Canada’s majority Tory government is poised to reintroduce its disastrous DRM-friendly copyright law, formerly Bill C-32, without any further public consultation. This law repeats the major error made in the US 1998 DMCA, namely granting special status to “software locks” (AKA DRM), making it illegal to remove a lock, even if you’re doing so for a lawful purpose. Minister James Moore (who seems to have retreated from his plan to “fight [opponents of the bill] on Twitter” after one too many Canadians told him what they thought of his legislation) has decided to throw in his lot with the anti-property crowd who say that you should not have the right to use your devices in lawful ways if a copyright holder or DRM vendor objects. As Wikileaks has demonstrated that this law has come about thanks to direct pressure from American corporations and government, and I suppose that means that anyone in Moore’s seat will now have to blindly follow the American government off the cliff it fell over 13 years ago.
Mr. Moore told The Canadian Press in an interview that the Conservative government will re-introduce its copyright bill this fall, in exactly the same form as legislation that died with the last Parliament.
The measures will go back to a legislative committee for study, and Mr. Moore said groups who testified before MPs won’t be asked back to comment again.
“We’ve taken a couple runs at it before in minority Parliaments, but we think that we have a very good formula with the old Bill C-32 and when we come forward with our legislative agenda this fall we want to pick up where we left off, which is to continue the study of the legislation,” Mr. Moore said.
Supreme Court ruling could further delay Tory copyright overhaul
(Thanks, Dave!)