Two U.S. senators have written to Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging him to crack down on film piracy by criminalizing the practice, local media reported Wednesday.

"Films illegally recorded in Canada have been found in no fewer than 45 countries. Twentieth Century Fox has reported that, at one point during 2006, Canadian theaters were the source for nearly 50 percent of illegal cam-corded recordings across the globe," the senators wrote in their letter dated March 1, Canadian Television reported.

"However, it is still not a criminal offense in Canada to make an unauthorized recording of a film in a movie theater. That means there is no law against what is essentially the theft of property, " said the letter from Diane Feinstein from California and Cornyn Call from Texas.

The senators claim that since making an individual copy for personal use is not against the law in Canada and that criminal prosecution requires proof of copying to illegally redistribution, all a theatre can do is to expel the person caught doing the recording.

The senators noted that Washington has made it a federal crime to tape a film in a movie theatre or to release a copy of a film on the Internet before it has debuted in theatres.

"Unfortunately, since the United States has enacted tougher laws and penalties against piracy, including cam-cording piracy, it seems that much of this illicit business has simply moved north (to Canada)," said the letter.

Piracy costs Hollywood 6 billion U.S. dollars annually, the senators said, adding that industry studies claim that the Canadian film industry loses 225 million Canadian dollars (191 million U.S. dollars).

But Canadian experts said Washington is exaggerating the threat posed by Canada. "Canada's likely responsible for no more than two to three percent of all Hollywood releases that might be cam-corded," law professor Michael Geist said.

A spokesman from Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said film piracy is not at the top of their priority list.

"Our number-one priorities would be things like pharmaceuticals, electrical products -- anything that could affect the health and safety of Canadians," the spokesman said.

Source: Xinhua