DISASTROUS Canadian copyright BOMB to be introduced at 10:45 AM today

[Tasaio]

Wow, it's great to have the RIAA and MPAA leading Canada. And the Liberals will probably abstain, again.

The new copyright laws are so outrageous as to be unworkable. I wonder if this is Harper's version of introducing the GST?

From Government ready to drop copyright bomb

The government is ready to introduce controversial new copyright legislation that experts believe will introduce harsh new restrictions on downloading, copying songs to CDs and music players, unlocking cellphones and time-shifting of television shows.

From Controversial copyright reform to be unveiled Thursday

The new Copyright Act has been updated to reflect the growth of digital media and is said to include a number of contentious provisions including:

-- A $500 fine for each illegal file shared online

-- Making it illegal to unlock cellphones or copy music from protected CDs to iPods

-- Forbidding the right to copy "time shifted" shows onto personal video recorders if flagged by broadcasters.

From Border officials may seize iPods under trade deal

Called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the new plan would see Canada join other countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, to form an international coalition against copyright infringement.

(snip)

The deal would create an international regulator that could turn border guards and other public security personnel into copyright police. The security officials would be charged with checking laptops, iPods and even cellular phones for content that "infringes" on copyright laws, such as ripped CDs and movies.

The guards would also be responsible for determining what is infringing content and what is not.

The agreement also proposes that any content that may have been copied from a DVD or digital video recorder would be open for scrutiny by officials -- even if the content was copied legally.

The leaked ACTA document states officials should be given the "authority to take action against infringers (i. e., authority to act without complaint by rights holders)."

Anyone found with infringing content in their possession would be open to a fine. They also may have their device confiscated or destroyed, according to the four-page document.

Copyright police? Device confiscated or destroyed? Border guards determining what is infringing material?

Among other things, this bill will criminalize:

- watching DVDs on Linux
- copying music from legally-purchased CDs to an iPod
- watchind a DVD purchased overseas (with a different Region code)

Somehow, I doubt the public will stand for this so-called "Made in Canada" plan.

[Brutha]

Somehow, I doubt the public will stand for this so-called "Made in Canada" plan.

I hope so too, but we will see whether you canadians can demostrate loud enough against it.

[Tasaio]

From http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/v...comments_start

2. The digital lock provisions are worse than the DMCA. Yes - worse.

...

While Prentice could have adopted a more balanced approach (as New Zealand and Canada's Bill C-60 did), the effect of these provisions will be to make Canadians infringers for a host of activities that are common today including watching out-of-region-coded DVDs, copying and pasting materials from a DRM'd book, or even unlocking a cellphone. The liability for picking the digital lock is up to $20,000 per infringement.

Moreover, the $500 fine may well be offset by the new sources of much larger liability as Canadians face $20,000 per infringement for transferring music from a copy-protected CD to their iPod.

...

Under the proposal, there are exceptions for uploading or posting music online (ie. making available) and even the suggestion that posting a copyright-protected work to YouTube could result in the larger $20,000 per infringement damage award.

This probably won't pass under a minority gov't. Hopefully the liberals will vote against it.

[Tasaio]

From Copyright law could result in police state: critics

Among the losers could be consumers shopping for electronics devices. The bill would raise the cost of electronics by extending the private copying levy, a tax currently in place on blank media such as CDs and DVDs, to any device with a hard drive.

"Owners of computers and iPods are probably going to end up paying quite a bit more for those products in the future," Hayes said.

WHAT.

THE.

HELL.



They're extending the private copying levy to any device with a harddrive?! IN ADDITION to the fine for illegal filesharing?

You can't have it both ways. So a judge ruled back in 2003.

This makes me extremely angry.

[Dan.Linehan]

Hey Tasaio - I guess I don't understand what is going on.

Is Canada going to start prosecuting citizens for backing up DVDs?

[Brutha]

This makes me extremely angry.

Just keep in mind, that it more easy to win the political debate against them when they are completly over the top in what they propose.

Not being able to watch DVDs from other country is something that the average person of the street can understand and that helps you to create the political pressure to defeat a bill like that.

Now it's your turn to tell your neighbors what's happening even if the might be a bit older and are against "piracy".

Take it as chance.

[Tasaio]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

Hey Tasaio - I guess I don't understand what is going on.

Is Canada going to start prosecuting citizens for backing up DVDs?

Theoretically, that is possible! Basically, backing up a DVD you legally purchased is now illegal. It carries a potential $20,000 dollar fine

Hopefully, this is so unpractical as to be unenforceable.

Now it's your turn to tell your neighbors what's happening even if the might be a bit older and are against "piracy".

I don't think being aganist piracy is confined to any particular age group.

If anything, it is a lack of understanding amongst people who aren't tech-savvy. These people don't understand DRM and the restrictions it places on people trying to compete in the industry.

Under this new law:
- I'll be a criminal if I watch a DVD in Ubuntu.
- I'll be a criminal if I watch a DVD with a different Region code. I own several such films! I watch foreign films, but I guess members of this gov't don't. They're all-American in their tastes.

[Dan.Linehan]

Shady shady shady. Wow.

CBC Radio's Search Engine just posted/aired its interview with Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice about his Canadian version of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. They've been trying to get him on the air for months now and he finally consented to ten minutes, but he delivered nothing but spin and outright lies about his legislation and ended up hanging up on Jesse Brown, the interviewer.

You have to listen to this -- in it, the Minister lies, dodges, weaves and ducks around plain, simple questions like, "If the guy at my corner shop unlocks my phone, is he breaking the law?" and "If my grandfather breaks the DRM on his jazz CDs to put them on his iPod, does that break the law?" and the biggie, "All the 'freedoms' your law guarantees us can be overriden by DRM, right?" (Prentice's answer to this last one, "The market will take care of it," is absolutely priceless.)

Canadian Industry Minister lies about his Canadian DMCA on national radio, then hangs up - Boing Boing

[Barcs]

Dang. Canada's getting worse than the US with this! You can get a 20,000 dollar fine for backing up a $20 DVD you ALREADY PURCHASED? That's absurd. This bill better get shut down. It's amazing what greed can do to people!

[Dan.Linehan]

One more Boing Boing followup on this:

Canadian DMCA will criminalize emailing your kids' class photos to their grandparents - Boing Boing