C-61: Aka the Canadian DMCA is nothing but false advertising
Today the much feared Canadian DMCA (err, “fair and balanced after consulting with Canadians” amendment to the Copyright Act) came out and it’s anything but fair and balanced.
You know when you go to buy an airline ticket and they show you a price of $199*. When you actually land at your destination the * has more than tripled your price after surcharges, surcharges and more surcharges.
This proposed legislation is more or less the same way. Yes, it does contain a provision according to Prentice’s mass email that “expressly allow you to record TV shows for later viewing; copy legally purchased music onto other devices, such as MP3 players or cell phones; make back-up copies of legally purchased books, newspapers, videocassettes and photographs onto devices you own;” but there is a huge *.
You can’t break DRM or digital locks (Britannica - Wikipedia). So, all a content provider has to do to strip you of your rights is put a digital lock on the content and you’re subject to a $20,000 fine for doing exactly what the earlier provision says you can do.
Another concept is cell phones. With GSM phones (like iPhone) my account is stored on a little removable card that goes into the phone. Rogers (my current carrier) locks the phone so it will only work with their SIM cards.
After my contract is up and I have paid for my phone I want to take it to Europe and buy a cheap SIM card there for use overseas and not pay the arm and a leg roaming charges Rogers wants. If I break the restriction on something I have paid for in full I am subject to the fine. Rogers isn’t forced to provide me with an unlock code at the end of my contract so under this proposed law I would be stuck.
I have no problem with bringing copyright law up to the digital age. I have a problem with false advertising. C-61 has been falsely advertised by Jim Prentice and it needs to stop.
Tags: