What our new copyright bill could mean to me

Michael Geist’s Seven Copyright Questions for Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore is an great read, and raises really good points. #3, however, relates to me in a pretty direct way:

3.  Documentary film makers and visual artists often use small clips from DVDs in their art.  The use of those works without permission is currently permitted through the criticism and review sections of the fair dealing provision in the Copyright Act.  The forthcoming bill is likely to block unlocking a DVD to use such clips, however, since the presence of a digital lock will trump fair dealing.  In fact, even the much-discussed potential introduction of new artists’ exceptions for parody and satire would be limited by locks. What is Moore’s plan to allow Canadian creators to complete their art?

This reminds me that if this copyright bill goes through, there’s a good chance that my final project for our Media Languages class last term (along with a zillion other perfectly fair-dealing-y projects), in which I reworked the audio for several segments of Errol Morris’ Vernon, Florida, would actually be illegal!

How exciting is that?

And Hall & Oates really was awesome.