Possible NEW Canadian Copyright laws
- Filed under: Uncategorized
- Date: Jun 12,2008
CBC news has just posted an article about a new bill that has been proposed in Canadian Parliament in regards to Copyright Laws and regulations.
Some interesting sections :
The federal government has introduced a controversial bill it says balances the rights of copyright holders and consumers — but it opens millions of Canadians to huge lawsuits, prompting critics to warn it will create a “police state.”
I’m not surprised. Canadian Laws have been very vague as far as copyright infringment. This was bound to happen.
“Bill C-61 spells out consumers’ rights in how they are allowed to copy media and clears up some grey areas. Existing laws do not specifically allow consumers to copy books, newspapers, periodicals, photographs, videocassettes and music. The new bill would expressly allow them to make one copy of each item per device owned, such as a computer or MP3 player. The bill would also expressly allow consumers to record television and radio programs for later viewing. “
Hey that’s not too bad !
” People caught downloading music or video files illegally could also be sued for a maximum of $500, but uploading a file to a peer-to-peer network or YouTube could result in lawsuits of $20,000 per file. “
Ok, this one is a bit of a bummer. However, atleast it’s letting us know the worst that will happen if we’re caught downloading copyright materiel is that we’ll be fined $500. It really doesn’t encourage the uploaders though … ( I must agree, if anyone gets in trouble for downloading copyright materiel, it should be the person that made it available.) On the other hand, imagine you uploaded a video slideshow to youtube, and it has some music in the background that is copyrighted. It’s no fair to get sued for that. I would really, REALLY hope that for things like that they would give you a warning and let you remove the copyrighted material.
Canadian internet service providers, meanwhile, would continue to be immune to lawsuits from copyright holders for infringements over their networks. The bill recognizes ISPs as intermediaries and would only require them to pass on violation notices from copyright holders to their customers. “
Good : ISP’s aren’t responsible for what their users are downloading.
BAD : They’re forced BY LAW to give law enforcement details about people violating copyright laws.
” According to the latest survey from Statistics Canada, one in five Canadians aged 16 and older who used the internet at home said they had downloaded or watched TV or movies over the internet, an increase from 12 per cent in 2005. “
I’m sure it’s a lot more ..
” Critics feared the bill will mirror the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which similarly brought in restrictive measures and opened the door for copyright owners to enact huge lawsuits against violators. “
Read the entire article here !
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