On June 2, 2010 the Government of Canada undertook an important step towards updating Canada’s copyright regime by introducing Bill C-32: the Copyright Modernization Act. Although Bill C-32 appears to be more flexible than the previous attempts at copyright reform, this bill is flawed to its core by the inclusion of strict, anti-circumvention provisions. Understandably Canadians are concerned at how easily their rights are trumped by the overriding protection for digital locks included in this legislation and it is to this effect that the CCER has updated its online letter writing tool.
It is essential that Canadians speak up about their concerns with Bill C-32 while it is still open to amendments. Even if you have spoken out before the Government needs to hear your concerns. Send your letter now and share this tool with your friends, family and co-workers. It is essential that we all speak up now while we have the opportunity.
The Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights (CCER) is pleased to see that the Government of Canada has tabled its Copyright Modernization Act (PDF). However, the CCER is deeply concerned at how easily consumer rights can be voided by the anti-circumvention provisions included in this legislation.
Albeit slightly more flexible than the Conservatives’ previous attempt at reforming copyright, Bill C-32 is flawed at its core by the inclusion of strict, anti-circumvention provisions. These anti-circumvention provisions are modeled after those found in the oft-criticized US DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and effectively extinguish consumer and creator rights by tipping the balance of copyright law in favour of distributors and antiquated business models.
Bill C-32 includes provisions to address consumer activities such as format and time shifting, however these are all subject to digital locks. For example, consumers would now be permitted expressly by law to rip tracks from a CD into an MP3 and then transfer it their iPod or to make a backup copy of digital content to protect against loss or damage. However, what about consumers who want to watch a new DVD they bought on their iPad? No chance, as all commercially available DVDs employ digital locks and breaking a digital lock is not permitted by C-32 in this instance. Now what if a consumer wants to make a backup copy of a video game to protect their investment from undue wear and tear? Pointless, seeing as a digital lock needs to be bypassed in order to make that personal backup copy playable. According to Bill C-32 both of these reasonable consumer acts would be illegal and subject to penalties of up to $5000.00. So in actuality, the only rights Canadian consumers will get under Bill C-32 are those that the music, movie and game distributors decide they get or what has been aptly referred to as “market forces” in recent discussions surrounding the bill.
A more effective approach to the anti-circumvention provisions that inevitably seem to criminalize consumer activities in Bill C-32, would have been to link the act of circumvention to infringement as the Liberals did in their attempt at copyright reform. This approach is not only WIPO compliant but it integrates a greater deal of flexibility into copyright law by not placing a blanket prohibition on circumvention services, tools and devices. This approach would likely provide the greatest level of balance to Canada’s copyright regime by providing consumers with tangible rights and options rather than provisions that giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other. Such an approach would also ensure that creators are fairly compensated for their work while at the same time provide incentives for future innovation. Unfortunately, ministers Moore and Clement are taking Canada in a different direction. A direction that may appease certain interests in the United States and European Union at the expense of Canadian consumer rights.
Another attention grabbing provision included in Bill C-32 is the legitimization of PVR devices and associated time and format shifting activities. Sounds great doesn’t it? You can now use that PVR you purchased to record your favourite TV shows for viewing at a later date and time without fear of being on the wrong side of the law…for now. This provision is also subject to digital locks (broadcast flags) that will inevitably be used in Canadian television broadcasts that will prevent a program from being recorded to your PVR or cause a recorded program to delete itself after a given period of time. Try to bypass these broadcast flags and you’ll find yourself on the wrong side of the law according to Bill C-32. Going from a consumer to a criminal just by engaging in a reasonable consumer activity will be the direct result of the anti-circumvention provisions in Bill C-32.
Bill C-32 provisions are not all as contentious as the anti-circumvention provisions are, in fact C-32 does take some positive steps forward in the areas of fair dealing, intermediary liability and educational exemptions. The Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights fully supports Bill C-32’s inclusion of a “notice and notice” approach to internet service provider liability. Meaning that, after being contacted by a copyright holder about a potential infringement, an ISP will be required to notify the customer that he or she may be violating the law. The customer’s personal information could then be released to the copyright holder with a court order.
Bill C-32 is now set to make its way through the parliamentary process and be referred to a committee where it will be reviewed line by line and where hopefully the public can be heard from in a fair and representative way. Industry Minister Tony Clement has made statements in the media indicating there exists an openness to amending Bill C-32 in a way to ensure balance for all sides of the equation. Clement’s continued willingness to engage Canadian consumers in an open dialogue on the copyright issue is rare and presents a unique opportunity that must not be squandered. If Canadians remain silent there is a real possibility that Bill C-32 will become the law of the land in its current flawed form, undermining the reasonable rights of all Canadians with its draconian protection for digital locks. However, if Canadians take the time to engage themselves in this important issue and speak out, Bill C-32 can be fixed and a proper balance in Canada’s copyright regime established in a responsible and sovereign manner.
