Skip to main content

Bill C-61 and Me

Last Thursday, the government tabled bill C-61 that deals with copyright on the digital world. In a nutshell, the bill says that:
  • you can only rip CD's that you own (ie. your sister / brother cannot rip it).
  • you can record TV shows for later viewing, but you cannot build a library of digital movies on your computer.
  • you cannot bypass technology that disallow you to rip/record. Technology to unlock DVD, cell phone, etc are illegal.
I am not an expert on law. There are more to it than what I wrote above (including clauses for fines, etc). At first glance, though, I know that the third condition would make it almost impossible for the first and second rights to be carried out. If you have the right to rip the CD you own, but the big company decides to put a lock on it, then kiss your rights goodbye.

I am not sure if this bill will ever pass. If the government does not listen to regular Canadians and vote based on their own experience, then there is a big chance it will. After all, their salary is so high up there that the changes proposed won't affect them much (in my opinion).

As for me, I hope it doesn't pass. I rip most of my CD's, and then lose them (which is why I rip CD's in the first place). I cannot prove I own those CD's anymore. Also I won't be able to watch Indonesian's DVD as well if this bill passes, since the region decoding is different than North America, and having region free DVD player will be illegal.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amigurumi: Mario Bros Mushroom

I found out that I had a stash of acrylic yarns left (in the storage), and so I was looking around for patterns/stuff I can use them for. I ended up finding Amigurumi , and of course the pattern I wanted uses the colors of yarns I did not already have. I ended up buying another stash of acrylic yarns in different colors. Thankfully, Zellers had it on sale. In any case, my first Amigurumi project was the Mario Bros Mushroom. I found out (too late), that I was doing the red part wrong. I crocheted from the back loop only, instead of from both loop. Hence, the "head" is taller than it's supposed to be. But since I didn't realize it until after the head was completed, I decided to leave it as it was. Mushy I gave this one to Chris, just because he wanted one. This became another addition to his "work buddies", as you can see below. Chris's "Work Buddies" But bad Chris! He made Mushy to be the bad guy (I think). Chris called this scene "Revenge...
7 comments
Read more

Doppelganger

When I went back home in 2002, it was time for the placement announcement for first trimester for elementary students. My little brother was in elementary school, and so I took my mom's place and went with him to take his exam result back. It was nostalgic. My teachers were still teaching (people do not switch career back home). Some of my friends took up teaching. The classroom did not change much. Children were running everywhere and playing the games I used to play. It felt like I was thrown back a decade or two. Then it was time for the general assembly. Every students and teachers were gathered in a big room for placement announcement. My school have a tradition of announcing the first, second, and third placement for each class in front of a general assembly. I can't remember what my little bro's placement were. But the thing that surprised me was during the announcement for 2nd grade placements. The third place was won by a person with the exact same first name and l...
4 comments
Read more