Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights
 

Yes, it has been 10 years since the US enacted the now infamous DMCA into law. One is left to wonder if those Senators that unanimously passed the Bill and William Jefferson Clinton really understood the long-term implications that this would play in people’s electronic lives. The EFF has completed its whitepaper entitled ‘Unintended Consequences: Ten Years under the DMCA‘ described as follows:

This document collects reported cases where the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA have been invoked not against pirates, but against consumers, scientists, and legitimate competitors.

Video gamers have been on the receiving end of the DMCA’s wrath when using circumvention devices to to play archival backup copies and play foreign games by over-riding manufacture installed ‘region codes.’ Although video game console manufacturers have the right to geographically segregate its products and protect its intellectual properties, the manufacturer themselves should bear the cost of this chosen business model. Instead game console manufacturers have exploited the DMCA to protect its corporate interests and antiquated business models.

As for Canada, certainly 10 years of unintended consequences will be an eye-opener for the newly strengthened, ruling Conservative Government. The inevitable iteration of this DMCA for Canada must take seriously the warnings of the EFF and the like and not treat consumers, innovators and researchers as pirates. I’m reminded of the old adage ‘If We Don’t Learn from History, We’re Doomed to Repeat It.’ Surely the well-educated decision makers in Industry and Heritage are well versed in their history lessons…aren’t they?

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