In the coming days the Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights will be updating its online letter writing tool to reflect the introduction of Bill C-32 and its worrisome anti-circumvention provisions. Michael Geist has also relaunched Speak Out on Copyright to focus on this bill and encourages Canadians to join the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group (to get active) and the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook Page (to stay updated).
Tags: C-32, copyright reform, dmca, james moore, tony clement
All reports indicate that a Bill to amend the Copyright Act will be introduced in the House of Commons this week, Thursday June 3, 2010 to be specific. It is fully expected that the Bill will include strict anti-circumvention provisions that would criminalize bypassing digital locks to access content, shift format or otherwise preserve consumer rights.
Furthermore, the Canadian Press is reporting that the Government is seeking the support of opposition parties to hold summer hearings on the Bill. Summer hearings would potentially minimize the number of voices heard on this Bill and may be a means of expediting the passage of this Bill into law. Given the latest poll results, it is highly unlikely the Liberals will rock the boat if there’s any chance that this could be a component to triggering an election they so clearly want to avoid.
Remember to send a letter to your MP with this online tool urging them to ONLY support a fair copyright reform bill.
UPDATE: The Canadian Copyright bill has been placed on the Notice Paper which means it could be introduced in the house as early as Wednesday June 2, 2010.
Tags: copyright reform, dmca, james moore, tony clement
In the summer of 2009 the Government of Canada held public consultations on copyright and Canadians engaged in these consultations at unprecedented levels demanding a balance between consumer rights and creator rights. According to Michael Geist, recent developments indicate that these extensive consultations were “little more than theatre”. A very disheartening development indeed.
Indications are that the PMO has had to step in and make a decision on the direction of copyright reform in Canada because the Minister of Canadian Heritage, James Moore and the Minister of Industry, Tony Clement could not come to a consensus. A consensus should have been an achievable outcome given the consultation results. It is further reported that the PMO has instead given the green light on moving forward with anti-consumer copyright legislation within the next 6 weeks. A Canadian DMCA would most likely appease the US Government as well as domestic and foreign corporate interest groups.
Information has also emerged over the span of the last month indicating that James Moore had reversed his balanced approach to copyright and begun arguing for a Canadian DMCA with strong protection for digital locks and a rejection of flexible fair dealing. Tony Clement on the other hand seems to have stayed the course by continuing to endorse a flexible approach to copyright reform that would withstand the tests of time and consider both consumer and creator interests.
The bill is not expected until June, but it will have dramatic repurcussions once introduced. First, the bill represents a stunning reversal from the government’s seeming shift away from C-61 and its commitment to a bill based on the national copyright consultation. Instead, the consultation appears to have been little more than theatre, with the PMO and Moore choosing to dismiss public opinion. Second, after adopting distinctly pro-consumer positions on other issues, Moore has abandoned that approach with support for what may become the most anti-consumer copyright bill in Canadian history. Third, the bill will immediately impact the Canadian position at the ACTA and CETA negotiations, where the bill’s provisions on anti-circumvention and ISP liability will effectively become the Canadian delegation position.
Indications are that this Bill will not be introduced until June but the time to act is now. The CCER has urged Canadians to speak out in the past only to have their voices ignored by the Government of Canada and for this we apologize. However, this is not the time to give up. If you have spoken out before then it is time to speak out again and again if necessary. There is clearly a range of opinions amongst MPs on copyright reform, some anti-consumer and some pro-consumer.
Your MP needs to know where you stand on the issue regardless of your views and even if you have already told them before. A physical letter or email message to your MP, the Prime Minister, James Moore, Tony Clement and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is what is needed right now. Also remember to join the Facebook group and the Facebook page and be sure to ask others do the same.
For those wondering what can be done, my only answer is to speak out now. Write a paper letter to your Member of Parliament and send copies to the Prime Minister, Moore, Clement and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. No stamp is required – be sure to include your home address and send it to the House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6. Once that is done, join the Facebook group and the Facebook page and be sure to ask others do the same. You may spoken out before, but your voice is needed yet again.
