Canadian DOJ Warned About Unconstitutionality of Copyright Digital Lock Rules

An anonymous reader writes "The Canadian House of Commons may have passed the Canadian DMCA, but the constitutional concerns with the copyright bill and its digital lock rules will likely linger for years. Michael Geist has obtained internal government documents that indicate that the Department of Justice issued a legal opinion warning about the potential for constitutional violations. The DOJ legal opinion warned of the need to link circumvention with copyright infringement and of the particular danger of not providing the blind with an exception. The Canadian law misses the mark on both counts with no link to infringement and an exception that blind groups say is 'nullified' by strict conditions."

Comments

Dear Canada:

[KingSkippus]

Dear Canada: (an open letter)

As an American citizen, I know how bullying our government and corporations can be. Believe me, I am not any more happy about it than you are, and as a citizen with the power to vote, I really am diligently trying to change it from inside.

That having been said, if you want to seriously stop being thought of as the 51st state (but a bit colder), there's going to have to come a time when you simply look the U.S. Department of Justice, the RIAA, and any other organization or company trying to steamroll you into making you more like us in the eye and say, "No." It's okay, really! Those of us who hate certain aspects of our government would actually cheer you on, and it might actually effect some change here when our government and citizens realize how ridiculous some of these demands are.

Wishing you all the best,
King Skippus

Re:Dear Canada:

[davecb]

To get into the trade "club", we have to give things up that we consider inalienable. Rock, meet hard place.

As the government of the day is more concerned with trade and less with issues of care/harm, they chose the rock.

A wise government would chose neither, but instead move the subject sideways to a place where both trade and rights are honoured. For example, they could honour DRM only if the company held a Canadian copyright, and agreed to make excerpts available, for a nominal fee, whenever the use was legal in Canada.

For an example of a seriously wise move, have look at Politicians need courage to dismantle supply management by Martha Hall Findlay

--dave
ps: Martha is my former MP

Re:Dear Canada:

[steelfood]

Unfortunately, what you're not seeing is that there's a huge "content" industry in Canada. American production companies like to go to Canada to make their films. Said production companies would threaten to leave if they didn't get their way.

What the Canadian government doesn't see is that these companies don't really have anywhere else to go.

Re:I confess! And I'd like to turn myself in...

[mark-t]

Ah... you do not understand law in Canada.

First of all, copyright infringement actually is a criminal offense in Canada.

In matters of criminal cases in Canada, the crown (police) can press charges against an individual even if the injured party does not express any interest.

That said, however, the police in Canada have long since stated that they will not pursue cases of "private copyright infringement".