New Copyright Law in Canada

Currently the new controversy concerning intellectual property revolves around Canada's planned implementation of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). When you think about it, how convenient was it to record your favourite radio pop songs onto your cassette tapes, or record your favourite television shows or share movies on VCR tapes back in the 80s? This new law will completely circumvent any method of backing up your legitimately bought music, movies or photocopying textbooks. Copyright lawyer and litigator Howard Knopf is predicting that the bill will “put digital locks on our computers, cellphones, iPods, other gadgets and tools and, ultimately, our culture.”

These locks will not only affect consumers, but professors who want to photocopy excerpts of books to distribute to their students, television producers, radio producers who pay for copyright fees to play songs, book publishers and virtually everyone else.

On a practical level, how annoying was it when Apple introduced the DRM (Digital Rights Management) to their songs purchased through iTunes Music Store? Think of this new bill in the same essence but extremely exaggerated to the fact that it limits personal freedom on all of your electronics and media files.

Governments backing up corporations while disregarding the individual freedom of rights -- how do you think this affects us? How do you think it affects you from day to day? Does it matter that corporations will possibly be the ones who hold the keys to culture?

For more information, go here: Why copyright laws must get even tougher.