The Canadian government has tabled its DMCA rip off. Learning nothing from the host of problems created in the United States of America with the original DMCA, the Canadian version is, apparently
worse.
For those unfamiliar with the DMCA, it makes breaking copy protection a crime. The problem with this is that it allows copyright holders to control how you can use the media you have legally purchased. This allows them to trump fair dealing (what we Canadians call fair use) by slapping any pathetic excuse for copy protection on the media you buy.
In today’s world, this makes copying a DVD to your hard drive (so you could watch it on a plane or an iPod) a crime. It would also be illegal to rip copy protected cds to mp3. In the end, this allows copyright holders to force you to buy their products multiple times, once for each device you want to use it on.
The DMCA has been a disaster in the USA. The music industry has realized that copy protection is a dead end. For both of these reasons it is very surprising that the government has decided to introduce this kind of legislation.
This is a fight over your rights in the digital age.
Just say no to C-61