Canadian Politician Claims That Ripping A CD To Your iPod Is Like Buying Socks & Stealing Shoes To Go With Them

from the these-people-don't-belong-in-gov't dept

Via Michael Geist, we learn that Canadian Member of Parliament Dean Del Mastro, as part of the debate over copyright reform in Canada, is arguing fervently (and mockingly) against the right to format shift legally purchased music, say, from a CD to your digital music player. Specifically, he argues that format shifting is no different than buying one thing and then stealing a completely different product:

It's like going to a clothing store and buying a pair of socks, and going back and saying 'By the way, it wasn't socks I needed, what I really wanted was shoes, so I'm just going to take these -- I'm going to 'format shift' from socks to shoes -- and I'm not going to pay anything because it was all for my feet.'"

I wouldn't believe it myself if there wasn't video:


It's scary that people so clueless about the basics of what they're discussing not only get elected, but then presume to make new laws based on their gleefully on-display cluelessness. No one is asking people to give up a totally unrelated product. They're just saying that they quite frequently already do make use of a legally purchased good in a different context, and that should be legal. It's like saying that they buy socks, and sometimes they like to make hand puppets out of them. In the ridiculous world of MP Dean Del Mastro, such a "format shift" would require a different purchase. People like that should have no business legislating.

Filed Under: canada, copyright reform, dean del mastro, format shifting

Canadian Music Industry Spokesperson Claims User Generated Content Supports 'Piracy'

from the extreme-nonsense dept

As the battle over Canada's copyright reform bill C-32 heats up, the industry is making increasingly bizarre statements. We already noted the claim by the CRIA that a cap on non-commercial liability amounted to a $5,000 compulsory license, but even more ridiculous is this latest claim, found by Michael Geist. J.P. Ellson, the Chair of the Canadian Council of Music Industry Association, claims that legalizing format shifting and user-generated content keeps "piracy" alive:

Among Bill C-32's objectives is to put the pirate download and file-sharing sites out of business. But the provisions of the Bill that permit user-generated content and transferring digital files to other formats would in fact, keep the pirate flag flying and their sites in business.

Yikes. First, format shifting of legally obtained content does not, in fact, "keep the pirate flag flying." As Geist notes, the allowance for format shifting (such as transferring music from a CD to an iPod) is carefully limited to only authorized copies, rather than infringing copies. The fact that this representative of the industry is effectively arguing against allowing users to transfer music to their iPod seems pretty ridiculous.

But the other claim is even more insane. "Permitting user-generated content" allows "the pirate flag" to keep "flying"? How? Seriously. This claim is so typical of the entertainment industry, which still seems to think the internet is a broadcast medium, by which they can deliver "professional" content to the masses. They still don't realize that the internet is, primarily, a communication platform, and user-generated content is a huge part of that. Suggesting that it should be illegal to clear the decks for the elitist notion of "professional" content suggests a complete lack of understanding of why people use the internet.

Filed Under: canada, format shifting, user generated content