Levy on iPods?
I just came across an article noting that the Copyright Board of Canada has just released a decision that may allow the big music and movie studios to apply a copying levy on devices such as iPods.
Even worse, the decision seems to indicate that the levy could be applied to any device capable of making private copies of music or video content. Given the nature of digital media, that means just about any device with memory, such as a personal computer, cellphone, flash drive, or anything else that files can be loaded on.
Basically, they want us all to pay them money for every device we buy that could possibly play or hold a copy of their music or movie whether or not we use it for that purpose, and even if we pay separately for the media in question.
And this certainly isn't about protecting the artists, because you can be quite certain that none of the artists are going to see a penny of a this kind of broad based levy. This is simple greed by the big labels, possibly linked to the move to DRM-free music downloads. After all, if you can no longer force people to buy multiple copies of the same music, you have to find some other way to squeeze more money out their pockets. Finding a way that cuts out the artists' take as well is just gravy.
