of such a crime actually having occurred.A Canadian filmmaker does say that he is losing money to camcording and gives an example:

Last December, for instance, Montreal law enforcement confiscated 2,500 illegal copies of Bon Cop, Bad Cop just before the film was released on DVD.

"The videos were being sold door to door in a working-class neighbourhood called Rosemount," Mr. Tierney said. "The guy was going from house to house selling bootlegged cigarettes, alcohol and Bon Cop, Bad Cop.

Now if camcording were the culprit here, the why start selling the copies just as the DVD is about to be released?Why not sell them while the movie is still in theatres? Of is this more likely an inside job, where someone merely made a copy of the DVD before it was shipped? That possibility is ignored.

If only we could all have the laws we want created so easily. I'd pass a law against being overcharged for a bad moviegoing experience.