“The Canadian government is about to bring down Canada’s version of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The proposed copyright law is even worse than the ten-year-old American legislation that resulted in lawsuits against 20,000+ Americans without stopping infringement or paying artists.” - Fight the Canadian DMCA on Saturday December 8th, 2007

Key Terminology: DRM, DMCA, Copyright, Fair Dealings, WIPO Treaty

“If this law passes, it will mean that as soon as a device has any anti-copying stuff in it (say, a Vista PC, a set-top cable box, a console, an iPod, a Kindle, etc), it will be illegal for Canadians to modify it, improve it, or make products that interact with it unless they have permission from the (almost always US-based) manufacturer. This puts the whole Canadian tech industry at the mercy of the US industry, unable to innovate or start new businesses that interact with the existing pool of devices and media without getting a license from the States.

If this law passes, it will render all of the made-in-Canada exceptions to copyright for education, archiving, free speech and personal use will be irrelevant: if a technology has a lock that prohibits a use, your right to make that use falls by the wayside. Nevermind that you’ve got the right to record a show to watch later — or to record a politician’s speech so you can hold him to account later — the policeman in the device can take that right away with no appeal.

If this law passes, it will make Canada into a backwards nation, lagging behind the UK, Israel and other countries that are passing new copyright laws that dismantle the idea of maximum copyright forever and in all things.” - Canada’s coming DMCA will be the worst copyright yet

Let’s stop our government from choosing:

“locks over learning, property over privacy, enforcement over education, (law)suits over security, lobbyists over librarians, and U.S. policy over a Canadian-made solution.” - Fair Copyright for Canada [facebook]

More Information:

• Fair Copyright
• Excess Copyright
• Michael Geist
• Canadian Industry Minister refuses to defend Canadian DMCA in public
• The US DMCA in Images
• Privately, Hollywood admits DRM isn’t about piracy
• Canadian Music Creators Coalition