The Conservative minority government is looking to recruit allies across the Commons floor to deal with an expected public campaign against new copyright legislation.

The bill is expected to be introduced Thursday, but critics are already lining up to oppose it.

Sources have said the legislation will make it a crime to override a "digital lock" attached to a piece of music, film, electronic game or other product. For example, breaking the copyright code on a song to burn it to a CD would be illegal.

That doesn't sit well with many vocal proponents of user rights, who say big entertainment multinationals will be given too much sway over what Canadians do in their own homes, with their personal property.

However, format shifting -- moving digital material around from, say, a CD to an iPod, or burning from a personal video recorder, or PVR, to a DVD -- will be considered legal for personal use as long as no digital lock is picked.

Copyright is an all-around pain in the neck for politicians, who can't seem to find any domestic political advantage to making changes. The real pressure on the Conservatives is to appease the Americans and Europeans, who view Canada as a rogue for not having brought its laws into line with the rest of the international community.

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