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30 Days of DRM
sonofollson writes "Michael Geist, a Canadian law professor, in the middle of a 30 Days of DRM project,
which is targeting the planned introduction of the DMCA in
Canada. Each day, the project identifies an exception or
limitation that is needed to address the danger of anti-circumvention
legislation. Issues covered so far include interoperability,
privacy,
region
coding, and reverse
engineering. The project is also supporting a wiki version for
broader participation."
As a Canadian, I can tell you that there are no such levies on CDs or DVDs, because they are argued as being used for computer data. This is why you can go to Walmart and get 100 DVD+/-Rs for $30. There was at one time, or maybe still is, some CD-Audio CDs, which are the same as regular CDRs except that they cost about $5 each an do contain the levy. I think they only cost so much because they are so wildly unpopular, due to the fact that they cost more than the regular CDRs, and do not offer any extra features. Some stand alone CD recorders will only record on this type of media.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Michael Geist writes a weekly column on law and technology for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper. The Star is a significant venue because its middle brow (not tabloid, but not the New York Times), and always has a populist favour.
He is also frequently called on as a commentor on CBC radio (the public broadcaster, which by law can be heard by Canadians anywhere in the country). CBC radio recieves no ads and no coporate sponsorship (unlike PBS), so is generaly balanced on controversial issues.
In Canada at least, someone like Geist has a greater chance of reaching Jaques Six-Pack than he might have elsewhere.
"Are you referring to the USA or Canada? Because if it's USA, you know better than to think something will become public domain here. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic)"
Although you are being sarcastic you are also telling the truth. Jack Valenti the head of the MPAA, has stated, "The constitutional definition of "limited time" to me means the end of the universe minus 30 seconds". He has also stated that if people want to back up their copies, they can damned well buy the backup. Another gem from him is his belief that the public domain is useless unless you can profit from it.
See http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002065.shtml for more enjoyable quotes from this sock puppet..
B.
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
As a Canadian, I can tell you that there are no such levies on CDs or DVDs, because they are argued as being used for computer data.
This is wrong. There are levies on blank CDs, because they are commonly used to record music, whether they are "CD-audio" or not.
See the current rates here.
The problem isn't just with Harper. Recall that Bill C-60, an earlier effort at DMCA-style legislation in Canada, heavily involved the Liberal Party. The problem is that both the Conservatives and Liberals, the largest two political parties in Canada, are opposite sides of the same coin.
It's much akin to the problem in the US, where the Republicans tend to be very pro-business and against individual rights, and the Democrats are a slightly less-extreme version of the Republicans. The general public misinterprets the situation as them being opposites, or them being competition for each other in some fashion. But when both have platforms that are nearly identical, and neither truly represent the interests of the general public, shitty legislation starts getting proposed (and often passed).
Canada has the same situation going on. You have the Conservatives, who like today's Republicans are better classifed as neoconservatives. And then you have the Liberals, which are just slighty more moderate than the Conservatives. Regardless, they both have significant industrial ties, and little in common with most Canadians. At least there are some NDP and Bloc representatives in Parliament to actually represent the interests of the general public.
Unfortunately, enough of the public (mainly in the rural areas) have been mislead into thinking that the Conservatives are actually conservative. Likewise, many in the western provinces believe that Harper is one of them, but failing to realize that he hailed from Toronto and has little true connection to the western lifestyle. It's almost a mirror of the Bush situation, where he owns a "ranch" in Texas and thus manages to trick many into thinking he's a Texan (when he actually is a New Englander).
The best possible situation for Canadians with regards to legislation like this is a parliament that's split evenly among at least the big four parties (Liberals, Conservatives, NDP, Bloc), and even better if the Green Party holds some seats. At least then the interests of enough different groups would have to coincide in order to get any legislation passed. That legislation would tend to be of a high quality, and a fair nature.
