Those with Illegal Media on iPods Travelling Across Canada/USA Border May Have Their Devices Confiscated and/or Destroyed
Posted by Jody Mitoma on May 29, 2008 at 2:08 pm
You might want to hide your iPods and laptops the next time you travel across the Canadian/USA border, as a new deal could create a international regulator that could turn border guards and other public security personnel into copyright police as well.
Direct quote off of canada.com:
OTTAWA - The federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws which could make the information on Canadian iPods, laptop computers or other personal electronic devices illegal and greatly increase the difficulty of traveling with such devices.
The deal could also impose strict regulations on Internet service providers, forcing those companies to hand over customer information without a court order.
Called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the new plan would see Canada join other countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, to form an international coalition against copyright infringement.
The agreement is being structured much like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) except it will create rules and regulations regarding private copying and copyright laws.
Federal trade agreements do not require parliamentary approval.
The deal would create a international regulator that could turn border guards and other public security personnel into copyright police. The security officials would be charged with checking laptops, iPods and even cellular phones for content that “infringes” on copyright laws, such as ripped CDs and movies.
The guards would also be responsible for determining what is infringing content and what is not.
The agreement proposes any content that may have been copied from a DVD or digital video recorder would be open for scrutiny by officials - even if the content was copied legally.
That’s a pretty scary thought right there, oh, and talk about privacy issues man!…
(Source: Canada.com)
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May 29th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
This is just staggering. I read about it the other day, and it seems almost NOBODY knows about it. It’s insane. I mean for starters, any MP3 on an iPod you could say “I bought it off iTunes”. Or will they have analysis tools to say “No, the compression artifacts on this indicate it’s MP3, not AAC.”
Thing is what the hell can we do about it?
May 30th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Good Morning:
“You might want to hide your iPods and laptops the next time you travel across the Canadian/USA border…”
While most readers would take this line on its face as being facetious, as a writer you must know that there are those readers who would take this line at face value.
While I agree with you that this “negotiation”, if true, borders on the ridiculous, I would strongly suggest that no one hide anything when crossing the border, and if that means laptops and iPods, then so be it.
A better way to open this article may have been to say, “You might want to -LEAVE- your iPods and laptops -AT HOME- the next time you travel across the Canadian/USA border…” The meaning remains the same and your article is just as strong.
Finally, the inspectors at the border are ALREADY given the assignment of ensuring that trademark and copyrighted material do not cross for commercial sale, so this additional step is not that far fetched, although the methods and specific instruments to be used will belong to you…they are called “passwords”.
May 30th, 2008 at 9:11 am
@UncleBoogie: It’s worse than that. I have a ton of music I bought off of eMusic, which is the biggest online indie music service (i.e. they don’t carry any of the “Big 4″ label’s releases). They are DRM-free MP3s. How do I prove their legitemacy? For that matter, what about the CDs I own that I ripped? (To hell with the RIAA’s opinions on CD ripping; they can kiss my lily-white hynie, I’ll do whatever the hell I damn well please with the CDs I own). The idea that officials can form their own opinions and do what they want to you ex parte and without any legal repercussions simply because what they say goes is bordering on making the borders their own fascist state. (Not to sound like a hippie or anything, I realize this only applies to things pertaining to copyrights, but it is still a massive invasion of privacy carried out by people who are given absurdly broad latitude to call infringement on anything they think infringes, whether it does or not, and the burden is upon you to prove that it’s legit, not them to prove that it isn’t. Guilty until proven innocent.)
@Maurice: The difference though is that the measures currently in place are intended to halt large scale piracy shipments from crossing the border (i.e. counterfeit movies, software, etc.), and also to check for kiddie porn, both of which are illegal in any light. Extending these search and seizure measures to cover music or movies stored on PMPs, DAPs or laptops where the legality of what they might find can be impossible to prove either way is absurd in the extreme. You will be branded a criminal by default and forced to prove otherwise, which may not even be possible (see my comment to Uncle). This is like the Patriot Act, only they’re looking for copyright violators instead of terrorists.
And you know this is highly controversial since, but for this leaked memo, it had all taken place behind closed doors, far away from the court of public opinion, which is where they would have liked it to stay until we were all signed up and there was sweet FA the public could do about it, because there’s no easy way to back out once the John Hancocks are inked.
But my biggest fear? Is that the public will still bend over and take it.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
This is a scary, awful concept. I can’t account for all of the music on my PC/iPod, but most of it is from CDs. Some has been downloaded illicitly, but this is mainly from MP3 search engines exposing people who host MP3s or entire albums on their public servers. The rest was offerred freely, on sites such as Last.fm. In theory, anyone who hasn’t bought their entire music collection from iTunes could potentially have their iPods confiscated; how do you prove a non-DRMed music file is legit? You can’t.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
And the best part is this!
The government auctions off all the confiscated items they receive from borders! Be it cars, electronics, you name it!
The only one who wins in this situation is the government.
Hooray! :D!
August 13th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Please take the time to read the following link from U.S. Customs:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/admissability/labtop_inspect.xml
You can either believe what is being written, or believe that searches will be “expanded”, the additional IPR regulations will be enforced, and you are best off leaving your laptop at home if you are crossing the border. Important to note that Customs has always had this power. Read the link, if you can.
Thanks.