Canadian Government To Join P2P Fight
Canadian users of Peer To Peer (P2P) filesharing networks like Kazaa or Limewire may soon become the victims of lawsuits as the Federal Government is preparing to introduce legislation which would make downloading or uploading copyrighted material to P2P networks illegal. Currently downloading or sharing copyrighted materials over P2P is not a crime in Canada as the country has very broad fair use laws in place, however the Ministry of Heritage and Industry seeks to amend those rights much to the pleasure of Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA).
In addition to amending the Canadian Copyright Act the Federal Government also announced it's intention to sign two World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties, which would force ISPs like Rogers and Bell Sympatico to keep activity logs of individuals who download large amounts of copyrighted material. Those activity logs could then be subpoenaed by groups like CRIA when they sue P2P filesharers. ISP's would also have to contact and issue warnings to any customer that uses their internet connection for illegal activities such as downloading off P2P networks.
According to a press release by the Ministry of Heritage and Industry the new amended Canadian Copyright Act would "clarify that the unauthorized posting or the peer-to-peer file-sharing of material on the Internet will constitute an infringement of copyright, (and) it will also be made clear that private copies of sound recordings cannot be uploaded or further distributed." In addition the new act would also make it illegal for consumers to circumvent or "crack" copy protection on CD's and DVD's.
In addition to amending the Canadian Copyright Act the Federal Government also announced it's intention to sign two World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties, which would force ISPs like Rogers and Bell Sympatico to keep activity logs of individuals who download large amounts of copyrighted material. Those activity logs could then be subpoenaed by groups like CRIA when they sue P2P filesharers. ISP's would also have to contact and issue warnings to any customer that uses their internet connection for illegal activities such as downloading off P2P networks.
According to a press release by the Ministry of Heritage and Industry the new amended Canadian Copyright Act would "clarify that the unauthorized posting or the peer-to-peer file-sharing of material on the Internet will constitute an infringement of copyright, (and) it will also be made clear that private copies of sound recordings cannot be uploaded or further distributed." In addition the new act would also make it illegal for consumers to circumvent or "crack" copy protection on CD's and DVD's.
posted by James Mason at 11:09 AM
2 Comments:
This is a classic example of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt propaganda. This issue is long drawn out dating back to April 2004. The Government has been reshuffled since then, and there has been a minority government in place-- making it much more difficult to pass ammendments such as the P2P issue.
Don't spread FUD. People are paranoid as it is.
With all due respect to the above comments, I think the James was simply trying to point out something that a lot of people in the US don't realize - filesharing is legal in Canada, because when people buy CDR's in Canada they pay an extra tax which goes directly to record companies for compensation to musicians.
And as far as the minority government arguement goes the proposed bill has already passed "pre-committee" status after recieving unanimous support from all Federal political parties which means the new bill almost certainly pass easily this spring.
Canada has always had strong fair use laws which favor the consumer and it's a shame that it's now coming to an end.
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