Hakaku Posted January 10, 2008 Report Posted January 10, 2008 OTTAWA -- The average Canadian doesn't think think twice about taping his or her favourite TV show or listening to a newly-purchased CD. But industry officials and observers say that activities such as these are being threatened both by existing copyright regulations and the Conservative government's pledge to "modernize" Canada's laws with legislation that could make these and other related activities illegal. "There are a growing number of people who recognize that this legislation will directly touch what people can do with their own personal property," said Michael Geist, the Canada Research Chair of Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa. In December, Geist set up a group on Facebook to campaign against Industry Minister Jim Prentice's plans to reform copyright laws. Nearly 40,000 people have joined the group, many of them fearing the government is on the verge of copying the 1998 U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The U.S. legislation makes it illegal to tamper with a digital lock that was designed to prevent someone either from copying music or other material from a CD, viewing a DVD on a player outside its designated region or country or using a cellphone overseas with the phone company of your choice instead of your Canadian provider, Geist explained. Geist also noted that in schools or libraries, the U.S. laws would prevent students from making copies of material they use for research. He acknowledged that Canada should adopt some elements of the U.S. legislation that offer flexibility for the "fair use" of intellectual property. They say that, under the existing laws in Canada, a person could be sued for producing a parody of a politician based on real images, sound or video, or even for recording a television program. Jay Thomson, !@#$%^&*istant vice-president of broadband policy for Telus, said the existing laws are preventing his company from launching a new digital television recording service that would allow subscribers to tape shows for later viewing on a network server without having to use a VCR. "I'm certain that the vast majority of Canadians don't know that, when they tape a program for later viewing, that that is a copyright infringement, and they're potentially subject to a lawsuit for undertaking that activity," Thomson said. "It's not against copyright law in the U.S. [or in Australia, Japan or the U.K.], and it's been going on for decades here and shouldn't be a copyright infringement here, either." Prentice indicated that he would not give interviews about the legislation until it is introduced in the Commons, likely at the end of January or early February. But he has insisted that he wants to find a balance between protecting the rights of creators and consumers. He said the idea is to bring Canada into line with existing international treaties on copyright rules. Geist noted that many prominent Canadian artists, such as Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies, are part of a coalition that has spoken out against stringent copyright rules and lawsuits against fans because of the potential damage to their careers and reputations.From the sounds of it, Canada's new copyright law would be strongly based on the U.S.'s Digital Media Copyright Act, except worse. It would turn about nearly all Canadians into criminals, and all it takes are small things. To compare, yes it would mean no more downloading, no more copying, no more ripping any songs, even if done for personal use. But to the more extreme, just taping a show to watch it later would cons!@#$%^&*ute a copyright infrigement, watching your DVD in another country, or using music solely for school research, and probably even just lending your music to someone else would also cons!@#$%^&*ute a violation of the new copyright law. While they claim the goal is to step up in line with other international copyright laws/treaties, the Canadian law would be far worse than anything else. Under the current laws, much of it is already illegal (such as taping your favourite program), but not enforced as much. A modernization of these same laws would be a catastrophy, as it would extend to far more activities, and would allow direct and full tracking of illegal activities (such as downloading music) in digital devices such as your computer.
rootbear75 Posted January 10, 2008 Report Posted January 10, 2008 monitoring your computer like that is an invasion of privacy... this seems like a combination of the Digital Millenium Act, with some elements of the Patriot Act
Samapico Posted January 15, 2008 Report Posted January 15, 2008 Why do they sell VHS and DVD recorders if it's illegal to tape anything? ... That's dumb.
Samapico Posted January 16, 2008 Report Posted January 16, 2008 You can't record a vacation by hitting 'record' on the VHS player, that's what I meant.
The Real Picard Posted January 16, 2008 Report Posted January 16, 2008 Wait a minute, I may be mistaken, but, aren't all Canadians descendants of Criminals? Oh, no, thats Austrailia. Nevermind.
Wild Luck Posted January 17, 2008 Report Posted January 17, 2008 Why do they sell VHS and DVD recorders if it's illegal to tape anything? ... That's dumb.i have the same opinion as you, you cant copy cds and dvds but they sell you the recorder, i mean WTF
all_shall_perish Posted January 17, 2008 Report Posted January 17, 2008 (edited) i have the same opinion as you, you cant copy cds and dvds but they sell you the recorder, i mean WTF Surprisingly, you can put other sorts of data on dvd's and cd's outside of other dvd's or cd's. I don't really agree with big record labels and big film distributors, but the plain and simple fact is copying/downloading of music and what not is stealing. Now, the whole idea of government en!@#$%^&*ies monitoring what you do on your personal computer sounds like a gigantic invasion of privacy and i am 100% not OK with that even if it is utilized to stop criminals. Edited January 17, 2008 by all_shall_perish
»doc flabby Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 I always though the idea of law in a democratic system was to represent the peoples values. If millions of people break a law, it means the law is wrong not the people. Thus I can only conclude that current goverments in many countries are just illusions of democrazy, where in fact the ruling elite continue to p!@#$%^&* down laws to us as if they were instructed to by god. (much like a monarcy).
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