In the U.S. the reason there are "music" CD-Rs that cost more than data CD-Rs is because of the American Home Recording Act. This was the grandfather of the DMCA. It requires a levy to be placed on all blank media for standalone digital audio recording devices. It was the AHRA that was used to attempt to bludgeon the Diamond RIO out of existence back in the day (it failed, because the Rio was judged to be a computer peripheral). The AHRA does not apply to computer peripherals, so that's why data CD-Rs are sold that are cheaper, even though you can record Red Book audio track disks with them. The AHRA was what killed the DAT as a consumer audio component back in the day and relegated them to studio audio and computer data applications.
I have a CD recorder / player (Yamaha) in my component stereo system, and it will only record on the "CDR Music" type discs that carry the extra fee. Of course, there is no way around this fee if I am recording, e.g., a session of my own band's rehearsal from an old cassette tape or whatnot. I've also not yet heard of any way to see the cashflow from the extra fee, in order to verify that it is indeed making it to the artists for which it was levied in the first place.
Lastly, if the manufacture of these discs ever ceases, I am stuck with a play-only unit in my stereo rack. Nice, eh?
Sure hope somebody reverse engineers these and starts manufacturing them independently one of these days. I'd actually pay *more* for a product if a portion of its cost supported anti-DRM organizations.
Pi Ran Out
that's wrong. canada does have a fair use. it's called "fair dealing"
d _protect-e.html#6
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/cp/copy_g
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blank_media_tax#Canad a
Fair dealing is much more limited than fair use. For example, it wouldn't allow you to make a copy for time shifting, or media shifting. But you might be right that it's closer to being "Canada's equivalent of fair use" than private copying is. I just tend to think of "equivalent" as being a black and white relation.
Wikipedia has a nice discussion of the differences between fair use and fair dealing.
I could have said "Canada has no equivalent of Fair Use. Our Fair Dealing is quite different.", but the private copying levy has nothing to do with fair dealing.
There is an exception to having to pay this levy.
In order to avoid paying this levy, you have to be an eligible organization (e.g. businesses who legitimately don't use it for ripping CDs, churches, NGOs, etc.). You then have to pay a $60/year ($15/year for non-commercial) registration fee with the CPCC, and you can only buy levy-free CDs from CPCC-certified manufacturers and distributors (NOT retailers).
So essentially, either you pay the levy to the CPCC, or you pay the CPCC other money so that you don't pay them the levy. Either way, you're paying more, and they're getting your money, all because they preemptively convict you of stealing music.
(Organizations for the perceptually disabled can get a rebate on their levy from the CPCC.)
Source: www.cpcc.ca
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
"So essentially, either you pay the levy to the CPCC, or you pay the CPCC other money so that you don't pay them the levy."
No, you also have the option of using media with no levy, e.g. DVDs, or the disk in your MP3 player.
"they're getting your money, all because they preemptively convict you of stealing music"
No, that's not why you pay. You pay in order to have the right to make private copies. If you do that, you're not stealing, you're making legal copies. If you use the discs for something else, you're being taxed for the benefit of someone else. If you make the copies on media that have no levies, you're getting the benefit without paying for it.
Working link.
They had a few download links for a day or so as well. I do know the program works. I wonder how long it will be until Microsoft fixes it? More importantly, can they make it stop working without making people install an update?
This is one of those issues which pokes pretty close to home. Its also an issue which is best understood by people with some technical background who can unpack the difference between content and the DRM or TPM around it. This means its not easy for non tech consumer groups to defend people's rights on these issues without support and explanations from their local geeky community.
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There are plenty of different things we can do - from an email only approach to face to face talking to people.
Tell people and politicians about the kinds of access rights that make invention, creativity, research, humour,
exploration, tinkering, critique, reverse engineering, remixing, adapting and restoring possible.
Get into promoting digital access rights like these:
http://www.adelphicharter.org/
Check out the Access to Knowledge Treaty developed by creators and users:
http://www.cptech.org/a2k/ (link on left Draft Treaty)
Don't be afraid to lobby at the UN level. These things are being promoted through international trade organisations so do check out
what is happening at WIPO and other international forums.
http://www.intgovforum.org/contributions_for_1st_
And Software Freedom Day is on 16 September
http://softwarefreedomday.org/