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Canadian Copying

A significant portion of Canadians, approximately 26% in 2021, engage in online piracy by illegally copying and distributing movies, TV shows, and software. While not explicitly charged under the Criminal Code, such actions violate Canada's Copyright Act, and enforcement against piracy is limited due to insufficient resources within law enforcement. Additionally, illegal downloading poses risks beyond legal repercussions, including exposure to phishing attacks through illicit streaming devices.

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189 views2 pages

Canadian Copying

A significant portion of Canadians, approximately 26% in 2021, engage in online piracy by illegally copying and distributing movies, TV shows, and software. While not explicitly charged under the Criminal Code, such actions violate Canada's Copyright Act, and enforcement against piracy is limited due to insufficient resources within law enforcement. Additionally, illegal downloading poses risks beyond legal repercussions, including exposure to phishing attacks through illicit streaming devices.

Uploaded by

steamedbrockoli
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Many Canadians illegally copy movies, TV shows or software ⋆ LegalMattersCanada 2025-01-10, 16:40

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Many Canadians illegally copy movies, TV shows or software


Criminal Law / July 15, 2024

Author Recent Posts

Céline Dostaler
Principal at Céline Dostaler Criminal Defence Lawyer
celine@celinedostaler.ca
(613) 695-8595
 Cell (613) 863-8595 (24/7)

By LegalMatters Staff • Online piracy includes copying, modifying, distributing or selling software or online
 content, including music movies, TV shows, games and software.

According to information from the Motion Picture Association (MPA) of Canada, 26 per cent of Canadian
 content consumers accessed pirated music, movies, TV shows, video games, e-books and/or software in

 2021.


https://legalmatterscanada.ca/many-canadians-illegally-copy-music-movies-tv-shows-or-software/ Page 1 of 2
Many Canadians illegally copy movies, TV shows or software ⋆ LegalMattersCanada 2025-01-10, 16:40

 “Online piracy usually takes place on a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing platform,” says Ottawa criminal lawyer
Céline Dostaler. “Peer-to-peer networks use a distributed architecture where each computer or device (called
a peer) can share and exchange files with others without relying on a central server.”

She notes that while online piracy is not a charge in the Criminal Code, it is illegal under Canada’s Copyright
Act. But the chances of being prosecuted are slim.

Dostaler points to a 2023 report from the U.S. International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), which notes
that police agencies in Canada “are unable to effectively deal with organized piracy and increasingly fail to
follow up on detailed cases referred to them by rights holders.”

“The RCMP lacks the human and financial resources to properly investigate IP crimes or to prepare the cases
for prosecution,” she says.

As the IIPA report notes, “It is nearly impossible to overstate the magnitude of the piracy problem in Canada …
in 2022, 22.4 per cent of Canadians accessed pirate services.”

Dostaler says many people may not realize that illegal downloading comes with a risk, besides prosecution.

“Illicit streaming devices allow hackers access to your computer,” she says, citing the IIPA report. It notes that
“46 per cent of the malicious content on content theft sites visited by Canadians is phishing, where fake sites
defraud users to log their user name and password information, often redirecting users to legitimate websites
afterwards.”

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