Canadians caught downloading illegal copies of music and movies online could be slapped with a penalty of $500 under new federal legislation to overhaul the Copyright Act of Canada, which was last updated in 1997, four years before the introduction of the iPod.
The long-anticipated amendments, which Industry Minister Jim Prentice said are needed to bring Canada up to date with the rest of the digital world, triggered a flurry of heated reactions among consumers, artists and the entertainment industry yesterday. They also raised the question of who will have to play the role of copyright cop on the Internet.
Industry groups applauded the government for finally tabling the legislation, which they say will help to protect the intellectual property of thousands of artists and distributors.
Critics say the new legislation too closely resembles the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which has been criticized as too stacked against consumers in favour of rights holders such as the movie and recording industries. They fear it could force ordinary Canadians to pay thousands of dollars in penalties for copying their own legally purchased music to CDs or uploading videos to sharing sites such as YouTube. More...
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