"Rather than building a made-in-Canada proposal to help musicians get paid, the government has chosen to import American-style legislation that says the solution to the music industry's problems is suing our fans."Safwan Javed,
Wide Mouth Mason
The Regina Leader-Post reported today on the Canadian government's new copyright bill.
Intellectual property issues in Canada are heating up as a recent leak about the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has resulted in concerns that border guards will be empowered to seize iPods, laptops etc if they suspect illegal copies on them.
ACTA could also require Internet Service Providers to filter out pirated material, hand over the identities of customers accused of copyright infringement, and restrict the use of online privacy tools.
But that is still in the future. According to the Leader-Post,
In cases where people download copyrighted songs or other digitized material, penalties will be capped at $500. But in cases where teenagers legally purchase songs online, then e-mail them to a friend or share them through a peer-to-peer service, this transgression will still carry a maximum penalty of $20,000 per copyrighted song.
Michael Geist's preliminary response to Bill C-61 is to "check the fine print." He links to a number fact sheets provided by Industry Canada.
"The Canadian Music Creators Coalition slammed the bill, characterizing it as 'an American-style approach to copyright. It's all locks and lawsuits,' according to Safwan Javed, coalition member and drummer for Wide Mouth Mason.Recommend this Post
"'Rather than building a made-in-Canada proposal to help musicians get paid, the government has chosen to import American-style legislation that says the solution to the music industry's problems is suing our fans,' said Javed.
"The coalition of nearly 200 Canadian acts includes household names Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Broken Social Scene, Matthew Good, Billy Talent, Sloan, Chantal Kreviazuk, Sum 41 and Sam Roberts."
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