A New Copyright Law Is Coming

Further, informed sources are getting steamed already. In his blog, copyright lawyer and litigator Howard Knopf is predicting that the bill will “put digital locks on our computers, cellphones, iPods, other gadgets and tools and, ultimately, our culture,” just like the DCMA does. He goes on to speculate that the bill would make it a copyright infringement (as it is in the United States) to try to remove Digital Rights Management and Technical Protection Measures from your computer, such as the infamous Sony anti-infringing technology of a few years ago that was based on a very dangerous hacker’s tool called a “rootkit.” There are many groups that a new copyright bill will affect, among them teachers who want to photocopy excerpts of books for their students, TV and film producers, radio managers who pay copyright fees for the music they play, book publishers and a host of others. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071127.WBcyberia20071127170629/WBStory/WBcyberia The House of Commons is back in session and, as I promised last month, the 30 Days of DRM project has now concluded. The postings remain accessible via the 30 Days of DRM page, the wiki, and a new PDF version that incorporates all postings into a single document. The project generated considerable commentary online and lots of email offline. The most frequently asked question provides reason for optimism as many people simply asked "what can I do?" I typically responded that the best starting point was to write to their local Member of Parliament. Upon reflection, there is more that can be done and to that end, I offer up 30 things you can do about the issues raised by the 30 days of DRM project. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1447/273/

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