OT: Copyright law changes could leave consumers vulnerable

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Alex Beamish <talexb-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>

| I think this is a tempest in a teapot .. the doctrine of fair use is well
| accepted, and this applies to moving works from one media to another -- if I
| own a CD (we used to call them albums) it's perfectly fine to transfer them
| to another medium like an MP3 player (we used to record to tape).

1) "Fair Use" is the US term.  Your use of it is a hint that you might
   not know what you are talking about with respect to the law in Canada.
   Our term is "Fair Dealing".

2) It appears to be illegal to copy music to an MP3 player under
   current and all previous Canadian copyright legislation.
   Changes in the last decade made "private copying" legal onto
   certain media such as CD-R (the quid pro quo being the levy).

| Making your own mix CD (we used to call them party tapes) from your own
| library of recordings is probably still covered under fair use, while buying
| a CD and making copies for all your friends (whether or not you get paid) is
| *not* fair use.

Wrong again.  Making party tapes was not legal.  It is now, if the
medium onto which you are recording has the levy and it is only for
your personal use.

You can let your friends make copies of the CD, onto a CD-R (for
example).  You cannot make the copy for them.

| Not much of a change, I think.

I wish.

This is no tempest in a teapot unless you plan to ignore the law.  And
that will become increasingly difficult due to "technical means" (DRM).

I'm not up to speed on what is in the new law but I expect that it
will have anti-circumvention rules protecting DRM.  This could be very
bad -- the US equivalent is the DMCA and we know how horrible that has
been (it will only get worse).

NOW IS THE TIME TO TALK TO YOUR MP.  Unfortunately, your MP is
probably not of the governing party.


BTW: I expect a Linux crowd to be more than averagely respectful of
copyright laws:

(1) many use Linux as opposed to pirating proprietary software

(2) the GPL actually depends on copyright law for its effectiveness.


BTW 2: DRM is a threat to Linux users in particular.  Need I explain?  
Hint: think of DVD playing (DeCSS is so banned in the US that you cannot 
even legally have a link to it).  Think of reading SD cards (where 
"secure" means "secure from the owner").  Think of running Linux on boxes 
sold to run MS Windows.  Think of MythTV.  Think of HDTV.
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