The activities listed below are all affected by copyright, or may be affected by proposed changes.
If you buy DVDs abroad…
…anticircumvention provisions could make it illegal to watch them in Canada. DVDs are published with codes preventing them from being played elsewhere in the world: DVDs from Europe will play only on European players, DVDs from North America will play only in North America, and so on. In practice, many DVD players can circumvent the codes. Hollywood calls this “geofencing”: they use it to segment the market, and think their business model should be legislated through changes to copyright law. If you bring a DVD collection from overseas, it could be against the law to watch the DVDs in Canada.
If you own a cell phone…
…uploading or downloading photographs and music from it in ways not approved by your phone company could also be a violation of the law. If you own an iPhone or iPad, it could be illegal to install software not approved by Apple – even if you own the software and the iPhone. If I sold you software, installing it could be copyright infringement! We believe that the law should not ban circumvention of digital locks if the purpose of that circumvention is legitimate.
If you are a music fan…
…you may already be breaking the law when you buy a CD and copy it onto your iPod or MP3 player. Many CDs carry copy protection technology; copying them could carry a large fine. Proponents of fair copyright support expanding Canada’s “fair dealing” provisions to make everyday activities like this legal.
If you buy videos online…
…you might find one day that you can no longer watch them legally. They could “phone home” over the Internet to ensure they are being used the way their publishers intend. When a publisher goes out of business, content might simply stop playing – and it could be illegal to fix the problem. This has already happened several times in the United States.
If you are an artist…
…you might not be able to use clips or quotes of other material. All art draws from existing sources. If the medium you are copying from is protected by a digital lock, it could be a copyright violation to access it even though it is legal to copy it. Parodying or criticizing it would effectively be illegal.
If you own a computer…
…you could be forbidden to control the software on your computer. If some of that software implements a digital lock, it would be illegal for you to remove or modify the software. In one case, Sony distributed copy protection software with music CDs. When the CD was opened on a Windows computer, it made changes to Windows that created security holes and violated the privacy of users. Anticircumvention law could make it illegal to tamper with or remove the flawed Sony software.
If you are a student or educator…
…you could find your access to materials is regulated in detail. Dr Laura Murray wrote of the exemption for education, “You can show, say, clips of films in an online class as you can in a physical classroom – but you have to destroy the whole lecture after the students write the exam.” You could also find yourself unable to access or share works for educational purposes. Already, publishers place technical restrictions on works they don’t own. For example, your computer could prevent you from copying text from Romeo and Juliet. Technology to circumvent this protection would be illegal even though Shakespeare’s plays are in the public domain.
Furthermore, you already pay fees as high as 10 cents per page to use material for educational purposes. In the United States, educational usage is exempt. We believe that fair dealing should be broadened to exempt educational use.
If you are a library user…
…you could find that libraries are unable to collect many digital materials. Films, music, and other content could be tied to specific computers. Not only might libraries be unable to collect the material, they might be unable to preserve it for future generations. Under the previous proposed bill, when they distribute copies of digital works they would have to ensure there is technology in place to ensure the copies are deleted within five days.
In addition to C-32, several countries including the U.S., Canada, Japan and the European Union are negotiating ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The treaty is in flux, but the negotiations are secret. The following is based on text released in April 2010.
If you depend on the Internet…
…you could lose access to it solely on the basis of accusations that you are violating copyright. People depend on the Internet for their work, their studies, to communicate with family and friends, to participate as citizens (even in the government’s copyright consultation). Under proposed so-called “three strikes” or “graduated response” legislation, you could be kicked off the Internet without being charged with breaking the law, or with any proof beyond the say-so of someone who claims you violated their copyright.
If you think Canada should control its own laws…
ACTA would lock-in measures such as those in C-32. Even if we found these measures were harmful, international obligations would make it difficult or impossible to craft the law to suit the interests of Canadians.
If you value free speech…
…you could find companies and individuals using copyright law to muzzle critics. The ACTA proposal requires ISPs to remove material if someone claims it is a copyright infringement, with no need for proof. The U.S. has such a provision (known as “notice and takedown”); it has been used repeatedly to silence critics even when no copyright infringement has actually taken place.