How Bill C-61 will change the copyright act.
Minister of Industry Jim Prentice recently introduced the Bill designated C-61 into the house of parliament here in Canada. The bill for every intent and purpose is a clone of the United States’ DMCA with extra draconian clauses tacked on for good measure. Prentice and party are doing their worst best to try and put a good spin on this horrible bill but not too many people are buying it. Both the NDP and Liberal parties have overtly criticised the bill. Copyright experts such as Michael Giest and Howard Knopf have pointed out until they are blue how this bill is wrong, the public spoke out, yet Prentice proceeded anyways. We can only hope his fate is parallel to the last couple folks that tried to push the American agenda.
I’m beginning to rant and that’s not what I want, I started this article to bring to your attention some work done by a fellow named Felix G.; he put together a document showing exactly how the Canadian Copyright Act is going to be affected by this bill should it pass as it currently stands. If you have the time and legalese interest to read it, it’s a very chilling outlook.
If you don’t feel like sorting through the Copyright Act you can also check on the same page linked above, a side-by-side comparison of of Richard Stallman’s Right to Read and the new bill. The scary thing is that almost every prediction of the worst case scenario outlined in Right to Read would come true in.
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