There are two deadlines
quickly approaching for those who wish to have their views known
about Copyright in general, and Bill C-32 in specific.
The Legislative Committee on
Bill C-32 sent
out a press release last month indicating that briefs
should be sent to the Committee's mailbox by the end of January,
2011. Details about the format and length are in the press release.
Parliamentarians are set
return to the House of Commons Monday, January 31, 2011 .
When parliamentarians are not in Ottawa, they are in their
constituencies and are far more available to set up meetings and
otherwise talk with constituents. This is not time off for them,
and it should not be for those of you who are concerned with the
direction that Canadian copyright law is taking.
I haven't sent my brief to the
committee yet as I want to ensure I have the wording right. If you
have feedback, it would be appreciated (OpenDocument
format, PDF
format).
The committee requires that
any submissions longer than 5 pages should have a 1 page executive
summary. I am including my summary in case this will entice others
with similar views to ensure the committee is aware of these issues.
Executive Summary
Over the past decade I have
had an opportunity to speak with many fellow creators and other
Canadians about copyright. I have come to form opinions on nearly
all aspects of the Copyright Act, and the various commercial and
non-commercial activities that are regulated by it. While I have
commented on many of them in a set of Frequently Asked Questions (and
answers), for the purpose of this brief I must focus on the primary
issue of technological protection measures.
I have been a self-employed
technology consultant since 1995, working as a hardware repair person
and system administrator before that. My technology experience
starts in the early 1980's. As part of my job I author software.
As a technical person I can
translate marketing and brand terminology into real-world technology.
I have found that much of the analysis and discussion of technical
measures in the context of copyright has not included discussion of
real-world technology. In nearly every case when the term "copy
control", "use control" or "Digital Rights
Management" is used, what is actually being discussed is a
vendor-dependant content delivery platform.
The problem is that if
non-technical people believe that "copy control" is
something other than a marketing term, they will push forward laws
which regulate these technology platforms as if they were something
other than a technology platform.
How these technologies are
regulated is critically important. If we treat these technology
platforms as if they were a matter of copyright law, we are allowing
the creators of these technology platforms to circumvent the
traditional contours of contract, competition, consumer protection,
copyright, e-commerce, privacy, property and trade law.
The current language of Bill
C-32 offers legal protection for this circumvention of the
traditional contours of these laws. It is critical that the
committee take the time to learn how these technologies work, and
regulate appropriately. Ideal is if technical measures are not
mentioned in copyright law at all, but in the appropriate laws
connected to the activities regulated by the technology (IE: contract
law for TPMs protecting contracts including copyright licenses). A
less ideal alternative is to ensure that anti-circumvention in
copyright law is closely tied to infringing activities, as suggested
in the 1996 WIPO internet treaties.
I believe it is better for
creators, other copyright holders, the competitive technology sector
and Canadians as a whole to not update copyright law at all than to
pass a bill which legalizes technology platform providers
circumventing copyright and other laws. I consider the current
anti-circumvention rules in Bill C-32 to be a show-stopper that
warrant rejecting the bill as a whole.
---
Russell McOrmond is a self employed consultant,
policy coordinator for CLUE:
Canada's Association for Free/Libre and Open Source Software,
co-coordinator for Getting Open Source Logic INto Governments (GOSLING),
and host for Digital
Copyright Canada.