We've all been doing it since the 80s...

[thebookpile]

According to Michael Geist, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters have made a submission to the CRTC which includes the following:

in Canada, consumers who record TV shows for later viewing, whether on a VCR, in-home PVR or, potentially, through an NPVR, are infringing copyright. For this reason, Canadian BDUs are actively seeking an amendment to the Copyright Act to create a "time-shifting right" similar to that which exists in the US and some other jurisdictions.

According to Canada's Copyright Act, are we really infringing when we "time-shift" (i.e., record) TV shows to watch later? That's not how I've understood the law, but I'm still glad to see the CAB arguing for the insertion of an explicit "time-shifting" right into the Act. Unfortunately, they seem to indicate that the government is not receptive to this idea (despite being hell-bent on making other, less wholesome, changes).

(Jack Valenti, former president of the MPAA, was famous for saying "I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.")