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Canadian ISPs Send Thousands of Copyright Notices
An anonymous reader writes "The CBC reports that Canadian Internet service providers are passing along
thousands of copyright infringement notifications to their customers. These notices are coming, not from Canada, but from US copyright lobby groups such as the Business Software Alliance under a system called notice and notice. Michael Geist comments that unlike the U.S. takedown approach, the Canadian system is proving effective while protecting privacy and free speech. Downloaders take the hint, and alter their behavior before they receive a more serious letter in the mail."
It's not a tax, it is a levy.
# Canada
Because you can't levy an illegal activity with out a conviction they had to make personal copying of music legal.
The levy currently applies to recording media for audio. I believe it is something like 15 cents per tape , and 25 cents per "Audio CD". Normal blank CDs for "data" are not covered by this levy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy
It's already gone to court and in Canada P2P is legal for music.
The rest of the IP spectrum is still off limits.
Notice Of Copyright Complaint - name - email - ip - mac We are writing to inform you that TELUS has received a complaint that alleges that your TELUS Internet Service account has been involved in copyright infringement. This complaint was traced back to your account based on the IP address used at the time of this activity. Please note that TELUS has not provided any of your personal account information to the complainant. It is TELUS' policy to disclose such information to a complainant only if ordered to do so by a court of law, which has not happened to date. We do, however, want you to be aware that this complaint was received by us and offer you the following information that may be of help to you: If you are unaware of this type of activity originating from your account, you may wish to inquire with others who have access to your account. If you are using a dial-up account, change the account password to ensure that only authorized users have access to it. You may also want to check your system for viruses, which may explain why this sort of activity is originating from your account. If you are not aware of our Acceptable Use Policy, which strictly prohibits use of our Service to infringe the copyrights of others, you may review at mytelus.com/internet. Please be aware that violation of this policy could result in disconnection of your Service. Below is an excerpt from the complaint that we received regarding your account. We include it in this notice in an effort to help you identify the activity that is in question. Karen TELUS Internet Services Internet Abuse Team abuse@telus.com http://www.telus.net/aup.html http://www.telus.net/policies * Please include the original email in any reply. ~~~ Excerpt from complaint: --- ------- Title: some movie Infringement Source: BitTorrent Initial Infringement Timestamp: 4 Mar 2004 05:11:41 GMT Recent Infringment Timestamp: 5 Mar 2004 03:04:13 GMT Infringer Username: Infringing Filename: blah blah blah Infringing Filesize: big Infringers IP Address: yep Infringers DNS Name: uh huh Infringing URL:
>It's not a fee, it's a tax. It is to compensate those industries hurt by piracy, not to give you a license to pirate.
Incorrect in so many ways.
a) It's a levy, not a tax.
b) It is not to compensate industries hurt by piracy.
c) It is to compensate artists for the new right of Canadians to make copies of copyrighted material for their own private use. A specific example would be the new right to take a CD from a library, make a copy of it, and return it.
>"tax money goes to womens relief shelters, I pay taxes, therefore I have the right to beat and rape women."
Also incorrect, in that this levy gives you a specific legal right to make copies of copyrighted material at home. It is not an implied right, as you would suggest, but a right that actually overrides the older copyright law.
Michael Geist is Canada's version of Lawrence Lessig.
You want to know who isn't running Firefox 2.x? They spell it "definately" and "rediculous".
Not sure how all ISPs handle this but a few years back when I would get these letters to the NOC at the provider I worked for we would send out one boiler plate mail to the customer letting them know we got the complaint along with a copy of the complaint and another to the **AA, BSA, etc acknowledging we received their letter and that we would not provide them any of the additional information they wanted without a court ordered subpoena. For each letter we would get the customer would also get a letter from us, mostly just as a heads up to the customer. We where a common carrier, and not obligated in anyway to act on these letters.
Yep. Specifically, I pay $1.65 CAD per term on my tuition for the CanCopy fee, which covers me photocopying journal articles or whatever from the library...I know there are restrictions on that, like how much of a certain publication I can copy, but I forget exactly what the restrictions are. As well, profs who want to photocopy copyrighted material for course notes or handouts can do the same thing, and the fee gets added to the cost of the course notes.
I don't know how this affects public libraries, but I assume they have something similar in place.
Dear XXXXXXXXXX
Rogers Cable (Rogers) has received a notice stating that activities associated with your IP address are infringing copyright in material(s) owned or exclusively licensed by others.
The full notice is appended to this e-mail below.
Under section 4(d) of the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet End User Agreement (EUA) and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), you are prohibited from using the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet service to engage in illegal activities, including activities that infringe copyright. Copies of our EUA and AUP are available at:
http://na.edit.client.yahoo.com/rogers/show_static ?.form=terms&.intl=ca
Where there has been a violation of our EUA and/or AUP, including the unauthorized distribution of copyright-protected material, Rogers has the right to take appropriate action against you.
