Videotron coughs up names of file swappers

Videotron, a Canadian ISP, has been giving identity information to the CRIA on a 'regular basis' for quite some time now. Of the five major ISPs in the country, Videotron is the only one not fighting againt these identity requests from the CRIA, with Shaw being the one that seems to be arguing the loudest for end user privacy rights. Just in case you don't feel this is a big deal, I decided to link to the Personal Information Privacy and Electronic Documents Act for your perusal.

Key quotes from the Act:

3. The purpose of this Part is to establish, in an era in which technology increasingly facilitates the circulation and exchange of information, rules to govern the collection, use and disclosure of personal information in a manner that recognizes the right of privacy of individuals with respect to their personal information and the need of organizations to collect, use or disclose personal information for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances.

9. (1) Despite clause 4.9 of Schedule 1, an organization shall not give an individual access to personal information if doing so would likely reveal personal information about a third party.

There is more, but I'm sure you get the idea. Also, in the spirit of disclosure, it should be pointed out that Videotron is a subsidiary of Quebecor Media.

The real threat to downloading music

Michael Geist offers an interesting assessment of the legal campaign put on by the CRIA. It seems they are looking to place a 40% tariff on music downloads (like from iTunes, for example), among other things. For more information, I suggest reading Michael's site.

Piercing the P2P Myths

Another informative page. This one examines the impact of P2P systems on the music industry from a Canadian perspective. This doesn't really go into depth on Canadian law so much as provide a counter argument to the CIAA's claim that P2P systems have harmed their business materially.

Heritage Minister proposes changes to Copywrite Law

This is taken from the CBC, originally posted here.
Quote: Frulla expressed her intention to toughen Canada's "antiquated" intellectual property laws through proposed new copyright legislation to be tabled in June.

So she doesn't like the current state of Canadian law. I wonder if she'll repeal the media levy we currently have to pay for precisely this sort of thing while she's at it. I'm not hopeful.

In case you were wondering what the current state of Canadian law is, you can find out here. I would also reccomend reading the Jem Berkes website linked on the right.

Copywrite law in Canada

A bit of background: In Canada, it is currently legal to download music, movies or other copywrited material off the internet.

It is not legal to upload copywrited material to the net for others to download. Remember that. Downloading good, uploading bad. So for filesharing programs like Kazaa, it is illegal to share your content with the internet from Canada.

The reason for this is because Canada charges consumers a levy on every cassette, CD-R or ipod sold in the country.