C-61: Copyright legislation **UPDATE**

[Bobblehead]

My only real hope is that the Conservatives are just posturing. They have drafted this crap to appease the US's demands ("From the moment of his appointment as the Minister of Industry, his instructions from the Prime Minister have been clear - introduce a copyright bill and make sure that the U.S. is happy with it." - it seems like this is true, but unless he has evidence, so far this is Dr. Geist's opinion), and are trying to delay as much as possible to prevent this from every realistically getting passed. I'm sure they realize this will not be popular with the populace, or at least those who pay attention, and unpopular legislation with little redeeming value to any average person is probably a bad thing to introduce before an election.

In the other hand, there haven't been public consultations, the whole process has been anything but "open and transparent" (so much for Conservative campaign promises), and the rumour appears to have been to get this passed as quickly as possible. (from the Geist link fredr posted)

Sources say the initial plan was to get it out immediately after the Victoria Day weekend, press for the completion of second reading before the summer break, and then conduct summer hearings. Now it may be just to get it out, or to wait until next week and do a dump and dash - introduce the Canadian DMCA and make a quick exit to Asia for the OECD meeting.

[SinceDay1]

Originally Posted by Table 5

and here i thought the Conservatives were for a small government that stays out of people's business. I guess that only applies when it's a corporations business.

The Tories are definitely "small c". They've made the "c" small enough to fit into an iPod.

[onetwo_threefour]

Originally Posted by troutman

I have this friend. He torrents mp3s for albums he already purchased.

Is that so wrong?

That's exactly what I did. When I got my Ipod I had around a thousand CD's and had never downloiaded even one song. After converting about 30 CDs over the course of about two weeks, it was seriously annoying. So I went and torrented all my mainstream stuff and only converted what I couldn't find online.

Was what I did illegal? Probably, I guess. But I already paid both the record label and the artist to be in possession of their intellectual property and I don't feel bad about it

[Barnes]

Industry Canada is editing Prentice's own Wikipedia page. Shows how much knowledge of the Internet and new media this guy has. YOU CAN'T EDIT YOUR OWN WIKIPEDIA PAGE.

"While Industry Minister Jim Prentice has sought to project an air of unflappability around the outcry over the Canadian DMCA, it would appear that behind the scenes his staff is working overtime to eliminate any negative comments on Wikipedia. Prentice's Wikipedia entry has been anonymously amended multiple times over the past week with regular attempts to remove any copyright criticism (as I post this there is no reference to copyright). The IP address of most of the anonymous edits trace back to Industry Canada. For example, on May 27th someone from Industry Canada twice deleted the following:"

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/index.php

[WhiteTom]

They should put information like that on the Wikipedia page:

`Prentice has edited this page to eliminate entries pointing to controversy, forgetting that Wikipedia keeps track of all changes made. People (citation needed) say this makes him look like a "major tool"`

[HotHotHeat]

But hey, the conservatives are good for business...Remember!

EDIT: I don't understand this. Here's a situation...I cross the boarder into the US in my car and have my iPod with me. It has a .mp3 file on it that has no DRM. Is it then assumed that the file is illegally copied? And how do they suppose they will check my iPod? Plug it into a computer and search it file by file?

If there's 4 iPods in every vehicle (not that far fetched) and each has 1000 songs...I just don't get it. It's impossible to trace the origin of DRM free music anyways...

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by FlamesKickAss

wow found this article on there too. Pretty crazy

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/...html?id=536951

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

Don't the border guards have enough to f'ing worry about? I'd rather they focus thier attention on, oh I dont know, criminals, drug smugglers, terrorists, that sort of thing. What a bloody joke. I just cannot imagine a border guard wasting his or her time on this crap. Unbelievable. It really is.

[burnin_vernon]

There is a group called "Fair copyright for Canada" on facebook with lots of info, discussion on the topic. Wirte your MP everyone!

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by burnin_vernon

There is a group called "Fair copyright for Canada" on facebook with lots of info, discussion on the topic. Wirte your MP everyone!

You know, it would be ironic if all the sudden 18 year olds got involved in politics and voted out the cons. Touching anything iPod is playing with fire for government.

[RougeUnderoos]

I think the old adage "the horse is out of the barn" applies to this nonsense. You'd think the music business would have learned its lesson by now.

Just last week on this very forum there was a thread about a device the size of an iPod that will be capable of holding half a million songs or 3,500 feature films.

Considering they can't keep thousands of tonnes of illegal narcotics or stop millions of illegal immigrants (real live human beings!) from crossing borders, I find it hard to believe they'll be capable of stopping everyday travellers who happen to have 8000 cds nonchalantly stored in their pocket.

Is there such a thing as an MP3 sniffing dog?

And never mind that pesky "internet" that they are still trying to fight, even though they were knocked out of the ring 10 years ago.

People listen to music all the time now. Everywhere. The desire for the product is at an all time high, and here they are still trying to fight it. This whole rigmarole seems kind of like Henry Ford spending millions to oppose the construction of the interstate.

[SteveToms]

So lets say I have illegal music on my iPod, how is border patrol going to be able to tell????

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by KevanGuy

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

Don't the border guards have enough to f'ing worry about? I'd rather they focus thier attention on, oh I dont know, criminals, drug smugglers, terrorists, that sort of thing. What a bloody joke. I just cannot imagine a border guard wasting his or her time on this crap. Unbelievable. It really is.

But if what's proposed comes to fruition, then the guy with a bunch of downloaded songs on his mp3 player very well could be a criminal.

[Burninator]

As someone who owns a PVR and a unlocked iPhone I say this bill can get bent.

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by fredr123

But if what's proposed comes to fruition, then the guy with a bunch of downloaded songs on his mp3 player very well could be a criminal.

Ha yeah, I should have said criminals of the dangerous variety.

[photon]

The government can bite my shiny metal ass.

A bill like this will not change my behaviour, it will make me go out of my way to educate others on how to circumvent the system.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by photon

The government can bite my shiny metal ass.

A bill like this will not change my behaviour, it will make me go out of my way to educate others on how to circumvent the system.

If this bill passes, I'm going to get a camcorder and film myself going to Megatunes, buying a CD with copy protection, taking it home, cracking the DRM, and copying the songs to my iPod. I'll then post the video on Youtube with my name and address and dare the government to come after me.

[photon]

And it's not just Canada!

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/06...rcopyrigh.html

[Barnes]

The This Week in Media podcast will be discussing ACTA in next weeks episode. They are really good a getting you up to speed on issues like this.

This weeks episode talks about Media Defender DDOSing Revision3's servers (which I am surprised no one talked about here).

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

If this bill passes, I'm going to get a camcorder and film myself going to Megatunes, buying a CD with copy protection, taking it home, cracking the DRM, and copying the songs to my iPod. I'll then post the video on Youtube with my name and address and dare the government to come after me.

PM when the government comes after you.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by fredr123

PM when the government comes after you.

Heh, you can be sure if the government does come after me, I'll make sure the media is made fully aware of my "crime".

Most Canadians don't really understand DRM, copyright, etc., but if you show them with a really plain example that might affect them (buying a protected CD from a record store and copying the songs to your iPod will get you fined by the government for bypassing DRM), they'll have no problem recognizing the absurdity of this law.