Canadian DMCA On the Way by in Copyright and DRM / October 16th, 2007
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Michael Geist reports the scariest part of the Speech from the Throne tonight: the probable introduction of draconian copyright laws in Canada…
As expected, the government has prioritized copyright reform, promising to “improve the protection of cultural and intellectual property rights in Canada, including copyright reform.” No words of balance, no words of access – simply more protection led by copyright legislation. This suggests – consistent with most speculation – that a DMCA-style bill could be coming to Canada within a matter of weeks.
It’s highly unlikely that any of the major parties will oppose this legislation, since it’s usually framed in terms of: “Canadian culture is under attack from American influences… the only way for our ideas to become stronger is to give our artists better copyright protections”. Nobody will vote against it because it’ll seem like a vote for Hollywood (which is true irony).
If only there was a Pirate Party in Canada, and there’d be an election before the copyright bill was introduced. And, well, we had enough votes to do something about it. Sigh.
Tags: dmca, michael geist
