Hey, Canada: Prepare to lose your media use rights to Huge American corporations

The (American) media industry is apparently pushing a law that would leave Canada’s consumers among those with the fewest media use rights on the planet.

Michael Geist reports that Industry Minister Jim Prentice is preparing to fast-track a Canadian carbon copy (except worse) of the horrendously terrible DMCA that has caused lots of problems in the U.S.
Mr. Geist (linked on boingboing) suggests the new law will hand unprecedented power to media companies to restrict the way you use their media, even if you have legally purchased it. For instance, no sharing your music or video, no matter what (in some bills such as these, it is technically illegal even to loan a CD to a friend). No shifting your media between devices (even if you own them). There will be DRM protection on most everything, and you will be legally in trouble if you break the DRM if, for instance, you want to rip a copy of BSG Season 1 from DVDs to your laptop’s HD so you can watch it on the plane; or if the company that produced your crappy DRM-disabled music goes out of business and no longer offers support.

In addition, this law is likely to remove traditional legal protections such as fair dealing, satire and parody. Make a silly remake of a Wal-Mart commercial: you broke a law. Show 3 minutes of The Simpsons to your class at school: you broke a law. Rip your CDs to your MP3 player: You broke a law.

Geist says, “Once the bill is introduced, look for the government to put it on the fast track with limited opportunity for Canadians to appear before committees considering the bill.”

So, if it comes up, kill it fast, much like a horrible dragon, or a zombie dragon, or something else that’s horrible and should be killed fast.

Otherwise, welcome to the corporate fiefdom. We Americans, having more experience in this area, will help you adjust to the reduced levels of liberty and justice.