SOPA is on the chopping block, PIPA is still picking shrapnel out of its back end and ACTA is in rough water, but Canada has its own copyright ace up its sleeve, C-11. It seems copyright infringement is becoming the political pie all over the world and everyone wants a piece. Poor analogy, sure, but even worse is the lack of knowledge these bill creators have on technology.
SOPA and PIPA were both guilty of this, as they created the possibility of a global Internet shutdown that could occur on a whim. C-11 seems a little more subtle but no less an annoyance to independent artists, students and consumers. While this bill may not be trying to fight dirty on the Internet it does take the fight into homes.
C-11 in its current form would make it illegal to create a backup of any content you own, so long as that content has any sort of digital lock, which is virtually every DVD, game and CD you own. In addition to this, students will not be able to retain their textbooks or even homework after their term of post-secondary has concluded.
It does not negatively effect independent artists but it is leaps from solving the issues that face them while giving all the power and wealth to those already in power–the corporations. By supporting draconian DRM and other anti-piracy measures in an overkill fashion, it ensures that the major companies, that can already pay for this sort of protection, will surely benefit, while those that can’t won’t receive a single cent for any stolen material.
Sure, the Internet is a great way to get an up-and-coming band known by the masses, by being virtually, free advertising,but it’s not entirely fair. That is where C-11 falls short as these indie musicians have no digital protection or anyone to back them up, but the multi-million dollar celebrities are laughing at the Canadian pirates, with bags full of money. Perhaps an exaggeration, but you get my point.
So, to re-cap, C-11 prohibits you from copying a DVD or CD(that you legally own) to put its contents on your MP3 player or some other portable device. You can’t keep homework from any education institute, even if it was a recipe learned in culinary school(and you DEFINITELY can’t share it). If you want to read an ebook on something other than your Kindle,then forget about it. Finally, pirates have free reign over indie content while the mega corporations punish the grandma’s who just want their owned(DVD) episodes of Murder She Wrote on their iPod.
Of course, you could make the argument that it is highly unlikely that anyone would ever discover you have ripped Flubber, using software that bypassed the copyright protection, to watch it on your PSP, but it’s the fact that it is punishable at all that is worrisome. I mean it’s Flubber! Consumers need to have rights to the things they purchase, otherwise we are just renting from the company so we might as well pay rental prices.
Contact your political representative and tell them you do not support C-11. With your help those that are fighting against it, such as Andrew Cash(video below), can have more fuel to support their anti-C-11 fire.
Rian Quenlin
I swear, one of these days I’m going to send my boot so far up a lawmaker’s ass his dentist will wonder where the footprints came from…
Angry Bard
It’s a no-brainer that we should be able to repurpose our purchased content any way we choose, as long as we don’t give it away or broadcast it. Where I have a question is about using existing someone else’s content, when I have the same content in a different format. There is a point where some value is added during the conversion of content, such as if i was to take two hours to rip a BlueRay movie to H323. And obviously it’s not right if we get a ‘better’ product in the different format (You can’t say “I should be able to download the BlueRay version for free, because I already have a VHS in my basement of the same movie”). But if I bought the CD, the ‘value’ in rippig it to an MP3 is negligible: it is easy as pie, it takes seconds, and is not a ‘better’ quality product than what I have. So if I have an MP3, even downloaded from somewhere else, sholdn’t matter, as I am already ‘licensed’ to use the better quality version.
And I should always be able to make back-ups, no matter what. Even multiple backus, if I so choose. We should try to respect the quality of the version or format we bought, and the creator that made it, but that’s where it should stop, and trying to get more out of it is just plain greedy, stupid, and harming your customers. The reason o much pirating goes on now is precisely because they make it so much of a pain to work with their DRM. Every game I purchased uses a ‘No CD’, fo example, which would be breaking the law, even though I bought the games.
What happens when the company that makes the product goes bankrupt or gets bought or merged with another company?In the past, I just got screwed. In this future, it will be far worse.
Chris Hernandez
I agree with your logic on ripping and quality, as no one should be entitled to a better quality version when the item they purchased was worse.
I would hate this bill less if it were the case that no companies used digital locks, so they could properly police the people that are actually doing harm as opposed to those who just want to add some longevity to the content they already own.
Rian Quenlin
I don’t think CD cracks are illegal. In all honesty, piracy is really the only digital archive of games, movies, and music that I can name. Even if I don’t support it, there’s going to be a time when all of the backups of something are wrecked, and a pirate site is going to laugh and say “Well we MIGHT have the ISO files SOMEWHERE…”
Convoy
They made it illegal but did they ever think of how they could possibly enforce it? Just another example of how tax dollars were wasted by our government.
Nicoblogs
hack the world!