From The Gazettes View: Bringing copyright law into the 21st century:

It is unlikely that there will be many prosecutions under this article as long as violations are committed in the privacy of people’s homes and not for any commercial purpose, but it is still a niggling restriction that caves in to the U.S. at the expense of the right of average Canadians to do what they wish to with their own property for their own enjoyment.

Read out of context, one might have thought that this excerpt was about marijuana (which is how it’s dealt with here in Canada). But one would be wrong. That is what is expected if the new copyright bill is passed.

Another hilarious point is:

Specifically in this respect the law would legalize everyday consumer practices that are currently prohibited, such as using a personal video recorder to record a TV show for later viewing, or copying music from a purchased CD to an iPod.

This is not a knee-slapper on its own, but when coupled with:

Less welcome, and the sticking point in previous attempts to pass this bill, is the blanket provision against breaking digital locks, even for purposes of personal use. This includes picking a lock on a DVD purchased overseas to watch at home, or transferring a purchased e-book to read to another personal device. The bill provides for $5,000 fines for even the smallest such violations.

Given the steady switch of the entire media industry to all things digital, they can slap DRM on any future format (as they have been doing), therefore entirely canceling the right you were given…

That bill might modernize our copyright law, but calling it an improvement would be quite a stretch, really.

And just like our drug laws, they’re essentially “made in the U.S.A”. Have our politicians no respect, for even themselves, as Canadians? Oh, sorry, that’s a dumb question. We know they don’t…