The latest recomendations for amending the Canadian copyright /IP act(s) came out a year ago - and were as clear as MUD. The idea is to bring Canada's copyright law in line with the WCT (WIPO (world intelectual property) organization) copyright treaty)
Section 2 sub-Section J - pagagraphs 34-37 are troublesome - ISPs may or may not be held liable for facilitating the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials... If anything they should be exempt (see paragraph 35)
Section 2 sub-Section H - pagagraphs 29-30 - BAD IDEA! as paragraph 30 points out protection is theoretically extendable to 99 years... guess what - if given the right to extend copyright protection to 99 years copyright holders will exercise that right.
Section 2 sub-Section B + C - DRM (digital rights management)- or what they call Protection of Technology Measures (which somehow gets TLA'd to TPM) and RMI (rights management information). This is big brother stuff... and also the stuff that would make personal copying almost impossible without breaking a law (because in order to make a personal copy you would have to break the DRM or RMI).
And speaking of personal copying -
Section 2 Sub-Section I - paragraphs 31-33 "i. Private Copying: Implications for Ratification". This is the really bad part of the proposed changes. Essentially the private reporoductions allowed under current canadian copyright law would be revoked. BAD BAD BAD. The good news - the language used in paragraphs 31-33 seem to say "we think the current law is fine as is since we compensate artists with levys on recording media - and we aren't sure if we actually have to change anything to conform with the treaty - not right now anyway" - BUT - "we might want to change it a bit later." Its not a "we are 100% going to change the current law" - but its not "we are 100% NOT going to change the law either". Very iffy.
Even more recently an announcement was made that the government is soon ready to act on the recomendations.
I am very surprised by this. a) Nobody thought this would get a priority in the minority government - but it has. b) given the instability of the current government why try to table this legislation with many much more pressing matters at hand.
Good news bad news. The government may fall and the whole piece of legislation will have to wait. Bad news is that if the Conservatives come in - they are much more likely to cave into the recording industry's demands for MUCH TOUGHER restrictions on copyright. Remember the Conservatives are all about making the rich super rich and the super rich Monarch like in their wealth - and record and movie companies fall in both those categories.
Just one more reason to not vote conservative if there is an up-coming election.
andre
Posted by andre at April 28, 2005 12:18 AM