

It is Now Illegal to Break DRM on E-Books in Canada - jonah
http://www.teleread.com/copy-right/it-is-now-illegal-to-break-drm-on-e-books-in-canada/

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georgeorwell
The article ends with: "Yes, it is ‘wrong’ to pirate. But now, it’s also
‘wrong’ to buy a Kobo book and then unlock it to read on a Kindle. So if one
is ‘breaking the law’ anyway, why not have the free, unlocked copy?"

This person is confusing legality with morality. Not breaking the law has to
do with not getting punished, whereas not doing things you consider immoral
has to do with being a decent person and making the world a better place.
Assuming you believe in copyright over digital information, it's clear that
paying for the book and breaking the lock on it is a hell of a lot less wrong
than quote unquote pirating it.

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yason
You're absolutely correct.

Not breaking the law here—that is, buying DRM ebooks or DRM DVDs/BRs—is also
getting punished, actually, if not in the legislative sense but in usability
sense.

So, it makes even better sense to pirate than buy-and-rip.

Actually, as a personal anectore I've quit ripping DVDs a long time ago. When
I sometimes buy a DVD movie from the sale basket, I don't even bother to rip
it. I just torrent it because the unrestricted, compact .avi file without any
crap, ads, menus, propaganda and whatnot is what I want.

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aerique
While you're doing the morally right thing by paying for the DVD you are also
adding polution to the environment by buying a physical copy (that you do not
even use!) just to satisfy a couple of dinosaur corporations that refuse to
change.

Just adding another dimension to your moral compass ;-)

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jrockway
So if you want to read a book on "unapproved hardware", it's now less illegal
to pirate it rather than buy the book and break the DRM? Lawmakers sure have a
firm grasp on technology, don't they...

~~~
shmerl
Rather they have poor grasp on reality - people will break DRM no matter what
idiotic laws will such "lawmakers" pass.

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Sumaso
Exactly!

I'm also sure that there will be no DRM police, inspecting devices to ensure
that you do not have any pirated material on them.

These laws are intended to hit distributors of pirated material (think small
shop selling pirated DVDs) rather than tech-savvy folk who want their books on
every device.

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shmerl
Well, nothing is ever guaranteed. Remember Fahrenheit 451? Such kind of vision
while seems far fetched can happen if people let it happen.

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DigitalSea
Prisoner #1: What are you in here for? Prisoner #2: I stabbed a guy and stole
the $50 out of his wallet then got caught using his credit card. Prisoner #1:
What about you noobie? Prisoner #3: I cracked the DRM on a $12 eBook

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watt
How about we start movement to force segregating non-violent offenders (such
as possession, cracking, etc) to separate prison(s).

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flyinRyan
Why put non-violent offenders in prison at all? Prison is a pretty extreme
step to take, I would avoid using it unless the person is likely to physically
harm people.

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spindritf
That may be some low retribution instinct but I don't want people like Madoff
in the society.

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flyinRyan
Why? You think it's better to use expensive prison space to house him instead
of just leaving him in society but fining him heavily and garnishing any
income he might produce? That way he can pay for his own food and housing as
well as his fines.

I don't get why you'd be so mad at Madoff. He's basically a scape goat for the
financial crisis. He did one ponzi scheme for a few billion dollars. Some
other criminals ripped off trillions and they're still at it.

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RobAley
Lest one think that Canada is a haven of DRM friendliness, publishers like
Leanpub.com who are very anti-DRM hail from the very same frozen
wastelands[1].

[1]I'm led to believe this is a correct description of the whole of Canada by
random comments from people on the internet who have never been there.

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jonah
Hopefully this will be rectified via constitutional challenge.

"Many experts believe that the government's decision to adopt one of the most
restrictive digital lock approaches in the world - it creates potential
liability without actual copyright infringement - renders the provision
vulnerable to constitutional challenge." [0]

[0] <http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6557/125/>

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AYBABTME
I can't recall anybody getting successfully sued for piracy in Canada[1]. I
know that some people settled, but I've never heard of anybody actually being
found guilty of illegal file-sharing or a variant or that.

Given that track record, I wonder how they expect to sue people for DRM
infringement. How are they going to find about it? If they can find about it,
and given that they have such a hard time suing actual file-sharers, how do
they expect to get anything from somebody that would unlock their DRM content.

I mean, aside from people who'd get scared and settle.

[1] I didn't do an exhaustive search on the domain, too. I googled about it
and didn't find anything, and also can't recall anything related to it from
memory. If I'm wrong, please let me know.

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DanBC
Now it's a crime in Canada it is easier for the US to extradite criminals from
Canada to the US for prosecution.

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mochizuki
>"A specific exemption to the digital lock rule is also given for those who
have a ‘perceptual disability’ and need to make the file readable. If you have
reading glasses prescribed by a doctor, as I do, and your preferred reader has
font options which help you read, this exemption could arguably apply."

That seems like a pretty big loop hole.

Looks like this only passed because of the stated American lobbyists. I'll be
watching closely the first time this is enforced, if it is at all.

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fgrt2
no problems LibraryGenesis ( <http://coinread.com> ) has hundreds of thousands
of ebooks already for free download, in soviet Russia DRM is irrelevant

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jsilence
Obligatory XKCD: <http://xkcd.com/488/>

