New legislation to crack down on digital copyright infringement
by Sarah Schmidt
Canwest News Service
Published: Sunday, June 08, 2008

OTTAWA - The federal government's new copyright legislation is expected to take a hard line on the use of circumvention devices that could mean consumers are effectively locked out of digital content they have already purchased.

Lobbyists familiar with the bill, expected to be tabled this week, say those who want the prohibition of circumvention devices to get around digital security to be limited to people who crack locks on copyrighted material to make multiple copies and sell them for commercial profit will be disappointed.

And this broad approach could brand as lawbreakers consumers who use circumvention devices to copy legally purchased material, including music and movies, for personal use.

This includes any attempt to transfer music from a copy-protected CD to a computer or music player, crack a region-coded DVD or video game from Europe or Asia to play on their Canadian DVD player or console, or copy portions of electronic books.

While the new bill will likely be updated to make expressly legal the "time shifting" of television programs through widely used Personal Video Recorders, there will be a catch. The bill's anti-circumvention provisions could also mean that if broadcasters block the ability to digitally record certain shows through broadcast flags, consumers would not be able to get around that digital lock legally.

"There are real incentives for broadcasters to do just that," said Michael Geist, a digital copyright expert at the University of Ottawa. He cited a push by content owners to sell or stream their content online.

"It feels as if the Industry minister gives on one hand and takes away with the other, even on the issue of something like time shifting."

Industry Minister Jim Prentice was set to table the legislation last December, but pulled it at the last minute amid concerns the Canadian legislation too closely resembled the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, recognized as the toughest legislation worldwide. For example, the U.S. law makes all acts of circumvention an infringement unless subject to a specific exception.  

Meanwhile, sources say Internet service providers will get a reprieve in the new legislation, an area where Canada is expected to deviate from provisions under U.S law. The American legislation requires ISPs to block access to allegedly infringing material or remove it from their system when they receive a notification claiming infringement from a copyright holder or their agent.

The Entertainment Software Association of Canada lobbied the government for liability provisions to force ISPs to stop the download of infringing content and block pirated material from moving freely online using peer-to-peer technology.

But observers say absence of a U.S.-style "notice and takedown" system under Canadian copyright law could be meaningless if Canada signs on to the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), to be tabled next month at the G8 summit in Japan.

Details of the international deal, recently leaked on the Internet, could require ISPs to filter out pirated material, hand over the identities of customers accused of copyright infringement, and restrict the use of online privacy tools.

"ACTA threatens to undermine many of the liability provisions anyway if, internationally, we agree to new surveillance requirements for ISPs," said Geist.

Mark Hayes, a partner in the Intellectual Property Group at the law firm of Blake, Cassels & Graydon, has watched and participated in government consultations on copyright for the past eight years.

Drafting of the new legislation has been complicated by the fact that business groups are divided on the issue. On one side is a recent push by some corporate heavyhitters, under the banner of the Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright, to take a more measured approach to copyright than other business groups demanding tough amendments on behalf of copyright holders.

The coalition brings together the largest cable companies, broadcasters, retailers and Internet companies, including_Rogers Communications, Telus Inc., Google and Yahoo! Canada.

"This is one of the more difficult issues the government has had to deal with. It's not the traditional continuum where the government has the recording industry and motion picture industry on one end and some of the user groups at the other end," said Hayes.

All sides have hired politically connected lobbyists to make their case on Parliament Hill.

Barry Sookman, co-chair of the technology law group at the law firm McCarthy Tetrault and a lobbyist for the recording industry, said the polarized debate gives the mistaken impression that "if one side wins, the other side loses."

Paying artists and rewarding creators "that get something to market is somehow seen as bad for consumers. That's just wrong."

A POLLERA poll of 684 Canadian musicians and songwriters, released Friday, commissioned by Canadian music industry organizations in cooperation with the Ontario Media Development Corp., found 71 per cent of the musicians surveyed view unauthorized file sharing as threat to the music industry; 15 per cent said it was not a threat. The poll is considered accurate within 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

© Canwest News Service 2008

The trend is going "open source" while the "old technocrats" are staying "proprietory" - that's why "record companies" are losing, and that's why performers are recording and marketing more and more on their own, realizing they can make a buck by using cheap, user-friendly technology to produce their own stuff and post demos online, cutting out the "labels".

Like prohibition, tougher laws will put it deeper underground, and wave the red flag to "hackers" to beat the system.

Yeah, have fun stopping this.  The artists are making more money than ever, they're just not making as much money through the labels.  Now more than ever a person can make a living off their music.  The resources to build a fan base, sell product and merch. and build an audience for shows is much more attainable.  The arcahaic business model that is the record label is simply fighting to save their own jobs, they're not fighting for the artists.

Ottawa tables copyright bill


MATT HARTLEY
Globe and mail Update
June 12, 2008



The federal government tabled new legislation Thursday morning designed to make it easier to track and prosecute anyone caught downloading copyrighted files, such as music and movies, from the Internet.

Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Heritage Minister Josée Verner lifted the veil on the long-anticipated legislation at a press conference on Parliament Hill.

Under the proposed legislation, anyone caught downloading copyrighted material online could face a fine of $500. Individuals may still be liable for other types of damages or remedies. The current Copyright Law allows for a maximum fine of $20,000.

“This is a unique made-in-Canada approach to copyright reform,” Mr. Prentice told reporters during a press conference.

Videos

What will it mean?

