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Canada's New DMCA Considered Worst Copyright Law

loconet writes "The government of Canada is preparing to attempt to bring a new DMCA-modeled copyright law in Canada in order to comply with the WIPO treaties the country signed in 1997. (These treaties were also the base of the American DMCA.) The new Canadian law will be even more restrictive in nature than the American version and worse than the last Canadian copyright proposal, the defeated Bill C-60. Among the many restrictive clauses in this new law, as Michael Geist explains, is the total abolishment of the concept of fair use: 'No parody exception. No time shifting exception. No device shifting exception. No expanded backup provision. Nothing.' Geist provides a list of 30 things that can be done to address the issues."

3 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Unlikely by Seek_1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'd say extremely unlikely. We've been fairly (and rightly) entitled to fair use, personal copying etc for a while now thanks to the levy. All this will do is create confusion and cloud the issue.

    That said, if there is any sort of Canadian Consumers user group that I could contribute to in order to help oppose ridiculous lobby-funded wastes of our government (and people!)'s time like this, I'd be more than willing to contribute...

  2. Re:Not news by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maybe you should try RTFA or at least RTFS. This is not about bending to the will of America, it is about complying with international treaties.

    Which American politicians pushed on the members of the WIPO after they'd been lobbied by the *AAs.

    The bending has already happened, and, yes, America were the original instigators of these measures. They insisted that everyone else adopt these laws, because they wanted to protect the American movie and music industries.

    This is not adhering to international treaties that everyone else in the world decided we needed. It was in response to pressure from American interests that it all happened in the first place.

    Bush is still an ass, but, I don't know if these measures were pushed on his watch or Clintons. But, don't pretend that American interests weren't being served when these treaties were signed.

    Cheers
    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  3. Re:Wait a minute... by TMB · · Score: 4, Interesting

    While I certainly hope you're correct, do you have any basis for that? If it were a majority government, I suspect it would pass easily, and if Harper really wants to make everything a confidence vote, the Liberals aren't going to choose digital rights as the election issue.

    [TMB]