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 […]
Post Tagged with: "copyright"
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.
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."
“Would You Trust These People?”
David Basskin, the head of the CMRRA, commenting on the recording industry as both prepare for a major hearing at the Copyright Board of Canada on online music downloads, has the following to say about the recording industry and the interests of songwriters and music publishers: "Record companies do not […]
30 Days of DRM – Day 02: Region Coding (Markets)
DVDs are a good example of a consumer product that contains several types of TPMs. Many DVDs include Macrovision (designed to stop copying a DVD to VHS), Content Scramble System or CSS (the subject of important litigation involving DeCSS, a software program created to allow Linux users to play DVDs since they were otherwise unable to do so due to CSS), and region coding. I think the region coding issue is of particular concern and should be the subject of a specific exception within anti-circumvention legislation.
The premise behind region coding is fairly straight-forward. With DVD region coding, the world is divided into eight regions (Canada and the U.S. form Region One). Consumer electronics manufacturers have agreed to respect region coding within their products by ensuring that DVD players only play DVDs from a single region. The net effect is that Canadian-purchased DVDs will play on Canadian-bought DVD players, but DVDs purchased in Europe, Australia, or Asia (all different regions), are unlikely to work on those same DVD players (with the exception of those DVDs that are region coded zero, which can be played worldwide). The is also true for playing the DVDs on a personal computer – my Macintosh will only allow a limited number of region changes.
Note that the use of region coding has nothing to do with traditional notions of copyright law. The underlying work may involve a copyrighted work – DVDs and video games regularly use region coding – yet the protection is designed to manipute markets by restricting the ability to use fully authorized copies of works.
Recent Posts
TIFF Removes October 7th Documentary Film From Schedule Citing Implausible Copyright Clearance Concerns From Hamas Terror Footage 
Carney’s Digital Recalibration: How the Government is Trending Away from Justin Trudeau’s Digital Policy 
Let Competition Be the Guide: Why the Government and CRTC Got It Right on Wholesale Fibre Broadband Access 
Commentary: Ensuring the Sovereignty and Security of Canadian Health Data 
The Law Bytes Podcast Law Society of Ontario CPD Professionalism Pack