University of Ottawa's David Fewer discusses the proposed copyright legislation on CTV's Canada AM

The new bill makes it easier for rights holder to prosecute commercial copyright violators while protecting the rights of consumers, Mr. Prentice said.

Under the current legislation, a teenager caught downloading four copyrighted movies in their parents' basement, they could be liable for up to $100,000 in fines, Mr. Prentice said. Under the proposed legislation, the maximum fine they could incur is $500.

However, if that teenager were to burn those movies to DVDs and begin selling them on the street, they would be subject to fines or prosecution if caught.

Mr. Prentice announced Wednesday evening that he would table the amendments to the Copyright Law in the House of Commons Thursday. Reports surfaced last week that the government was preparing to finally announce reform measures for the Copyright Act, however Mr. Prentice said he would not table the bill until he was satisfied it contained “the appropriate balance.”

“I am confident we have found this balance,” he said today.

The new act clarifies for Canadians “what is legal and what is not legal” with regards to using copyrighted material, Ms. Verner said.

“We are putting an end to the status quo and the grey areas of the last 22 years,” she said.

The Conservatives have faced mounting pressure from foreign governments and a number of lobby groups to update the aging Copyright Act of Canada with new legislation designed to make it easier to track and prosecute anyone who infringes on copyrights by burning CDs and ripping movies.

However, with Parliament set to break soon for the summer, sources say the legislation is expected to be left to die by the minority Conservative government, which is likely to face harsh criticism from opposition parties, making the bill difficult to pass.

The federal government promised a number of organizations in the recording and media industries that the legislation would be tabled before the House of Commons breaks for the summer.

This isn't the first time the Conservative government has tried to update Canada's copyright legislation, which was last overhauled in 1997. In December 2006, proposed legislation was derailed and eventually scrapped when a grassroots Internet campaign protested the new rules.

Critics contended the Conservatives were pressured into drafting legislation which too closely resembled the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which has been criticized for being stacked unfairly against consumers in favour of rights holders such as the movie and recording industries.

The Conservatives are also negotiating with a number of other governments, including the U.S. and the European Union, to establish a new international copyright agreement, dubbed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

According to a four page document first revealed on wikileaks.org, the new agreement would allow border guards and other law enforcement officials to inspect devices such as laptops and iPods for music, videos and other media that violates copyright laws. Any devices found to contain copyright-infringing material could be confiscated, or even destroyed, leading to fines for their owners.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

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This bill will kill the bricks and mortar music/movie/game business.  

Although Canadians don't generally lead consumer revolts, pick something like this and it'll be the next "Hockey Night in Canada" theme uproar.  

We don't protest about war, we don't protest about gas prices, we don't protest about jobs disappearing.

We do protest over the loss of the CBC Radio Orchestra, or a small easy listening station shutting down in Winnipeg or Brandon or - this.  There will be a wholesale boycott of those who sell plastic discs with information encoded in them.

By the way - if a customs agent tries to check your Cel phone or iPod for copyright infringement - drop it on the floor and stamp on it.

I'd like to be the first guy to get a laptop siezed at the border by someone who's not "qualified" to determine what's pirated, or what's "illegal" software - to hold me up, and take my own proprietory programs, and know right on the spot.  A counter suit in the millions will follow .... siezure without due process.

Exactly. Is this also a job-creation program for the tens of thousands of people it will take to track down theses file-stealing blackguards and scoundrels...?

I'm curious to know what recourse there might be in counter-suing the people who manufacture the technology in the first place.

If someone owns a Media Centre computer with a 250G HD installed and a port for removable 300G HD, could you not argue that the hardware itself suggests that companies like HP and Dell created them expressly with the intent of providing this equipment for the purpose of recording and storing digital media?

Is it not hypocritical, that when we flip through flyers for Future Shop with page after page of devices to store more material than the average radio cluster (or hours and hours of TV) that we would buy these systems only for home movies and personal pictures?  It seems that if our government wants to put this kind of restriction on the use of digital media - shouldn't they be just as concerned with removing these devices from the shelves and our homes?  It should be arguable that our own government has enabled us to become criminals by allowing computers with TV cards and massive HD's in the first place.

I for one do not want to see this technology disappear.  It is superior and the ball started rolling years ago.  This all seems very very silly to me.

Yes, it's all very silly - but don't be too quick to point out that the use of new technology is making it easier to pirate music and copy files... the last thing we need is for the government to add a tax or surcharge on those too!

Here's an idea...don't download illegal music or videos and you won't have much to worry about.

Read the first article a little more closely VU... In this case it's not only about illegal downloading...

"This includes any attempt to transfer music from a copy-protected CD to a computer or music player, crack a region-coded DVD or video game from Europe or Asia to play on their Canadian DVD player or console, or copy portions of electronic books."

For me, 20 years in radio has meant ALOT of promo CD's and I finally transferred my entire library to HD.  Storing and organizing all those CD's was becoming extremely cumbersome and inefficient.  I don't even own a CD player anymore - and I would never want one again.  I still download, but only when I pay for it... I'm all for paying for my entertainment.  But this proposed legislation (according the quote above) is just not practical nor does it make sense with the technology available.

As well, what does this mean for the broadcaster whose entire library is nothing but Gigs and Gigs of mp3's?  Certainly, that would most likely be addressed in some way because we just can't go back to radio stations letting people op their own shows.  But it would open up yet another way for radio stations to be targeted for fees and taxes.