Monday, March 09, 2009

Minister Moore and the PVR

Minister of Canadian Heritage, James Moore, is one of the two federal ministers primarily responsible for copyright revision.

He is 32 years old and reportedly very tech savvy. In fact, he uses a PVR and an iPod.

Would he be able survive litigation under the current law?

Michael Geist doesn't think so.
“Strictly speaking, almost anything he’d be using PVR for would be illegal,” says University of Ottawa’s copyright expert Michael Geist. “Any person who has been actively using a PVR for years, there’s no doubt about it, they’re using it in such a way that the law doesn’t permit.”
See the story here.

The story is a bit more iffy about what would happen under Bill C-61, if it is ever enacted as it was. But we all know that the bill basically left the actual time shifting habits of most Canadians illegal and took away with the anti-circumvention hand the supposed freedoms it granted with its time shifting gesture on the other hand.

HK

1 comment:

  1. He is (...) reportedly very tech savvy. In fact, he uses a PVR and an iPod.

    That he has been trumpeting the latter as evidence of the former is a bit ... well, surprising. A minister who think he knows all the answers is always less effective than one he knows he doesn't.

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