Truer Words

The Conservative government’s most recent attempt at trying to mimic American style legislation borders on sheer lunacy.  One can understand that curbing copyright infringement in the new era of peer to peer file sharing, illegal downloading, and new-age piracy tactics is necessary.  However, the amendment to outlaw over-riding digital locks on legally purchased media for the purposes of format shifting is not only impractical, it is also a violation of consumer rights.  Therefore, although Bill C-61 does maintain that format shifting and time shifting certain media is allowed, the anti-circumvention provision simply counters those exceptions and renders them meaningless. 

Furthermore, if the government suspects a certain user is breaking the law, it can force the Internet Service Provider to disclose that user’s private information and that person can face a fine of up to $20,000.  According to a White Paper issued by a coalition of Canadian consumer groups, “the American Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) has created many problems - anti-competitive abuses, stifling criticism, repressing security research, undermining security, and after a decade under the DMCA, infringement of movies over file-sharing networks in the US is at an all-time high.”  This fact alone should deter the government from passing any legislation containing anti-circumvention measures.

Related to this topic is another controversial bill that the government is trying to pass without public consultation called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).  This bill would allow border guards to inspect ipods and laptops for infringing content, which is a total invasion of privacy and perhaps the beginning of the dissolution of democracy in this country.

The Liberals took our money and paid for it in the last election.  However, the Conservatives are threatening to take away our freedoms, which is far worse.