TORONTO — The uproar over digital locks on movies, music and games saw Canada’s industry minister take to Twitter on Thursday in defence of his legislation.
While the bill gives people new rights, such as legally copying a CD to a MP3 player, Internet experts point out it also puts the brakes on ripping a CD if it’s digitally locked.
The legislation, introduced Wednesday, allows companies to seek damages between $100 and $5,000 from people who break digital locks.
The critics and the curious fired their concerns at Industry Minister Tony Clement on Twitter and the minister responded.
The Documentary Organization of Canada slammed the rules surrounding digital locks.
“The balance is thrown off quite considerably when you have the ability to trump everything with these digital locks,” said Bob Moore, a documentary producer and advocate for the organization. “Even though you have a right to the base material, you can’t get around the technology protecting it.”