Pirated Movies Originally uploaded by AccessWinnipeg
A few new digital technology laws passed this week and there are quite a few that sparked my attention. We all know that the USA (primary source of the movie and music content) have been enforcing these rules for quite sometime. Canada, however, have been more lenient on them and only targeting big offenders such as Audiomaxxx.com. But with these new laws in place, does this mean that Canada is going to start targeting individuals such as unemployed students downloading in the basements of their parents home?
Hit the jump (read more) to see what these new laws are.
Making Copies of Your Music, Books, and Photos
Canadians WILL be allowed to make copies of legally acquired music, e-books, and photos to their entertainment devices and computers. But, they will NOT be allowed to bypass any digital locks placed by the manufacturer to do so. To understand this more: If you own a CD but there is copy protection on it, you are LEGALLY allowed to make a copy of that CD, but you CAN NOT bypass the copy protection to do it (aka you can’t copy it). BUT, I think you can get away with downloading the album online then making a copy that way. Since you own the album, it is a LEGAL download and not an ILLEGAL download. Since the copy protection has already been cracked, you are not bypassing any digital locks on the CD (Someone else did)
PVR and Time Shifting
Canadians are legally allowed to use a PVR to record TV shows for viewing later. But they are not allowed to do this with the intent to ‘archive’ or ‘collect’ the TV shows.
DVD Backups
Canadians are NOT ALLOWED to make copies of their DVDs if there are copy protections in place (which almost all DVDs have)
Downloading Music
The law makes it clear that downloading music IS ILLEGAL. The law also states that the MAXIMUM fine will be $500. Now this kind of scares me. With the fine being a MAX $500, it gives prosecutors more power to charge the unemployed student living off the basement of their parents home (Its easier to sue someone for $500 than to sue them for $5 million). It protects us from the thousand or even million dollar law suits, but warrants more of them.
Sharing Music
Sharing music is a lot different from downloading music. Sharing is when you do the download, then ‘share’ or ‘upload’ the music (or movie) to someone else. This is a even BIGGER offense then downloading and can be subject to $500 to $20,000 PER FILE!! So that could be millions of dollars worth of damages!!
via winnipeg.CTV.ca:
Under the proposed legislation, the following would be legal:
- Making a backup copy of legally acquired music, digital books or photos to an iPod or computers — unless the files are digitally locked
- Recording a TV or radio using a digital device, in order to view it later — but not to be stored in a library of recordings
Under the proposed legislation, the following would be illegal:
- Peer-to-peer file sharing such as with BitTorrent software
- Downloading any copyrighted material without permission
- Making material available for others to download
- Circumventing digital locks put on music or software by manufacturers
- Recording television shows and movies for inclusion in personal libraries or collections
- Ripping DVDs to their iPod Video if a digital lock has been put in place to prevent the change of format
- Posting copyright-protected work onto a website such as Facebook or YouTube
- Sale of devices to enable hacking
