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Steal This Film

Cory brings attention to a new Swedish documentary titled Steal This Film!.  The documentary is well worth downloading since it provides a powerful illustration of the pressure that the U.S. exerts on other countries on copyright policy.  Further, the film demonstrates that Sweden's political parties have begun to recognize that […]

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August 23, 2006 2 comments News

30 Days of DRM – Day 05: DRM Labelling and Consumer Awareness (Public Protection)

If government is to incentivize the use of DRM by enacting anti-circumvention legislation, it must also address the significant consumer protection issues that are likely to follow.  Most consumers know little if anything about DRMs and the limitations that may be placed on consumer entertainment products such as CDs, DVDs, video games, or digital download services.  While there may some limited disclosures – DVDs indicate the region code, if your eyesight is good enough you might notice that some copy-controlled CDs warn on the back corner that they may not play on all computers, and digital download services all feature lengthy user agreements that few consumers will ever read – they are plainly insufficient and the government should not support the legal fiction that "informed" consumers are knowingly purchasing products that contain a host of limitations. 

For many consumers, these DRM products are simply not fit for purpose – they often won't play on your DVD player, on your iPod, or permit usage that most would expect is permissible.  Moreover, consumers frequently can't obtain a refund for their purchases as many retailers won't accept returns on opened CDs and DVDs and digital download services do not offer refunds to disgruntled downloaders.

The federal government might argue that this is provincial problem, since consumer protection issues typically fall under provincial jurisdiction.  The reality, however, is that the federal government can and should play its part to address the issue.

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August 23, 2006 Comments are Disabled News

A Role Model for Captain Copyright

As Access Copyright reworks its Captain Copyright campaign, a reader notes that an ideal role model already exists.  The Learning Commons in South Africa offers Copyright, Copyleft, and Everything in Between.  The program, aimed at Grade 9 students, provides precisely the kind of balance that Access Copyright will have to […]

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August 23, 2006 Comments are Disabled News

30 Days of DRM – Day 04: DRM Misuse Sanctions (Markets)

Yesterday's posting focused on the role that the Competition Bureau should play in addressing DRM misuse.  While that role is an important one, it is by no means sufficient to address the misuse problem.  The Bureau will undoubtedly be hampered by inadequate resources, institutional bias against taking "risky" cases, and statutory limitations that constrict its role to abuse of dominance cases.  Therefore, in addition to Bureau oversight, the law should contain provisions that establish strong disincentives to overreaching or abusive use of DRMs.

Last fall's Sony rootkit case, in which Sony placed hundreds of thousands of personal computers at risk for viruses and other security breaches by surreptitiously placing DRM on dozens of its music CDs, is a model illustration of the havoc that DRM misuse can generate.  While the Sony case is not an abuse of dominant position case, there are good policy reasons to create disincentives to ensure that overzealous companies will not misuse DRM. 

Several potential disincentives come to mind.

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August 22, 2006 3 comments News

Spamigation

Brad Templeton had a very interesting post over the weekend on Dave Farber's list in which he characterized the RIAA lawsuit strategy as an example of spamigation – "bulk litigation that's only become practical due to the economies of scale of the computer era."

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August 22, 2006 Comments are Disabled News