Tags: copyright, dmca, james moore, stephen harper, tony clement
Yesterday’s Throne Speech clearly indicated that the Government plans on “strengthening laws governing intellectual property and copyright“. When we see the words strengthen and copyright in the same sentence we automatically think of legislation that sacrifices the rights of consumers, creators and researchers in favour of specific technologies and business models. After all, Canadians are well within the realms of sanity to react so sceptically given previous attempts at copyright reform, specifically Bill C-61 (The Canadian DMCA).
However, along comes the Minister of Industry himself indicating our dire assumptions may be presumptuous. Following the Throne Speech, Tony Clement appeared on CTV’s Powerplay and offered a glimmer of hope to balanced copyright reform sceptics. When asked if moving forward on copyright reform was a tradeoff for putting the “buy American” issue to bed Clement responded:
I’ve been pretty clear to the Americans and in my public statements that we are moving ahead with copyright reform. The key is, from the American perspective, they want us to be part of WIPO, which is an international treaty on protecting intellectual property. We don’t have a problem with that, but we’re going to do it in a made-in-Canada way. We’re not just going to take what the Americans are doing or what the Europeans are doing. We are going to fit it to the Canadian context and I think that is the right thing to do.
Given this refreshing dialogue, it appears that Tony Clement may actually fully understand the copyright file and the implications that modernizing the Copyright Act will have on Canadians. Hopefully Clement can parlé his encouraging views into legislation. It is going to be an uphill battle especially given the immense amount of lobbying that will be taking place in Ottawa over copyright. In fact it would appear that the industry lobbyists have already resorted to pulling out their big guns for this showdown:
Surprise memo of the month from my staff: “U2’s manager Paul McGuinness wrote you. Bono wants to talk to you about copyright”
A tweet from James Moore (the second half of the copyright reform file) this morning indicates that he received a request from U2’s manager to speak with Bono about copyright. Yes, the same Bono that wrote the infamous New York Times op-ed about saving the world by ratcheting up protection for intellectual property.
Tags: canada, copyright reform, james moore, tony clement
Since its introduction in April 2009 Bill C-27, the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA) has attracted significant attention from the copyright lobby. Lobbyists have been attending committee hearings and working with Liberal and Bloq MPs to forward their agenda. The ECPA is aimed at deterring the most dangerous forms of spam, such as identity theft, phishing and spyware, from occurring in Canada however the copyright lobby fears that the current wording of the Bill will hinder their questionable use of DRM and potential for electronic surveillance.
Bill C-27 would strike a serious blow to DRM by requiring consent be obtained prior to installing software on a computer.
The DRM concern arises from a requirement in the bill to obtain consent before installing software programs on users’ computers. This anti-spyware provision applies broadly, setting an appropriate standard of protection for computer users. Yet the copyright lobby fears it could inhibit installation of DRM-type software without full knowledge and consent. Sources say that the Liberals have introduced a motion that would take these practices outside of the bill. In its place, they would define computer program as, among other things, “a program that has as its primary function…inducing a user to install software by intentionally misrepresenting that installing that software is necessary to safeguard security or privacy or to open or play content of a computer program.” This sets such a high bar – primary function, intentional mispresentation – that music and software industry can plausibly argue that surreptitious DRM installations fall outside of C-27.
Even more startling are the changes to Bill C-27 being sought after by the copyright lobby which would effectively permit copyright owners to secretly access information on users’ computers.
PIPEDA currently features a series of exceptions to the standard requirements for obtaining consent for the collection of personal information (found in Section 7). Bill C-27 includes a provision that bars those exceptions in cases involving computer harvesting of email addresses and the “collection of personal information through any means of telecommunication, if the collection is made by accessing a computer system or causing a computer system to be accessed without authorization.” In other words, email harvesting and spyware would not be permitted and would not qualify for the PIPEDA exceptions found in Section 7.
The copyright lobby is deeply concerned that this change will block attempts to track possible infringement through electronic means. The Section 7(1)(b) exception in PIPEDA currently states that collecting personal information without consent or knowledge of the individual is permitted if it is reasonable to expect that the collection “would compromise the availability or accuracy of the information” and the collection is “related to investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the laws of Canada.”
The committee’s “clause by clause” review of the Bill was to be conducted today however it appears that intense lobbying pressure was successful in securing an adjournment until Wednesday October 21, 2009. The Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights urges you to use the next 48 hours and write to Industry Minister Tony Clement and other members of the committee and demand they reject changes to Bill C-27 that would support the clandestine deployment and use of DRM or changes that would leave the door open to “private surreptitious surveillance”. Other committee members include:
Unfortunately the search function on the official Government website for copyright reform has been broken since the day the site launched. The Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights is proud to announce the launch of its own copyright consultation search tool aimed at filling this void.
