The federal government is expected to bring forth legislation this year to revise Canada’s copyright regulations. Let’s hope the Tories are listening to those voicing concerns that the proposed law would be too sweeping.

There are clear cases of copyright infringement: people who sneak video cameras into movie theatres to record films for redistribution or sale, for example.

But it appears that under the proposed law, making copies for your own use would become illegal as well. Things as mundane as PVRs and iPods would make you a criminal because you made a copy of a television program or a song without the explicit consent of the content creator. Ditto if you burn DVDs onto your computer to avoid having to haul a bunch of discs with you on a long train trip or flight.

It is also unclear to me what effect the new law would have on authors and researchers who need to quote extensive passages of text for their projects.

In any case, I draw you to this post by Ottawa-based blogger Howard Knopf, a lawer who deals with intellectual property. A good read, with lots of information.

We should all learn about the potential copyright headache we’re facing so that we can do our best to prevent it.