Since the invention of the phonograph, the high cost of recording and distribution of music allowed an industry to evolve where a small number of multi-national cartels had the money and the power to choose who got access to recoding studios and radio airtime. Just as it was expensive to record an album - it was expensive to copy and share. Technology has changed this.

Music is now cheap to record, copy, distribute and promote.

If you want to "modernize" our copyright laws, then let's really recognize technology as it exists today and make sure our laws reflect it.

* Lets acknowledge that any DRM can and will be broken, and for the foreseeable future, it is technologically simple for average citizens to share songs. While this make it harder for a small number of "super-star" artists to record a single song that could earn them more than an average person earns in a lifetime, this ease of distribution provides the majority of artists a huge advantage. There no longer are a few corporations that can make or break a career. The easy distribution of music brings an artist's music to new people. These new people can become fans, and support the artist by purchasing concert tickets, t-shirts, posters, and deluxe enhanced music compilations. If you want to modernize laws, lets make sure that NEW ways of doing business are supported. We don't need new laws to enforce old ways of working.

* Lets acknowledge new ways of creation. One of these new ways is to take existing songs and remix them - change then - combine then with other songs - to create new art. If you want to modernize laws - lets make sure that these new art forms are supported. We don't need new laws to limit the way that art is created.

So yes - the current copyright laws probably need updating. They need updating to acknowledge new technology and new ways of creating art. They need updating to protect the Canadian people from multinational corporations who wish to control the creation and distribution of Canadian art and Canadian culture.

Create laws that embrace new technology, rather than by fruitlessly trying to suppress it. Acknowledge new technology and new thinking "“ don't legislate outdated business practices.