12 Dec 2003 | vaughn said...

Now thats just dumb.

12 Dec 2003 | Steven Garrity said...

When I first read this, it seemed rediculous. How can downloading be legal, but uploading illegal?

After some more thought and a quick discussion with my co-workers, it seems to make a bit more sense, though not really mean anything new.

If you steal a TV, it's illegal. If you buy a TV off someone who stole it, it's not illegal (right?).

13 Dec 2003 | Darrel said...

Now thats just dumb.

How so?

As the article points out, this is the same concept that we've been using for years with blank media. That's how radio works, for that matter.

It's not perfect, but it's a start in recognizing the fact that this isn't something you can end with a few RIAA lawsuits and perhaps it's time to start thinking of more rational approaches.

13 Dec 2003 | kev said...

no, this is a country that gets it. ive been saying broadband providers should be paying royalties to music companies for years.

13 Dec 2003 | Justin said...

Kev: I'm not sure if you realized, but this levy is separate from having ISP's pay levies. This is a direct levy on recordable media. Right now the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association - northern counterpart of RIAA) is asking the Surpreme Court of Canada for ISP's to pay a fee in addition to the media levies.

13 Dec 2003 | ed said...

it is an interesting solve, but 90% of people download to their computers and don't bother putting it on an mp3 player. so in reality the levy won't do much more than make that already too expensive ipod even more expensive. and most of the people will still be getting their music for free.

i have an alternative, do nothing. let the RIAA die a painful death, serves them right for charging us 17.99 for a cd, for 20 years, when cds should have cost less then cassettes. The RIAA, the labels, the radio stations, the distributors and a few select acts got fat, while all the other bands in music-land starved. Your favorite bands don't make any money off of CD sales anyway. All illegal downloading is doing is creating a free form of advertising for all those bands you listen to, so support them. go to their concerts. buy their tee shirts and pass their mp3s to your friends.

14 Dec 2003 | Alan said...

If the pending Canadian Copyright Board tariff ruling on ISPs pans out as expected, uploading will also be covered so that both uploading and downloading will be legal and a re enue stream provided to copyright holders.

14 Dec 2003 | ~bc said...

I disagree with the tariff. If I buy CDs and rip them for portability, or download legally and support the artists, and choose to buy an MP3 to store my legal music, I'm still paying for the fat and greed of the recording industry? I think not.

14 Dec 2003 | Alan said...

Some background info on the pending Supreme Court of Canada ruling on the Copyright Board tariff, ISPs and copyright. The Court heard the arguments on 3 December 2003.

15 Dec 2003 | David B said...

If you steal a TV, it's illegal. If you buy a TV off someone who stole it, it's not illegal (right?).

In the UK, we call this "Dealing in stolen goods", also known as "Fencing". This practice is illegal; so downloading stolen MP3 files would be breaking the law.

DB

15 Dec 2003 | Darrel said...

ive been saying broadband providers should be paying royalties to music companies for years.

Hmm...what about an 'mp3' tax? If you want to be able to transfer music files, you pay a monthly fee on top which goes towards musician/movie royalties?

i have an alternative, do nothing. let the RIAA die a painful death

I'm all for that. It's odd that we tend to subsidize/support some industries that aren't really relevant anymore and completely ignore other industries. Hmm...I wonder why that is...

15 Dec 2003 | Zelnox said...

If I remember right, the tariff on an iPod would be around $25 CDN.

15 Dec 2003 | pb said...

How about no tax, Darrell? How about the parties involved figure it out? The government mandating a tax on mp3 players is dumb.

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