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: Single Pea and Deadly Cute Ninja

I think I was bitten by the craft bugs. Here's my next creation: the single pea (because making 3 of them in solid green is just too much for my eyes) and the deadly but cute ninja. Chris called them Peany and Ninji. Peany, Dora, Ninji, and Mushy posing together It's hard to see from this photo, but Ninji actually has a sling (in a slightly different color) around his body, and a mini ninja star. And talk about proportion... the vegetables are larger than the cat and the person. Makes you wonder, isn't it?
4 comments
Read more

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 "
7 comments
Read more

E-book Reader

I love reading. Specifically, I love reading fictions and mangas. Unfortunately, most mangas I like are not available in Canada. Fortunately, most of them are scanned and translated into English by their Japanese-reading fans. So there are lots of them online, if you know where to look for them. Having lots of manga jpgs means that I can collect the ones I like. But since they are not real books, it's kinda hard to re-read the mangas I have. I don't have a desktop, and the LCD monitor hurts my eyes once I stare at it for a long time. Knowing my addiction for books (and mangas), we did some research and decided to buy Sony Reader PRS-505 . Yup, I got the red one. The reader acts like a glossy-paper book. So even under sunshine, you can read it without difficulties (supposedly... I cannot test this with Vancouver's weather). Some people ask me why I don't buy Amazon Kindle . If you live in USA, you can search books on Amazon.com for free from anywhere (no wireless char
3 comments
Read more