Archived - Earl, Lorne

For many years I have followed with interest the news regarding copyright issues. More recently I have become concerned with the industry associations' desire for a monopoly on the creation and distribution of visual and audio works. I am also concerned about removing law enforcement from our judicial system and giving it to private companies or associations which appears would happen under the promoted three strikes provisions or take down laws.

I also believe that technology is not dependable enough to leave it up to the opinion of an outsider as to a person's guilt or innocence. I will give an example in my experience:

An acquaintance (Person A) recorded on CD, using a Macintosh, a live piano piece (Work 1) as an accompaniment to a song their spouse created the words for. The CD was used by a group of friends to learn the song. When the CD was played on a computer with Windows Media Player the player said that it was a recording artist (Person B) and their recording (Work 2). When It was played on a computer with a Linux OS distribution the player said that it was another artist (Person C) and their recording (Work 3). Niether of the computers the disc was played on identified the work correctly. If this type of error is common and a person creates frequent works and transmits them over the internet whoever receives them could become guilty with no recourse.

I believe that our current copyright laws are basically stringent enough and just need enforcing when appropriate. We already have to pay the CRIA to purchase media on which to save our personal photos. How stupid is that? When I create a work I don't see any of that money either. I would have to be part of the "system" to get any benefit from the added costs of recordable media.

Please use caution when reviewing the copyright laws and lets not create a police state run by private interest groups.

Thanks for the opportunity to express my views.

Lorne Earl
Edmonton AB