The FBI calls Gérémi Adam Canada's biggest movie pirate. (CBC)

The decision to send a Montreal man to prison for pirating movies has set a dangerous precedent that could threaten privacy rights, say civil rights advocates in Vancouver.

On Tuesday, Gérémi Adam, 27, became the first Canadian jailed for breaking cinematic copyright, when he was sentenced to 2½ months after pleading guilty to two counts of distributing high-quality pirated copies of Hollywood films.

Canadian film distributors welcomed the sentencing of Adam, whom the FBI once called Canada's biggest movie pirate.

But Chris Brand, co-founder of the Vancouver Fair Copyright Coalition, questioned the sentencing.

"The question then comes down to what level of enforcement is reasonable and what level of punishment is reasonable," said Brand.

Adam was arrested a first time in September 2006 after he was caught distributing pirated movies on the internet. He was then caught a second time in April 2008, filming the movie Street King at a downtown Montreal theatre.

Adam's multiple offences played a role in the sentence handed down by Judge Suzanne Coupal, said Crown prosecutor Josée Bélanger.

New laws enforced

In 2007, the Conservative government amended copyright legislation. Under the new rules, making illegal movie recordings became a criminal offence punishable by six months in jail and a $25,000 fine.

Brand is concerned the enforcement of those piracy laws could violate Canada's privacy laws, because in order to monitor illegal uploads and downloads online, authorities would have to monitor a person's entire internet connection, he claims.

"Any prohibition on downloading works — that has a huge impact on the sort of privacy side of things. In order to know that I'm not downloading any works illegally, you have to monitor my internet connection. That's not the kind of society that I want to live in," Brand said.

B.C. Civil Liberties Association board member Richard Rosenberg also said Adam's prison sentence sets a new precedent for Canadian copyright enforcement.

"This is a new direction for Canada, which is surprising to me," he said.

"In Canada, we've taken over the past few years a different route to deal with the pirating of movies and books and whatever, and it's been a surcharge on recording media."

That surcharge is used to reimburse artists for sales they're deemed to have lost to piracy.

Brand said Hollywood has simply been too slow to adapt to online technologies, and claims the movie industry could make a lot money on downloads if it were to follow the lead of independent filmmakers and embrace the internet as a free distribution channel.

"I'd really like to see the day when the movie studios recognize that a lot of the works that get spread around the internet actually act as free advertising for them and get more people into the movie theatres," he said.