Bill C-32 (Canadian Copyright Bill)

[Dan]

Once again the Conservative government is trying to pass the Canadian version of the DMCA.

Not only does this bill make it clearly illegal to download copyrighted materials, but also makes it illegal to break digital locks. This means backing up your DVDs or CDs would now be illegal in Canada as well as unlocking your phone, iPhone, iPad, etc. This also includes playing legally purchased DVDs and CDs via unlicensed DVD/CD players or software, including almost all Linux based media players.


You can find a copy of the bill here: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4580265&Language=e&Mode=1


If you want to fight this, I suggest contacting your MP. You can find out who they are here: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx

It is free to send a letter to there parliamentary address (no stamps needed) so you have almost nothing to lose!

[A.J]

Maybe we should do something as an online community about this...but you are right Dan, we should contact our MP's regarding this issue.

[Carey]

Mod Edit: This post was merged from another thread.


Hello everyone, its been a while (like 3 years lol)

An email from compsci.ca and and one about the new copyright bill landed next to each other in my inbox so I thought I'd pay this old friend a visit, seeing how everyone here is at least mildly tech savvy So, If you haven't heard, Canada is proposing a copyright bill that will make "breaking digital locks" illegal and punishable by a fine of up to $5000 per lock you break. Theres also more pressure on ISPs to play a more direct role in persecuting downloaders. Theres some other stuff in there as well but those are the main points. Check out the link below for a good summary. What I immediately grabbed from this bill is the fact that if you rip the new DVD you just bought (and therefore legally own) to your iPod or other PMP, you could be fined up to 2.5x more than someone who steals your entire laptop. Recap: Breaking a "digital lock" for personal use on something you legally own is now considered worse that physically stealing someones property. Makes perfect sense eh?

A copy of the bill: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4580265&Language=e&Mode=1
A good article on the bill: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/What+legislation+means/3105053/story.html

What do you think about this new bill?

BTW, feel free to correct me if I got something wrong

[Insectoid]

I cannot express my disgust of digital locks textually or verbally. It is possible (and it has happened) that one can buy data and not even be able to use it. Older music may not be playable on new players (music bought through iTunes before they stopped 'protecting' the data with DRM cannot be played on anything but an iPod or through iTunes, or so I understand).

[DtY]

Dan @ Fri Jun 04, 2010 1:26 pm wrote:

This means backing up your DVDs or CDs would now be illegal in Canada

Just want to point out that audio CDs do not contain copy protection, so it's still okay to rip them. I'm not sure what the bill says about how many copies you can make though. I haven't had a chance to read it yet.

As much as I really dislike this bill (at least it's predecessors, as I've said, I haven't read it yet), I think we're putting the blame on the wrong party, the government. The issue is really that content distributors are still stupid enough to use copy protection, and license agreements that don't let you do anything with the content you buy

[andrew.]

Whether it's the government's fault or the media companies, if the bill is passed, we're still in the same situation. I think that everyone should write to their MPs about it. Hopefully we can stop this from happening...

[Tony]

Relevant -- http://www.ted.com/talks/omar_ahmad_political_change_with_pen_and_paper.html

[DtY]

andrew. @ Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:51 pm wrote:

Whether it's the government's fault or the media companies, if the bill is passed, we're still in the same situation. I think that everyone should write to their MPs about it. Hopefully we can stop this from happening...

I don't think the bill should be passed, but we'd have a lot more freedom than we could ever hope for in copyright law if the distributors knew anything about the technology. Even if the bill passes, anyone can still choose to distribute their media in a reasonable way.

[Cezna]

That seems ridiculous that you can't use Linux based players, and backing up DVDs and CDs is only common sense.

I'm not surprised about the downloading of copyrighted material, but this is just another case of copyright overkill in regards to the online world.

I don't normally have a long enough attention span to actually do anything about this sort of stuff..... but this one I might contact my MP about........ nah, I'ma have some cookies.
(jk)

[Dan]

DtY @ 4th June 2010, 6:48 pm wrote:

Dan @ Fri Jun 04, 2010 1:26 pm wrote:

This means backing up your DVDs or CDs would now be illegal in Canada

Just want to point out that audio CDs do not contain copy protection, so it's still okay to rip them. I'm not sure what the bill says about how many copies you can make though. I haven't had a chance to read it yet.

Acutatly many do (or at least used to), it's just very infective and mostly ignored. Some CDs used to have programs that would be excuted via the windows CD autorun that would attempt to stop riping of the CD. There was some conteveristy over this serveral years ago as simply pressing shift (which disables windows autorun) when inserting a CD would bypass the DRM and vilolate the DMCA in the USA. A more recent case of CD DRM going bad would be sony's Extended Copy Protection and MediaMax which installed sony's rootkit on users computers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_CD_copy_protection_scandal

The problem with this bill is any digtial locks no matter how poorly made or easy to bypass are enforced by law. So the recording industry could simply place an exe on the CD with a pop up saying "Don't copy this!" and you would be violating copyright. If this bill passes you can be sure that every CD you get from now on will have DRM.

[unoho]

tht means no more limewire for music or torrents to get movies and games?? ahh crapp FML

[Insectoid]

Limewire is still legal, just downloading copyrighted stuff isn't (who actually uses it for legal purposes anyway?)

FYI, all those songs you're downloading are torrents. You can get the same files from another, faster client. Though the ease of use of limewire makes it nice...

[ProgrammingFun]

The way I understand it, torrents break down files into parts so small that they have no value....

So wouldn't it still be legal?

Let's move to Sweden now...

[Zren]

ProgrammingFun @ Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:14 am wrote:

The way I understand it, torrents break down files into parts so small that they have no value....

So wouldn't it still be legal?

Let's move to Sweden now...

That's like saying I copied your essay, except one word at a time.

Where does it say you can't download or "obtain digital memory." Found where it says you can't make it available, but that's part of the old bill anyways. Anyone know the section number that references downloading?

And does anyone have a copy of the old copyright act for comparence? I found one from 1999 but they've updated it since then I'm sure.

[Carey]

I agreee with Zren,

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1025_3-5121479.html

It may be a bit outdated, but has anything changed with regards to downloading since 2003? I didn't think so but the articles I was reading about the new bill mentioned downloading was illegal (like it was always illegal, not like this new bill changed it)