Still here.

Let's look at a list of things that will be made illegal if we allow Bill C-61 to be passed:

- Ripping a legally-purchased DVD for backup, or for use on a portable or set-top media player
- Unlocking a phone at your local mall for use with another cellular provider
- Transcoding legally-purchased DRM-protected music for use on different portable media players
- Transcoding legally-purchased DRM-protected media whose format is no longer supported by the vendor
- Uploading a video to YouTube which contains copyrighted background music
- Uploading a short clip from a new show that you like to YouTube so that your friends might watch it
- Load a legally purchased copy of Mac OS X onto non-Apple hardware
- Hack a set-top media player (like the AppleTV or TiVo) to expand its capabilities
- Bypassing the DRM/encryption of a digital broadcast to record it for later viewing.

By adding the anti-circumvention provisions to Bill C-61, our Conservative government aims to make hordes of ordinary Canadians into criminals. By making it a crime to break DRM and/or encryption, the government will give media companies total control over music, video, software, and even digital books that we have legally purchased.

My fellow Canadians, I believe in the common sense view that buying something means that I own it. And once I own something, I can do what I like with it. If you agree with this simple principle, then I challenge you to stand up for your views and immediately write your member of parliament to express your concerns. You can do it via e-mail, and it takes very little of your time. Here is a list of several of our local MPs and their e-mail addresses for your convenience:

James Moore (moorej0@parl.gc.ca) - MP for Port Coquitlam & Tri-Cities (Conservative)
Peter Julian (juliap@parl.gc.ca) - MP for Burnaby - New Westminster (NDP)
Libby Davies (daviel@parl.gc.ca) - a wonderful lady who is MP for Vancouver East (NDP)
Mark Warawa (warawm@parl.gc.ca ) - MP for Langley (Conservative)
Bill Siksay (Siksay.B@parl.gc.ca) - MP for Burnaby-Douglas (NDP)
Randy Kamp (randy@randykamp.com) - MP for Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows - Mission (Conservative)
Denise Savoie (savoie.d@parl.gc.ca) - MP for Victoria (NDP)
Blair Wilson (blair@blairwilson.ca) - MP for West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast (Liberal)

Alternatively, if you find e-mails too ethereal for your tastes, you can mail a paper letter for your MP at their office in Ottawa. No postage is required to mail your MP.

If you do not feel especially eloquent, you are welcome to use some of my verbiage below. Thanks for being a democratically-involved Canadian!

Dear Honourable __________,

I am writing to you today because I have concerns about the recently introduced Bill C-61, which deals with copyright reform in Canada.

Under the proposed new law, many harmless practices Canadians commonly partake in would become felonies. It would be a crime to unlock a carrier-locked cell phone, to rip a DVD for use on a portable video player, or to convert digitally-purchased music into another format so it can be played on different vendor's device.

With the anti-circumvention provisions in Bill C-61, media vendors could use encryption or DRM (digital rights management) software to decide when, where, and how we enjoy movies, music, software, and other media.

As a consumer, I believe that once I have purchased something, it belongs to me. I can therefore decide myself how to use it, when to enjoy it, or what to play it on. I feel that this is a reasonable assessment of ownership and that any copyright reform should take this common sense into account.

Thank you for your time.