OTTAWA – The Canadian Government’s decision to oppose a new tax on MP3 players and smart phones as part of its copyright legislation received votes of confidence from the wireless industry and a business coalition, but faced claims of “political manipulation” from ACTRA.
After Wednesday’s announcement, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) issued its opinion in which it said that the government “definitely got this right."
"This is absolutely the right decision for consumers as the Government moves forward with its digital economy strategy”, said CWTA president and CEO, Bernard Lord, in the statement. “We don’t agree that law-abiding consumers should have to pay twice – once to legally download a song, and once again for the right to play it on a MP3 player or smart phone. There are also lots of uses for digital media players and smart phones that don’t involve playing recorded music, and this proposal would have unfairly penalized consumers that way too.”
The Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright (BCBC) largely echoed those sentiments, calling such a levy “unfair and unworkable”. The group, which includes the likes of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, the Retail Council of Canada, and numerous cable and telcos, said that a new tax on digital devices “would impede the development of legitimate markets and would do nothing to address concerns about copyright infringement”.
“Devices that are only used for music are an endangered species”, reads BCBC’s statement. “Increasingly, consumers want to combine music players, phones, cameras, Internet access, gaming devices and video displays into a single device. Charging a levy for music on smart phones and other multi-use devices would be inappropriate and would drive up the cost to consumers of acquiring innovative new mobile technologies and services.”
Not surprisingly, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) denounced the decision, and accused Industry Minister Tony Clement and Heritage Minister James Moore of “using artists’ rights to compensation as a crass political tool”.
“Artists want Canadians to be able to access content when and where we want. But it can’t be for free”, ACTRA said in a statement. “In an ideal world, content would be easy to access and creators would get paid. Unfortunately, instead of supporting the rights of creators the Conservative government’s Bill C-32 panders to big business by focusing on digital locks, already a failed business model in music.
“The government claims that it’s concerned about the economy, yet it appears more than willing to negatively impact the income of millions of creative workers whose industry contributes $85 billion to Canada’s GDP.”
– Lesley Hunter
