It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood - for another copyright debate

Bill C32 - if you are a Canadian here is why you should care:  

Liberals Preparing C-32 Amendments on Digital Locks & Fair Dealing

If you have ever made a copy of recording, a movie or a TV show, you may have broken the law.  The debate over fair dealing and blatant piracy has been around for a long time.  It shifts as technology changes but the core issue is the same, money and control.  When the VCR first appeared as a device to "time-shift" programming, networks lobbyists insisted on regulations, levies and protection.  One who saw the value of time-shifting as a great way to share information with more viewers was Mr. Rogers of the PBS program Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

The following is taken from a Globe and Mail article "How the new copyright bill will affect Canadian culture"
  

In a U.S. courtroom that year, the Sony Betamax was under fire for what was already being called time-shifting – taping a TV program to watch at a later time. One person who took the stand in defense of time-shifting, surprisingly, was childhood icon Mister Rogers.

At the time, Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood was watched by some 3-million families a day. Should those viewers be allowed to make copies of Neighbourhood, and other shows, on their new videotape recorders, he was asked?

Mister Rogers’ answer was an emphatic, yes.

“I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the Neighbourhood off-the-air ... that they then become much more active in the programming of their family’s television life,” he told the court.

“Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been ‘You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions,’ ” Fred Rogers told the court.