Bill C-61's anti-circumvention approach ranks among the broadest of any statute in the world. One area where it is particularly (over)broad is in its failure to exclude non-infringing access. Under the current bill, Section 41.1(1) simply states that "no person shall circumvent a technological measure within the meaning of paragraph (a) of the definition of 'technological measure'". Technological measure "means any effective technology, device or component that, in the ordinary course of its operation controls access to a work. . . "
By using such a broad approach – any circumvention of any effective access control – the statute prohibits the circumvention of TPMs that have absolutely nothing to do with infringing copying. The most obvious example of this comes from the region coding found on DVDs and many computer games. 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.
