Wired News-- Technology not taxation! That's the battle cry of the Canadian computer industry in a war of words being waged among groups representing the nation's music, technology and retail industries.

The dispute centers around fees collected from technology companies to reimburse the music industry for losses incurred by music copying and swapping.

Canadians are legally allowed to copy music for personal use. In exchange, a small fee is added to the price of recordable CDs to compensate musicians and music publishing companies. Similar "royalties" are collected in more than 40 countries, including the United States under the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992.

But in the wake of the Canadian music industry's proposals for higher and broader levies in 2003, much of Canada's technology and retail industry is now calling for the levy's repeal.

In 2000, the levy per recordable CD was 5.2 cents (Canadian); in 2001 the fee rose to CN$0.21. The proposed fee for 2003 is CN$0.59.

In addition, the Canadian Private Copying Collective, the music industry group that collects the levy, has proposed new levies to be applied to any device that can store music, such as removable hard drives, recordable DVDs, Compact Flash memory cards and -- of course -- MP3 players.  more...

This article suggested by: Mike "D" DeJong of Nelson, British Columbia, Canada

04 February 2003  |   permalink