Canadian Industry Minister Admits He Breaks Copyright Law Frequently
from the but-will-the-new-bill-fix-it? dept
Michael Geist points us to an article about how Canadian Industry Minister Tony Clement has admitted that, under current Canadian law, he breaks the law all the time -- mainly by transferring songs from CDs to his iPod, which is apparently not currently allowed under Canadian copyright law (something I did not know...). Clearly, Clement is bringing this up to show that Canadian copyright law has some serious problems, though it's amusing to note that, if this is accurate, it's yet another in the long list of ways that Canadian copyright law (despite claims to the contrary by US politicians and the entertainment industry) is actually significantly more favorable to copyright holders than US law.That said, Clement is the guy who supposedly was fighting for more reasonable copyright law in Canada, but the rumor is that he lost that fight to Heritage Minister James Moore, who pitched a US-style law. We're still waiting for the official release of this new copyright proposal, but if it's true that Clement lost the fight for a more reasonable law, the reason he's bringing this up now is that the upcoming bill to change Canadian copyright law will add lots of things that the entertainment industry wants, but won't balance it out with more rights for consumers -- such as the basic right to place shift your legally purchased music.
Of course, when you have your own government officials admitting that they break copyright law regularly (and give a good reason for it), it should be obvious that it's time to fix the law. Unfortunately, if the rumors are true, the "fix" is only going to make things much worse.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: canada, copyright, time shifting, tony clement
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Proud to be Canadian...
Add to that the fact that we have very little competition amongst the telcos/cable/internet/satellite providers -- who lobby hard in Ottawa to a friendly PM, resulting in a populace that is getting kicked in the collective nuts. We have very little innovation because of the monopolies. We have very high prices for the same reason. You'd think that there would be an organization in place to ensure the public is consulted and has a voice in all of this. Well, we have a watchdog organization like the FCC in the US called the CRTC. It's a watchdog, to be sure, if by 'watchdog' you mean a toothless chihuahua yipping at a pack of rottweilers.
And this is the sickest part -- what do we Canucks do about this? Well, we bitch a lot, but most of us just keep paying the prices and do nothing to force those in charge to not ignore what the people want and actually come up with laws that make sense in the modern world.
And sometimes we wonder why other countries pat us on the head like the cute little neighbour kid next door. Give us a cookie and a smack on the butt and send us home. Bah. When are we going to wake up and do something?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Exactly what point from Clement is it that you're contesting? Are you saying it's legal to copy audio CD's onto an Ipod in Canada?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
1. We screwed up in the law, so activities everyone and their dog knows should be legitimate are infringing.
2. Loss numbers are scewed as a result
3. ???
4. Since everyone knows these activities should be legitimate, everyone should have to pay a levy to compensate for these loss numbers (due to the skewed numbers from the mistake?) so we can allow the legitimate activities.
5. levy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You should probably reword that -- that's a pretty big assumption (and one I know you'd disagree with).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No one is concerned
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
How come Tony Clement does not face charges
Who can trust a confessed law breaker ?
The pirate Tony Clement !
[ link to this | view in chronology ]