If you have any questions about the attached copyright notice, please contact the sender of the notice using the contact information provided in the notice. Please do not reply to this e-mail.
We trust you will comply with our policies and all applicable laws in using the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet service.
Rogers EUA Management Team
Sincerely,
EUA Management Team
Rogers Yahoo Hi-Speed Internet
http://na.edit.client.yahoo.com/rogers/show_static ?.form=terms
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Notice ID: XX-XXXXXXX
XX XXX XXXX XX:XX:XX GMT
Rogers Cable
Dear Sir or Madam:
BayTSP, Inc. ("BayTSP") swears under penalty of perjury that Paramount Pictures Corporation ("Paramount") has authorized BayTSP to act as its non-exclusive agent for copyright infringement notification. BayTSP's search of the protocol listed below has detected infringements of Paramount's copyright interests on your IP addresses as detailed in the attached report.
BayTSP has reasonable good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of in the attached report is not authorized by Paramount, its agents, or the law. The information provided herein is accurate to the best of our knowledge. Therefore, this letter is an official notification to effect removal of the detected infringement listed in the attached report. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the Universal Copyright Convention, as well as bilateral treaties with other countries allow for protection of client's copyrighted work even beyond U.S. borders. The attached documentation specifies the exact location of the infringement.
We hereby request that you immediately remove or block access to the infringing material, as specified in the copyright laws, and insure the user refrains from using or sharing with others Paramount's materials in the future (see, 17 U.S.C. 512).
Further, we believe that the entire Internet community benefits when these matters are resolved cooperatively. We urge you to take immediate action to stop this infringing activity and inform us of the results of your actions. We appreciate your efforts toward this common goal.
Please respond indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter. The provided link has been assigned to this matter http://webreply.baytsp.com/webreply/webreply.jsp?c ustomerid=XX&commhash=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX. For email correspondence, please reference the above Notice ID in the subject line mai
We are writing to inform you that TELUS has received a complaint that alleges that your TELUS Internet Service account has been involved in copyright infringement. This complaint was traced back to your account based on the IP address used at the time of this activity.
Please note that TELUS has not provided any of your personal account information to the complainant. It is TELUS' policy to disclose such information to a complainant only if ordered to do so by a court of law, which has not happened to date.
We do, however, want you to be aware that this complaint was received by us and offer you the following information that may be of help to you:
If you are unaware of this type of activity originating from your account, you may wish to inquire with others who have access to your account.
If you are using a dial-up account, change the account password to ensure that only authorized users have access to it.
You may also want to check your system for viruses, which may explain why this sort of activity is originating from your account.
If you are not aware of our Acceptable Use Policy, which strictly prohibits use of our Service to infringe the copyrights of others, you may review at mytelus.com/internet. Please be aware that violation of this policy could result in disconnection of your Service.
Below is an excerpt from the complaint that we received regarding your account. We include it in this notice in an effort to help you identify the activity that is in question.
Karen
TELUS Internet Services
Internet Abuse Team
abuse@telus.com
http://www.telus.net/aup.html
http://www.telus.net/policies
* Please include the original email in any reply.
~~~
Excerpt from complaint:
---
-------
Title: some movie
Infringement Source: BitTorrent
Initial Infringement Timestamp: 4 Mar 2004 05:11:41 GMT
Recent Infringment Timestamp: 5 Mar 2004 03:04:13 GMT
Infringer Username:
Infringing Filename: blah blah blah
Infringing Filesize: big
Infringers IP Address: yep
Infringers DNS Name: uh huh
Infringing URL:
Terrorists can't threaten a country's freedom and democracy. Only lawmakers and voters can do that.
I am Canadian. I received a notice from my ISP because my wife downloaded an MP3, something she rarely does because I subscribe to Napster. We altered our behavior by not doing it again. Piracy is theft.
Well, if you're canadian, and you've paid for cassette tapes or blank CD's, then you've paid a levy that goes back to artists (in theory and law). You can download mp3's, it ISN'T piracy, it's just like borrowing a CD from a friend to copy a song--it's allowed, and you're paying for it. You cannot, however, upload or redistribute that copy (which some software does by default). And even if you were engaging in copyright infringement, it certainly wouldn't be theft, since you are not claiming to be the author.
If you're curious, here's the relevant section from section 8 of the copyright act:
80. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the act of reproducing all or any substantial part of (a) a musical work embodied in a sound recording, (b) a performer's performance of a musical work embodied in a sound recording, or (c) a sound recording in which a musical work, or a performer's performance of a musical work, is embodied onto an audio recording medium for the private use of the person who makes the copy does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the musical work, the performer's performance or the sound recording.Damn those pesky terrorists