Canada: We'll search your iPod for infringing media

Thu May 29, 2008 11:39AM EDT

See Comments (58)

Big Brother is alive and kicking in the Great White North. According to The Vancouver Sun, the Canadian government is preparing to revamp its copyright laws in regard to portable electronics, including laptops and iPods, as it forges an alliance with the U.S. and the European Union called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). ACTA would essentially turn international borders into a copyright Gestapo, compelling border guards to check "laptops, iPods and even cellular phones for content that 'infringes' on copyright laws, such as ripped CDs and movies."

You ripped a DVD legally (say, using one of those digital download editions now included on some discs)? Doesn't matter. Guards can seize your iPod and even destroy it if they deem you've broken the law. Then you will be fined. Canada already performs random searches of laptops to search for child pornography. The new rules would step up these searches considerably.

Of the myriad problems with such a law, the first thing that leaps to mind is my bafflement over ACTA's failure to distinguish between legal and illegal content, and (if they do eventually give a pass for legal content) how border guards could determine whether a video was downloaded legally from iTunes or illegally from BitTorrent. Is all this going to happen in the lines at Customs as travelers wait to get back home? Is this, seriously, what our security infrastructure ought to be concerned with? How much will Canada spend each year on guards searching iPods and cell phones for illegal videos? Everything about ACTA just screams wrong.

Of course, ACTA is not just a Canada thing. The U.S., where the vast majority of illegal copied content originates, has been floating this idea to dozens of countries for about a year. But Canada's secret negotiations on actually enacting the rules are what are giving people pause. The good news: At the upcoming G8 meeting, ACTA is expected to be tabled... for now.

LINK: Copyright deal could toughen rules governing info on iPods, computers 

Comments on Canada: We'll search your iPod for infringing media

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  • 26 Posted by pau_chan88artist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:03PM EDT Report Abuse

    this should be illegal. if songs downloaded from an original cd to my laptop are in an .m4a format instead of .m4p as is the case with items purchased from itunes, my music that was on a cd is now pirated?!?! and i couldnt care less about which country produces the most pirated music, but rather that this is a waste of tax money! i completely agree with #1 search for porn instead

  • 27 Posted by vijay.hira on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:34PM EDT Report Abuse

    If a democrat lik obama gets elected you can be sure that we will end up being more socialist like canada....LIBERALISM IS A MENTAL DISEASE!

  • 29 Posted by rapmetal47 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is ridiculous, we have no privacy nowadays with our gadgetry. What are we going to be checked for next to travel, our school records, our buying history, or our clothes to see if our bodies are valid? I say that the RIAA's got some gall. We have no privacy, people. I say that this is ridiculous, what about people who cannot afford their multimedia addictions. Thanks for the informative article, Mr. Null.

  • 31 Posted by tiarafiero on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:08PM EDT Report Abuse

    CANADA AND USA HAVING A COMPETITION TO SEE WHO CAN BE THE MOST FASCIST

  • 32 Posted by goddamnithurley on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    This whole thing is stupid. How much did the music industry pay these people to inforce this ridiculous law? If this is really true, they might aswell take away every mp3 player and laptop they come across because everyone who owns one has done some pirating. Such a pointless law just to get people angry. Cant think of better ideas to waste your money on?

  • 33 Posted by nighteye23 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:38PM EDT Report Abuse

    What's next? A pirate tax on all music players sold? Why don't you just put a new tax that directly comes out of our wages and give it to the record industry? Why do governments waste time and money on this? They do not exist to ensure Lars Ulrich gets his money, they are there to serve the PEOPLE! Too much money comes from these lobbyists to the politicians. Don't they realize yet that people will do what they want regardless of how many ant-piracy laws they put in place. There is ALWAYS a way around. Stop waisting tax-payer money and government resources. I think there might actually be a few more issues that need attention besides Lars' pocketbook.

  • 34 Posted by master_peng99 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    they forget that a law which nobody can follow is no law at all. they cant possibly enforce this, and no one is going to care. They will definitely not implement this- because of airlines delays, ppl complaining, etc. I would say almost everyone has some suspicious content (even if its legal!). They cant tell, it would take too long, it costs too much (enforcing and lawsuits), and ppl can just store all content on a thumb-drive instead of their labtops. It would take at least 30 years for everyone to heed this law if they ever.

  • 35 Posted by d_dark_prince on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    That...is...the...single...most...stupid...thing...I...have...heard...in...my...Entire...life! How could they even consider this becoming reality? They should work on making people respect the law, not making them hate it and eventually bring piracy up. What are they thinking? Let's not worry though. This won't be.

  • 36 Posted by silentguild on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:23PM EDT Report Abuse

    oh yea...by the way "Trailer park Kids" ROCK!

  • 37 Posted by supertongue_comics on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    Wow, this is horrible. Really? Searching for illegal content rather than, say, some kind of bomb for a terrorist attack? What has this come to? Plus, how are they suppose to tell if the music I purchased from Amazon or any other DRM free store is legal or not? I wouldn't be surprised if everyone who was searched had their laptop or MP3 player removed from them and fined...

  • 38 Posted by jacmarbennett on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:26PM EDT Report Abuse

    Love the comment by rogueist. Amazing indeed that a government will create a law to confiscate something they don't even know how to identify. Sounds like a precursor to "I can't control it so I'm going to destroy it" kind of government, to me.

  • 39 Posted by catof9lives on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    The US proposed this treaty and has been trying to strong arm Canada into signing. Oh...and by the way, the search goes both ways. US citizens are subject to search by US media police (we used to call them customs agents) when returning from Canada. Put the blame where it belongs. Squarely on the shoulders of the Bush administration.

  • 40 Posted by simonzer0 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:23PM EDT Report Abuse

    OK this totally overboard, I'm tired of these kinds of trends. My property is mine regardless, don't we have a 4th amendment? The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, and was designed as a response to the controversial writs of assistance (a type of general search warrant), which were a significant factor behind the American Revolution.Maybe we need another Revolution, this is hardly a Free World we live in any more. How is Canada's national security threatened by my iPod? It's not, only the greed of corporations is threatened. Oh well, I don't want to go to Canada anyway.

  • 41 Posted by coolkyle4@snet.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    i completly agree with you, im glad they check for child porno, its wrong and rediculous, but to check if i have infringed on copyright is obsurd, how would anyone be able to tell the difference, and it costs a lot of money

  • 42 Posted by gnarlodious on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    Government has become the enforcement arm of corporations, just like the British Crown was the enforcement arm of the East India Company. Time for piracy!

  • 43 Posted by baljas1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    This are the same people and the same goverment that complaint about the KGB and Gestapo and were lecturing countries like China, Singapore, malaysia, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Ag----- nistan etc etc about communistic tendency and democratic principles. The most corrupted and communistic goverment are the USA and Canada, the police of the world, the lecturers of demonic principles and domination culture, and they are reelected over and over and over again. GO FIGURE.

  • 44 Posted by cary39 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    Canda's Customs and Immigration arrested me a few years ago because I was wearing a suit! They assumed I was flying in to work and needed a work permit, instead of checking out the fact I was coming for a funeral. So this story does not surprise me one bit. They are out to make a quick loon, not catch lawbreakers.

  • 45 Posted by numanumapants on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    Umm... Canada can do better stuff with tax dollars than destroying private property and helping the greedy companies. AND, If I am at the airport, then does that mean that the security will actually check EVERY file on my 320 GB laptop? RIDICULOUS

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