MP3 legislation makes too many criminals

From the Sudbury Star

Proposed legislation is going to make Canada a nation of criminals. Last week, Industry Minister Jim Prentice introduced changes to the federal copyright act that will make it illegal to download music or movies from the Internet without paying for them.

On the heels of this announcement came the release of a Statistics Canada survey that found three-quarters of Canadians used the Internet last year. Primary Canadian users of the Internet are our youth: the same survey found some 97 per cent of 16 and 17 year olds used the Internet in some fashion last year.

While it is safe to assume that not everybody who logged on to the Internet went to a free file-sharing site and downloaded the latest hit song, it would be naive to think it isn't prevalent.

Chances are a good number of the 19.2 million Canadians who logged on last year did things on the Internet that transgress the new restrictions proposed by Prentice.

Existing copyright laws in Canada target big operations that pirate material for sale and profit without any connection to the artists or record labels.

Under the new legislation, the teenager ripping songs off a file-sharing website to listen to on an iPod could be subject to a $500 fine.

That same teen is also violating the law if he or she copies a song from a CD he or she legally bought and shares that song with a friend.

Artists deserve fair compensation for copyrighted material. They worked hard to share their creativity with their fans, and should be paid for it.

But this legislation will prove ineffective in achieving that end.

Start with the problem of enforcement.

Will the state now have the authority to monitor our computer activity in search of file downloaders? That is an intrusion into our freedom and privacy that is on the precipice of a slippery slope.

It is almost like speeding on a 400-series highway -- most everybody is driving at least 20 kilometers over the limit, so is it really wrong to join them?

Ethically, yes. But the police don't have the resources to stop everybody, and who is really being hurt by going with the flow of traffic?

If the government is concerned about the music and movie industries getting their fair share, then it should take aim at the file sharing sites, not the people who use them.

The real problem isn't the individual downloading songs for personal use. It's a blackmarket rife with pirated material, the proceeds of which pad the pockets of big time, multinational criminals