iPod Searches at the Canadian Border?

You're headed to Vancouver for the weekend, excited because Canada is like almost a foreign country. Visions of staring at Belugas and spending your wad of rapidly-depreciating USD's on Robson Street bounce loosely around your head when suddenly a border patrol agent is directing you to a special lane at the Peace Arch. There's a problem and you've got to get out of the car. "Sir, this is aboot your iPod and the copyright infringements that reside on it."

According to a Canadian newspaper the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement would empower border agents to perform searches of your mp3 player, laptop and cell phone for copyright offenses and impose a fine or withhold or destroy the device if anything is found in those searches. And this is not just a Canadian trade agreement, the ACTA would include such countries and bodies as Canada, the EU, the United States, and other G8 types.

Of course, this kind of thing would be completely unenforceable (a border patrol person is really going to hold up that line by asking to see your iPod? And how, exactly, would he determine what content is in compliance with copyright law on an iPod if he did?) and it seems like it all stems from some leaked documents that represent the wet dreams of big copyright holders, but what if? What if a government-controlled WiFi hotspot misreads your Zune's content wirelessly, and after your next trip to Kelowna a bill for illegally downloading your Iron Maiden archive shows up in the mail? It is ridiculous, but this trade agreement will be discussed at the G8 meeting in July and the Vancouver Sun, at least, chose to treat it seriously.

Image courtesy of caseysail.