DCMA law coming north?

According to Michael Geist via Boing Boing, the Canadian government is going to try to enact its own version of the U.S. DCMA law. If Ottawa’s Hill Times newspaper has heard it, there might be some some credibility to the story.

Here is an excerpt from Geist’s list of groups that could be expected to oppose new copyright law revisions:

– creator groups, such as the CMCC, Appropriation Art, the Documentary Organization of Canada, all of whom have emphasized the need for fair dealing reform, not DRM copyright collectives, for whom anti-circumvention is a secondary issue and the educational exception will be viewed as a complete betrayal the Quebec copyright and education communities, which has come out against the educational exception at both the ministerial and cultural levels the broader education and library communities, who (apart from CMEC and AUCC who have spent years lobbying for the educational exception) recognize that the reform does little to address their real needs

– the retail community, who hoped the government would address private copying (as promised in its copyright policy position)

– broadcasters, who hoped the government would address the ephemeral rights issue the privacy community, who will fear that the legal protections for DRM will damage privacy rights
consumer groups, who will note that anti-circumvention legislation has already had a negative impact on basic consumer interests in Europe and the United States

– the Canadian public, who will wonder why it is still unlawful to copy music onto an iPod or record a television show or a create a parody on YouTube

– the NDP, possibly the Liberals, who will jump at the opportunity to promote their C-60 bill as a better bill possibly the Bloc, who will be unwilling to support a bill that includes the educational exception

I must admit that, politics aside, I like the core of our copyright law just the way it is.

MRM