Canada to Tax MP3 Players $21/GB of Storage

einer writes : "A brief article on some new legislation scheduled to take effect at the beginning of next year. This tax would raise the price of an archos jukebox from roughly $350.00 to $640.00 (American). "Comments and objections are due by May 8, 2002." Looks like I'm headed to pricegrabber." Update: 03/13 19:36 GMT by M : We did a big story on this a few days ago (although people keep submitting it).

Comments

This could backfire

[anthony_dipierro]

The only media taxed is media "that is intended for use primarily to record and play music". So if Apple wants to avoid the tax on the iPod, for instance, all they have to do is remove all the anti-circumvention software which disallows use of the iPod for non-music storage.

Depends on how you look at it...

[OneFix]

One way you have an MP3 player costing double what it should.

But, on the other hand, you are paying for a right to store whatever you want on there (mainly copyrighted music).

As a matter of fact, if you own one of these devices, the way I see it, they are saying that it is your duty to use it to store copyrighted music on it, because if you used it for something else, then you'ld get no return on your tax dollars.

Then again, just buy a Rio Volt...it only stores ~1/2 GB, but it is on a CD...

Re:Depends on how you look at it...

[anthony_dipierro]

But, on the other hand, you are paying for a right to store whatever you want on there (mainly copyrighted music).

This would be fine (and I'd support the tax) if there was an AHRA-ish clause exempting users of this media from copyright infringement suits. But I looked at the proposal, and I couldn't find such a clause.

Legalized napster for 13 USD/gig (storage, not download space)? I'd take it in a second.

This is crazy!

[Deagol]

Somebody in Canada's government is sucking some serious corporate dick. Not that the U.S. is any better. My own beloved Mr. Hatch of Utah is guilty of the same thing, "Napster Hearings" or not. But then again, don't all senators?

Someone needs to organize a well-publicized "pirate" day. Buy an MP3 player or some blank CD-Rs, or anything that gets "taxed" in this way. Contact the news media, and say since you've already paid the price for piracy, you're gonna go out in front of some huge media chain and give out copies of a ripped-n-burned popular CD (choose a band you don't like :P) in front of the cameras.

Being hauled off by the police will make great media coverage. Get some womderful group to take the case (EFF?) and fight this up 'till the bitter end and have these laws squashed.

Pure genius

[codexus]

With a little help from Moore's Law the canadian copyright office is going to be the richest organization on earth in a few years :)

A shift to self-upgrading devices?

[Deagol]

Since the tax is on "non-removeable" storage, I see a shift in player construction. All devices will be sold (fairly cheaply) sans the storage. When you purchase the device, you can buy an optional card/stick/hd/whatever.

Of course, then all medial will get taxed, then all hell will break loose as the hard drive and memory makers challenege the law into oblivion.

Re:Again, to dispel rumours

[cicadia]

The current levy is $0.21CAD per CD-R or CD-RW, $0.77CAD per CD-R-Audio, and $0.29CAD per audio cassette. See the CPCC FAQ list for details.

As regards piracy, if you do live in Canada, it's quite likely that you haven't actually been pirating music. Canadian copyright law states that copying recorded works for personal use is not an infringement of copyright. It's not even frowned upon. It's totally legal to copy your friend's CDs and make MP3s out of them. It's probably legal to buy a CD, copy it, and return it, as long as the copying is done for personal use.