Times & Transcript: Government is wrong-headed on copyright

Times & Transcript: Government is wrong-headed on copyright
Charles W. Moore

The Canadian Copyright Board dropped a big lump of coal into Canadian consumers’ Christmas stockings last Friday by approving a new “levy” on the sale of iPods and other digital music players as well as removable memory cards, because they can be used to copy movies and music.

A “levy” kickback to music copyright holders on blank recordable media like DVDs and cassettes in place since 2000 has siphoned a reported $150 million from consumers wallets over the past seven years.

However, the expanded levy amounts proposed last week up the rake-off ante substantially, to as much as $75 for a digital audio recorder with more than 30 gigabytes capacity

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