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New Canadian Copyright Laws Require ISPs To Retain, Share Illegal Download Info

Posted by Soulskill on from the they-know-what-you-did-last-summer dept.

BarbaraHudson writes: New Year's Day brought into force new Canadian copyright laws that go after people who download copyrighted materials online. From the article: "As of January 1st Internet service providers (ISPs) are required to pass along notices of alleged copyright infringement., something which used to be voluntary. ISPs must also retain records of the notices they receive and forward to users for at least six months in case a copyright owner decides to pursue legal action. Lawsuits could seek up to $5,000 for downloading copyrighted material for personal use, and up to $20,000 for a download that led to commercial gain.

ISPs are also now be required to provide your personal info, but only if the copyright owner sues. Search engines also have to remove cached versions of allegedly infringing material that have been removed from a website. Non-compliance allows copyright owners to pursue legal action and claim damages against them as well. Finally, a review of the Copyright Act every five years is now required."

7 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. The Best Politicians Money Can Buy by rtb61 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let me guess, a right wing government, always the best than money can buy.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    1. Re:The Best Politicians Money Can Buy by Grishnakh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The Democrat party isn't left-wing, it's right-wing. It's just a different flavor of right-wing than the Republican party. The Republicans' good buddies are the oil and gas industries, the military contracting industries, and the gun industry. The Democrats' good buddies are the media companies/copyright industry and the big banks.

    2. Re:The Best Politicians Money Can Buy by Grishnakh · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I completely disagree. We need to retain the terms, but we need to use them correctly, which means we need to call both the Democrats and the Republicans "right wing". Otherwise, we're going to continue to falsely believe that somehow they're different, rather than the truth which is (as you say) they both have fascist tendencies and favor elitist and corporatist interests over citizens' individual rights.

      If we start calling the Democrats "left wing", then we'll just continue to be fooled, and we'll never get to a state where the well-being of the People is given any weight in politics.

    3. Re:The Best Politicians Money Can Buy by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 5, Interesting

      it's simple, left wing is for the people, right wing is for the aristocracy, which now a days is the rich and big business. The Democrats are to the left of the Republicans but are still very pro-business. You just have to look at their health reform which is pro-insurance companies or the 2008 financial crisis where they helped the bankers rather then the people.

      In the U.S., basically Left means Democrat and Right means Republican. Which means all 4 of them have lost much meaning.

      Ostensibly today, Left and Democrat mean "big government" or "government economic control" along with "social liberalism", while Right or Republican means "small government" but also "social control".

      Note the word "ostensibly". It's all BS, and both sides want to control everything in your life, from who you can or cannot hire or do business with to who you sleep with, plus how you spend your money, and how much of it, before Government confiscates the rest.

      The single Left-Right dichotomy has always been bullshit, but at least Back In The Day it had some real meaning.

      It all boils down to this: Government, and those who run it, are generally hungry for both power and money. No matter whose "side" they claim to be on.

      All other political ills stem from those two things. There are a few good people in Government but at least today they are overwhelmed by the greedy powermongers.

  2. Michael Geist's opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    link

  3. missleading / incorrect summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a takedown of the new law and it's effects by Canadian law professor Michael Geist: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2014/12/notice-difference-new-canadian-internet-copyright-rules-isps-set-launch/

    Some notes:
    The notice-and-notice system "has operated informally for over a decade but will kick in as the law in 2015 ...".

    Under this system "copyright owners are entitled to send infringement notices to Internet providers, who are legally required to forward the notifications ..."

    ISP's must "retain information on the subscriber for six months (or 12 months if court proceedings are launched)".

    "[T]he personal information of subscribers is not disclosed to the copyright owner ... If the copyright owner is unhappy with only sending a notification and wants to proceed with further legal action, they must go to court to obtain an order requiring the Internet provider to reveal the identity of the subscriber".

    "Moreover, the law now also limits potential liability for Internet users for non-commercial infringement, capping damages at C$5,000 for all infringements. While that is not insignificant, it does mean that threats of tens of thousands of dollars in liability for unauthorized downloading are unfounded".

  4. Outsourced internets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yep, that cha-ching sound you're hearing is the sound of VPN, Proxy, and seedbox providers in more freer countries taking New customers from Canada - welcome aboard :)