Steampunk Specs & DRM In Canada

You probably know that aside from keyboards, I also like steampunk. It’s got that classic, almost Victorian flair that’s instantly memorable and strangely fascinating. Sure, they’re just a pair of glasses, but have you seen anything like it? Well, I haven’t.

With that said, let’s head on to the meat of things. Michael Geist writes that the Canadian government is looking at tightening laws regarding copyrights. That’s bad news for anyone with a portable media player, a PC, a laptop and everything else in between.

The Hill Times reports this week (issue still not online) that the Conservative government will introduce copyright reform legislation this spring provided that there is no election. The paper points to two main changes from the Liberals Bill C-60 – tougher anti-circumvention legislation (ie. DMCA-style laws that ban devices that can be used to circumvent as well as provisions that block all circumvention subject to the odd exception) and an educational exception that will provide for free access to web-based materials.

If this report is true, the bill will be remarkable in its ability generate more opposition than any prior copyright bill in Canadian history. From a policy perspective, it is a disaster – dangerous and unnecessary laws to support DRM and an educational exception that does little to address the needs of the education community while encouraging even greater use of DRM.

DRM’s arm is far-reaching indeed. If they can come up with a universal format, they can probably enforce DRM all they want. Of course, the likelihood of that happening is close to nil. Regardless, we’ll see how this turns out.

Source: Gizmodo, Michael Geist

Short URL: http://gadget.ca/19v