Rated-R Movies and the Law

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by MaDouleur

The titles I'm thinking of aren't questionable in my mind. It's just that I understand how the uptight, judgemental, "I think I know what's right for everyone else" mind works...

Go read a good newspaper that properly covers international stories.... If you are caught in some countries with material, political, religious or sexual that contravenes their law then its ridiculous to try your argument.
The whole point of travelling is to learn and understand others cultures. You can't import your own values - you are bound by theirs.

The sort of ‘innocious’ western crap that can lead you into deep trouble overseas is:

Falun Gong materiel in China
Chez Guevara T-Shirts in some parts of South America
Teddy Bears name Mohammad in a quarter of the world including all Middle East, northern Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia and part of the Philippines.
And films showing flesh in those countries above.

And if you think some of our countries are so righteously correct look at the stance the USA and Australia has on items that may be perfectly legal in the rest of the world. Eg Guns in the USA and fun but gets you a one way trip to jail in Australia. Drugs in Amsterdam that gets you in jail in Aus or US.

So different cultures are different. And they couldn’t give a stuff about western sensitivities let alone your personal jugments!


Its all a learning process

[MaDouleur]

Thanks for the feedback, Mark. I am definitely not trying any argument. The point of this thread is that my / American values differ from many abroad and what precautions should be taken.

I am very familiar with the Western crap and I have a great appreciation for other cultures... I have travelled extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East including living in a Middle Eastern country for a year. I like to think of myself as less myopic and more enlightened than most Americans.

As to judgements, I make none. (Upon rereading, I must concede that the adjectives I posted and you quoted are very judgemental. I should have stuck with "far more conservative" or something like that...) I am simply making the irrefutable observation that there are countries that consider something innocuous to me a grave moral offense. And I'm sure the opposite is true as well - as an American, I'm sure there are things I'm uptight about that others think nothing of. Unisex bathrooms come to mind...

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by MaDouleur

Unisex bathrooms come to mind...

Luxuary! At least there are bathrooms!

Can we start a thread on "Worlds Worst Dunnies"?

[MaDouleur]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Luxuary! At least there are bathrooms!

I guess I have the land-lubber's perspective for now. I'll give you a better laugh - I currently live alone in a condo with TWO bathrooms! I guess I'll be reminiscing about that wistfully after I've lived aboard for a year...

[GMac]

In many of the Pacific Islands any sort of nudity is a big no-no including on paper or video. In one or 2 a playboy will land you in jail, well a local at least as some are aware the visitors spend lots of money but I'd be careful all the same.

Burn them all to a multi-gigabyte external hard drive and if they ask say it's a spare part for the self-steering or something. Maybe burn 'The Sound of Music' as the 1st track just in case

Many Islands also don't even like ladies in bikinis, shorts or anything that allows anything above the knees showing. Spoil sports

[Trekka]

I would be more concerned about our own Customs inspections. There is an increasing problem for people returning to this country via air to have their laptop's taken and hard drives copied. Encryption does not help as they are required to "unlock". Btw, challenges have gotten nowhere as courts consider it no different than riffing through a suitcase.

It is claimed that this is being done to ensure "child pornography" is not brought into the country. But lawyers and business executives are extremely uneasy at having a gov't agency make copies of their hard drives. Some companies now require their employees to travel with drives stripped bare of company data. Once on site they can log in via encrypted tunnel to access needed data.

There are reports that some European nations are now instituting similar policy towards people who pass across their borders.

FWIW I don't worry about movies but I do care about personal data, correspondence, address books, diary, financial data, political blogs, etc.

As for the "teddy bear named mohamed" incident, that was not about religous offense. It was purely political. The "complaint" and "demonstrations" were staged by the government, which was about to be cited by the UN and EU for various issues and offenses, with trade sanctions likely. Having the British teacher in custody facing death, then reduced to very severe punishment, gave them leverage. With attention shifted to her case, negotiations and eventual release, it was a plan that worked very well for them.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Trekka

As for the "teddy bear named mohamed" incident, that was not about religous offense. It was purely political. The "complaint" and "demonstrations" were staged by the government, .

Exactly my point!!!!!!!!

She ended up in jail, as a cruiser could, on a pretext because of some government thing that happens while we are at sea!

"Our" Government does 'something', foreign government retaliates by "seizing porn off yacht that was ready to be copied from computer and given to locals'....

We still lose our liberty, under the cloud of a death penalty, and have the boat trashed while the governments sort it out. Why? “it was a plan that worked very well for them.”

So its better to present a small target.

*** Yes, I know I am presenting a far fetched situation if the movies are the latest Brad Pitt / Tom Cruise films; but if they are the (better acted) Debbie does Dallas or Bedroom Mazerka, though they may be commercially available here, could get you looking at trouble.




Mark

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by MaDouleur

I could see you possibly ending up with a blank drive after a near-miss in an electrical storm. I guess there's the same risk for the main drive of a laptop but it's probably better-grounded than an external drive.

BTW - What program did you find works best to rip your movies?

I have an IT mate who downloads heaps of torrents and also rips using DVD Shrink and Ashampoo

dvdshrink.org: FREE Backup Solution for your DVD movies!

Ashampoo® - We Make Software!


I just leave one of my portable HD there and pick it up loaded and ready to go

Dave

[Trekka]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

*** Yes, I know I am presenting a far fetched situation ...

Mark

Well, no more so than a teacher of a class whose students name a teddy bear "Mohamed", a common name.

I think where we differ is on whether having common movies makes a difference. I think if "they want you" it does not matter what you have or not. The situation with the class was not unusual or offensive in any way. It was just a put-up job given the gov't needed a hostage. If there had been no teddy bear they might have taken her for wearing a skirt that revealed an ankle "in front of children" or wearing lipstick, whatever. They had a desire, and intent, and that's what mattered. (Cue filmstrip: I'm shocked - shocked! - to discover gambling in this establishment!")

[waterworldly]

Has anyone had any issues about copyrights when they make passage copies or record them to the hard drive?

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by waterworldly

Has anyone had any issues about copyrights when they make passage copies or record them to the hard drive?

As long as any Copyright identification is removed (from your copy), it would be very difficult for a cursory inspection to reveal the infraction.
On the other hand, a bare tit (whatever) is readily identifiable.

[Celestialsailor]

One point that has not been mentioned is that "COUNTRIES OF QUESTIONABLE SCRUPLES", might be looking for a reason for a monitary shake down. The whole issue of guns, porn, counter-band and so on should not even be considered when visiting a foreign port. The fore mentioned countries of questionable scruples, all have black market in full view on the streets.

[Starbuck]

When in Rome…

[David M]

The solution is easy.... Print out a bunch of Disney DVD jacket covers and put your dirty ones in those. I won't go into what Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs might actually contain.

[Weyalan]

I really wouldn't want to take the risk. Is it worth it? As has been pointed out, what happens at the border of a country is not necessarily any reflection on what happens elsewhere in that country. For example, countries such as Indonesia and, say, Nepal, have draconian laws restricting the import and export of drugs, but have a relatively relaxed attitude to (soft) drug use within those borders. Other countries (Guatemala & Honduras are two that I have experienced) don't seen to have particularly stringent border regulations, but have many, many officials who are just looking for an excuse, any excuse to line their pockets with a little bit of your cash.

I have always found, when visiting foreign countries (nearly 50 of 'em so far) that there is plenty to see and do, such that carrying DVDs would seem like excess baggage to me.