News

Reactions to the Liberal C-32 Amendments

Reactions to the proposed Liberal Bill C-32 amendments included criticism from groups like the Writers Guild of Canada and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, along with modest support from the Canadian Conference for the Arts.  The Conservatives, meanwhile, escalated the rhetoric around the “iPod tax” issue by releasing a radio ad characterizing it as the Coalition’s iPod Tax even after the Liberals clearly stated their opposition to the proposal.

11 Comments


  1. Well. If it’s about to chose between:

    1. lock protection

    2. extended levies + resale rights

    I think 2 is even more unethical and immoral.

    Nap.

  2. I had to choose, neither would be in copyright and artists would need to learn to stand on their own in a world where copying is more easily done. But that might require a change in the way that people do things, which is scary, but it’s better than trying to legislate a model that doesn’t really work.


  3. The conservatives will push it out to an election so they don’t have to lose face by ammeding the bill. Personally I would also prefer #1 over #2 since lock protection is simply not enforcible on an individual level and they cannot stop me from making backups. However, I think the better choice, in general would take #2 over #1 since #1 has all kinds of hidden implecations like we’ve seen in the DMCA. We’ll see all kinds of stupid, unintended fallout, people getting sued for doing things obviously not intended to be covered by copyright, garage door openers, generic remotes, universal car diagnostic computers, etc. and #1 is completely anti-innovative…much like the recording industry…see a pattern here?


  4. @IanME:

    Agree. But as a consumer I have a remedy for 1 – I can rent instead of buying. So I won’t care about backups or anything.

    For 2 I can’t do anything and my money will go to “the industry” whether I want it or not.

    Nap.

  5. Choice
    I would gladly pay $1 per year in taxes not to have the DMCA imported into Canada.

  6. Someone from the Writers Guild please explain this comment?
    First of all, I deem it highly unfair that there be a proposed support for only musicians to the exclusion of all other media. That just does not seem equitable or make any sense.

    In regards to Maureen Parker’s comment of C-32 granting consumers free widespread copying, I would like some background for your position?

    “Maureen Parker, Executive Director, WGC, notes that “the real problem is that neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives will recognize that granting consumers free widespread copying of all works will undercut the existing market for original sales. Why buy a DVD when copying is free?”

    This comment, if taken to be fact, means either Maureen or I have got it all wrong. So, here are the problems I have with it, if someone from the writer’s guild can comment on them I would appreciate it.

    1) Is C-32 granting free widespread copying? In regards to the DVD example, it is my understanding that only backup’s and format shifting is allowed. How is this undercutting the market for original sales if to backup or format shift I first need to purchase the original? if you are thinking of secondary sales, such as another purchase of the same content in another form factor, then that cannot be attributed to an original sale.

    2) As it stands digital locks prevent the fair use rights, included in the same bill, of backup and shifting, so how is that granting free widespread copying? Even if TPM is allowed to be bypassed for the stated fair uses, how is that affecting original sales?

    3) Of course if it is pirated then that’s another matter but it is not something grated under C-32. Some may say that the $5000 limit on damages for infringement is too lenient but I can attest that I or anyone of the people I know would find that to be an immense economic hardship as most of us live paycheque to paycheque. Don’t treat valid customers as pirates by limiting their fair use, as limiting fair use creates pirates.

    So finally, if infringing by piracy is punishable and I must legally buy an original to either shift or backup then how is this bill grating consumers ‘free widespread copying’?

    Thanks for your clarification on these points.


  7. @EK: “I would gladly pay $1 per year in taxes not to have the DMCA imported into Canada.”

    Problem is that this tax would go to exactly those that were pushing to have DMCA in the first place.

    So it looks pretty much like a “protection tax” in a racketeering endeavor. Pay this or have DMCA pushed down your throat.

    I know, they’re actually pushing to have both (the tax and DMCA)…

    I think it’s morally more dangerous to have racketeering legalized than having just a stupid law (DMCA).

    Nap.

  8. A bandwith tax or even an iPod tax in exchange for unlimited copying sounds like the only practical answer to the situation we’re in, if you ask me.


  9. @Ken:

    What they’re actually proposing is a bandwidth/ipod tax for *private* copying i.e. letting you backup/format shift for yourself the music you already bought.

    Bwahahaha.

    Nap.

  10. John of Perth says:

    New ways of doing business – King Canute?
    Give away your music, sure make the quality a bit lower on the CD/MEPEG etc. Most equipment is not too good so few notice. You could also have a premium disc as well, bit more expensive, but with better sample rates.

    Johnny will give it to his mates. Then when you come to town for the LIVE concert, you can get them all along, at great expense, and you have done your free advertising. That what seems to be happening here, big concert, 150 – 250/ticket etc, and lots of merchandise and then leave town with an armoured car full of cash. One or two artists have found this out with good success. U2 was in town for the weekend.

    One advantage of being in the Souther Hemisphere, its summer here now and people want to party so for the Northerners winter break fly south. Our artists will come in June/July.

    Re backups – children and grandchildren with DVD’s, mad if your do not, they get used for Frisbee’s and often do not work too well.

  11. The more they villify the idea as a “Coalition” tax…
    …the more inclined I am to vote for a coalition.