cshen.ca

The government is trying for the nth time to change Canada’s copyright laws in an effort to please US media overlords, who wish to dictate every detail of how and when Canadians consume media and culture. They want to do this by criminalizing every day activities and imposing hugely disproportionate penalties for these “crimes”.

It is evident, from past bills the government had tried – and failed – to pass, that the goal of this copyright “reform” is to mimic the DMCA of the United States. It is also evident, from numerous examples under the DMCA, that this kind of legislation is a bad idea. One does not have to support file sharing to realize that fines of $1.92 million for allegedly sharing 24 songs, or even $675,000 for 30 songs, can in no way, shape, or form be just, or even sane.

I recently stumbled across an article clearly illustrating the outrageousness of DMCA fines, by comparing them against fines for criminal offences. Apparently in Illinois (presumably the author’s jurisdiction), abducting a child, stalking, and second degree murder all carry fines of $25,000. The author also factors in monetary loss from jail time, which still works out to magnitudes less than a fine for 24 songs.

This is interesting, but not directly applicable to Canada due to our different criminal law, so I adopted the idea and tried to find some points of comparison within the Criminal Code. There were few provisions which mentioned fines – presumably because we’d rather incarcerate or probate criminal offenders – but the few I did find were no less revealing.

• 733.1 violation of probation order – $2,000 (This could be anything from “be home by 10″ to “don’t own a gun”)
• 490.0311 providing false information to the sex offender registry – $10,000
• 83.12 owning, dealing with, or facilitating property transactions owned by or on behalf of terrorists – $100,000
• 462.2 importing or manufacturing equipment for drug use – $300,000

To be fair, these offences also have prison terms available as punishment instead of or in addition to the aforementioned fines. I didn’t factor them in because I don’t believe that incarceration could be meaningfully translated into a monetary value.

This doesn’t, however, mean that the criminal code offences are more severe. Take s.490.0311 for example, it prescribes up to $10,000 and/or 2 years imprisonment for multiple offences, if proceeded by indictment. Compare this to the most recently failed copyright proposal, bill C-61, which – if proceeded by indictment – could entail up to $1 million in fines and/or 5 years in prison.

Even when proceeding by summary conviction, sharing music circumvention still involves a more severe punishment at $25,000 and/or 6 months, versus $10,000 and/or 6 months. The government’s message is clear: lying on the sex offenders registry is less harmful than sharing your favourite songs on the internet watching DVDs on Linux.

I, for one, find this utterly absurd. For this and other reasons, I oppose any draconian copyright legislation that the government may propose. Hopefully, though, they won’t propose a renewed C-61 if people speak out against it. A consultation is currently in progress and soliciting responses from everyone, it’s not too late to send in submissions and demand balanced copyright legislation. The Vancouver Fair Copyright coalition – of which I am a member – has a handy consultation guide for those who need a place to start.

Let’s see Canada move into the digital age by embracing new technologies, instead of clinging on to archaic – and failing – business models at the expense of society.

Update: the C-61 fines outlined above are for circumvention, not file sharing (which carries a potentially lower but still insane penalty). This means that you’ll be hit with the penalties if, say, you purchased a DVD and watched it on Linux.