VANCOUVER – Some 45% of Canadians support amendments to the Copyright Act, while 45% oppose them and 10% are undecided, according to a recent Angus Reid Strategies poll.
Earlier in June, the federal government proposed several amendments to the existing Copyright Act, which would fine people $500 for downloading copyrighted material from the Internet and up to $20,000 for hacking digital locks or uploading copyrighted material to file-sharing websites.
Not surprising given the rate at which young people download material free from the Internet, young adults aged 18 to 34 (23%) are least in favour of the changes, while older Canadians (61%) are most supportive, according to the survey.
Half of respondents indicated that they thought downloading music from the Internet without paying for it amounts to stealing.
Regionally, British Colombia (52%) and Alberta (48%) show the most resistance to amending the Copyright Act, while Quebec (53%) and Atlantic Canada ( 50%) are the most encouraging of tougher copyright laws.
Less than half the respondents said they think the amendments balance the rights of copyright holders and consumers (47%) and two in five (44%) stated that emerging artists will not be able to promote their work as easily because of the proposed changes.
Some 76% of Canadians think the new amendments come as a result of lobbying by the North American music industry.
Angus Reid Strategies conducted the survey online from June 16-17 among a randomly selected, representative sample of 1,001 adult Canadians. The margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.
