Bill+C-32+Changes

=Bill C-32=

This Bill has been brought up again in Parliament regarding changes to the Copyright Act. Some of the changes deal with digital media, such as CD's and video, photography and art. The Copyright Act was last changed in 2005 and over the last six years the bill has been in and out of Parliament without any progress; it was brought up in 2005 at Bill C-60 and again in 2008 with Bill C-61 and was in high profile last year but was delayed again and subsquently dropped but now a duplicate reform bill, with few changes, is being brought forward.

It will enact some restrictions on how the public can copy or retain material by ensuring 'digital locks' on media to be retained. AS the Copyright Act has not been amanded since 2005 it is not applicable to the many changes in technology that have taken place. One of the issues it will be addressing is 'pirating' copies for personal use as well as commercial by limiting or 'locking' the ability to transfer the material multiple times. Another area it will affect the public is TV 'PVR' use for limited times where the program can be recorded but will have a 'lock' on it for keeping it for any length of time. And to prevent anyone from selling, importing or using any type of 'digital lock' breaking device it will be illegal to circumvent the law.

It sounds like the creators and artists want to retain control over their work to receive the royalties, so from their side it is a good thing, but for Joe Public it will necessitate a change of plans on how he will be using digital media and he needs to be aware of the penalties that he may be incurring unknowingly if the amended bill is enacted.

[|CBC News article 2010]

[|Toronto Sun article 2011]