Tomi
06-22-2005, 09:33 PM
<div align=right>Canadian File Sharers in Trouble</div>It may be a case of ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, change the law’.
After repeatedly losing in court over the sharing of music on the Internet, Canada’s recording industry may finally be about to win one. And it could change what you’ll be able to do on your computer forever.
The federal government has introduced a bill that will crack down on the practice of using programs like Kazaa and BitTorrent, by essentially making it illegal to put songs into a shared directory.
Those files can be accessed by the programs and seen by other users, who can then pick and choose what they want to copy.
Only those who hold the legal rights to a tune will be able to make something available, allowing amateur or independent musicians to still offer up their work, while protecting the big record companies.
Bill C-60 is an overhaul of Canada’s increasingly outdated Copyright Act, and addresses everything from computers to CD burning.
It aims to stop users from subverting copy protection on compact discs, although making duplicates of CDs you already own for your own personal use – like your MP3 player- would remain legal.
“The message to everybody out there [is] that it's not free because it's on the Internet,” warns Heritage Minister Liza Frulla.
The new law would exempt Internet Service Providers from liability. Instead, they’d send offenders a notice that a rights holder believes they’re offering up illegally obtained material for others.
It would demand it be removed or the user could face a lawsuit, similar to the ones filed by the industry in the U.S.
Record company execs are hailing the changes, noting they’ve lost millions in sales to the practice. Their previous legal efforts to prevent the copying have always resulted in failure.
"It's now pretty obvious ... the Canadian government intends this activity, uploading, to be illegal,” observes Graham Henderson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association. “There's now no issue about that."
But critics contend the bill is overkill, and could have unforeseen consequences for academic researchers looking to share their findings with others.
"This bill is a massive, massive giveaway to rights holders," fumes law professor David Fewer of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. "These are rights that belong to users currently, to researchers and to consumers."
The bill isn’t expected to become law until next spring, when those user rights may suddenly turn into very legal wrongs.
Oh...shit. >_<
After repeatedly losing in court over the sharing of music on the Internet, Canada’s recording industry may finally be about to win one. And it could change what you’ll be able to do on your computer forever.
The federal government has introduced a bill that will crack down on the practice of using programs like Kazaa and BitTorrent, by essentially making it illegal to put songs into a shared directory.
Those files can be accessed by the programs and seen by other users, who can then pick and choose what they want to copy.
Only those who hold the legal rights to a tune will be able to make something available, allowing amateur or independent musicians to still offer up their work, while protecting the big record companies.
Bill C-60 is an overhaul of Canada’s increasingly outdated Copyright Act, and addresses everything from computers to CD burning.
It aims to stop users from subverting copy protection on compact discs, although making duplicates of CDs you already own for your own personal use – like your MP3 player- would remain legal.
“The message to everybody out there [is] that it's not free because it's on the Internet,” warns Heritage Minister Liza Frulla.
The new law would exempt Internet Service Providers from liability. Instead, they’d send offenders a notice that a rights holder believes they’re offering up illegally obtained material for others.
It would demand it be removed or the user could face a lawsuit, similar to the ones filed by the industry in the U.S.
Record company execs are hailing the changes, noting they’ve lost millions in sales to the practice. Their previous legal efforts to prevent the copying have always resulted in failure.
"It's now pretty obvious ... the Canadian government intends this activity, uploading, to be illegal,” observes Graham Henderson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association. “There's now no issue about that."
But critics contend the bill is overkill, and could have unforeseen consequences for academic researchers looking to share their findings with others.
"This bill is a massive, massive giveaway to rights holders," fumes law professor David Fewer of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. "These are rights that belong to users currently, to researchers and to consumers."
The bill isn’t expected to become law until next spring, when those user rights may suddenly turn into very legal wrongs.
Oh...shit. >_<