Our copyright consultation search engine is currently limited to searching official submissions however we plan on adding the ability to search submissions and discussions independently as well as viewed cached pages of the Government website in the coming days.
As promised the Canadian Government has put into place some details for its nationwide consultation on copyright modernization. The official website has been launched, ironically running on open source software, reminding one of the old idiom, actions speak louder than words. Not the most pleasing website ever seen, nor the most technically advanced, lets hope what it lacks in usability is made up for in content and effectiveness.
The website proves to be a decent clearinghouse for its calendar of events, most notably the Round Tables and Town Halls. While criticism is emerging regarding the closed-door, invitation only Round Table sessions, one can only hope the audio and video from these sessions will be released in their entirety to make up for this lack of transparency. Regarding the Town Halls, while Clement had indicated that the consultations would be coming to ‘a pasture near you’ turns out that unless your pasture backs onto Toronto or Montreal, the Town Hall will not be so near you and your only option will be an email submission or webcast participation.
Although the Conservative Government is to be commended for seemingly making an effort to consult on copyright, a number of concerns remain. For instance reports that the government intends on fast-tracking this legislation is very worrisome. There is word that the Government is looking to get a copyright reform bill signed into law before Christmas. Seeing as parliament will not be sitting again until Sept. 14, 2009 this bill would need to successfully navigate multiple readings and committee hearings in both the house and senate prior to being given royal ascent all in less than 3 months, whereas most legislation takes an absolute minimum of 6-8 months.
So the time is nigh to mobilize the troops. Be sure to post your responses/comments to the topics, register for the Town Halls (Toronto, Montreal) either the webcast or actually attending and submit your formal submission here. Time will tell if Clement and Moore are truly committed to doing things differently, however, if we all speak out we cannot be ignored.
It’s a good thing that Industry Minister Clement and Heritage Minister Moore have emerged as ministers who appear to be understanding of the opportunity offered by copyright reform. Both ministers concluded that they are determined to craft laws and polices and that look ahead rather than behind. It seems there is a role reversal underway in Ottawa as the Liberal Party has now concluded the following:
In relation to a recommendation on copy rights and antipiracy of intellectual property, the Liberal Party of Canada supports the recommendation as follows:
“That the Government of Canada immediately introduce legislation to amend the Copyright Act, ratify the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), amend related acts and ensure appropriate enforcement resources are allocated to combat the scourge and considerable economic and competitive damage to Canada’s manufacturing and services sectors and to Canada’s international reputation by the proliferation of counterfeiting and piracy of intellectual property.”
Now we may know why the Liberal Party was so quiet on Bill C-61, given the above rhetoric, perhaps C-61 was not ’strong’ enough for their liking. The Liberal Party appears to be mired in the Dion-era, a splintered party that will try any policy direction in a desperate attempt to gain support. As long as Clement and Moore don’t turncoat on their latest indications for policy direction, the Liberals wont get the chance to make lasting copyright decisions anyway.
Tags: copyright, james moore, liberals, lpc, tony clement
Industry Minister Tony Clement hosted Canada’s Digital Economy Conference today which brought together 150 of the country’s most notable corporate leaders. Although the demographics of the invited group failed to even remotely represent that of Canada (only 1 of the 18 speakers was female) the event appears to have achieved its primary goal which was to lay the groundwork for a national digital strategy.
Clement vowed to move forward with several aspects of a digital strategy including privacy legislation, improved broadband availability and most importantly copyright reform. In his closing remarks Clement commented that much has changed since the introduction of Bill C-61.
When we look at where we were with Bill C-61 for instance on copyright just about a year ago or more than that and where we are now. I think it at least a somewhat different environment, public policy environment, in just the space of a year.
Most notably the Minister of Industry confirmed that he and the Minister of Canadian Heritage, James Moore will be dedicating at least part of their summer to consulting Canadians on copyright reform. The duo will be traveling to “a city, town, village and pasture near you”. In addition one can only hope that Clement and Moore will also consider using conduits such as Facebook and Twitter to consult all Canadians on copyright reform and how it stands to impact them as consumers and creators.
Clement has certainly talked the talk, it remains to be seen whether he will walk that walk on this one. There is little doubt some sort of iteration of Bill C-61 will be presented by the Conservatives this Fall, will they learn from the mistakes of the prior Bills and will there be fair and open consultations accessible to every Canadian?
Tags: C-32, copyright reform, dmca, james moore, tony clement