A Copyright Call to Arms

"Thanks to our existing laws, no Canadians have been taken to court for downloading music, but, as customers, we have suffered from increasingly invasive measures taken by those who hold the rights to digital material. Companies aim to limit how many times we can install a song or piece of software, check to ensure that our music was purchased legally and may even track the websites we visit.

"Piracy and theft are unethical and should be illegal, but the approach taken by recent governments to combat these legitimate problems is misguided. Unfortunately, the debate so far has not engaged the vast majority of ordinary Canadians who would be affected by proposed changes to our copyright regime – everyone who buys music, videos, books and movies in digital form. Rightsholders and their lobby groups, on the other hand, are fully engaged and pushing for changes that would benefit them."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Cory Doctorow: Why I Copyfight(Nov 09, 2008)
• Editor's Note: Linux/FOSS and Politics Go Together Like Cheese and Crackers(Nov 08, 2008)
• Harvard Professor Challenges RIAA Anti-Piracy Campaign(Nov 06, 2008)
• Not Free at Any Price(Nov 06, 2008)
• 10 Years Later, Misunderstood DMCA is the Law That Saved the Web(Oct 29, 2008)
• Editor's Note: Professional-Level Photography With Linux, And Nobody Goes To Jail(Oct 17, 2008)
• Online Library Offers 1.5 Million Works and Counting(Oct 15, 2008)
• Copyleft and Closed Dual License Ethics(Oct 14, 2008)
• In Defense of Piracy(Oct 13, 2008)