Post Tagged with: "liberal"

Liberal MP Marlene Jennings on C-61

Liberal MP Marlene Jennings, who serves as the party's deputy house leader, has been sending the following letter to concerned constituents about Bill C-61.  The letter, which is the most substantive that I have seen, is posted in its entirety with permission.

Thank you for your letter concerning Bill C-61, An Act to amend the Copyright Act. Over the last few months I have made a concerted effort to better inform myself of all of the issues associated with copyright reform in Canada. In this vein, I joined the Intellectual Property (IP), Anti-Counterfeiting and Anti-Piracy Parliamentary Caucus.  Through the meetings and consultations held by this group I came to the conclusion that reform of our copyright legislation will, I hope, have the following principles at its core:

1) Anti-circumvention measures and penalties must be linked to the efforts of those who violate copyright for commercial purposes, and not just the technology itself;

2) Provisions for flexible fair dealing. Fair dealing creates a limited number of exceptions, including private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting to charges of infringement.

3) It would also incorporate a fair and well defined 'notice and notice' system, which involves a notification from a copyright holder – often involving movies, software or music – claiming that a subscriber has made available or downloaded content without authorization on file sharing systems.  The Internet Service Provider forwards the notification to the subscriber but takes no other action – it does not pass along the subscriber's personal information, remove the content from its system, or cancel the subscriber's service.  It falls to the subscriber to remove the infringing content (if indeed it is infringing) voluntarily.

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July 28, 2008 Comments are Disabled Stop CDMCA

The Liberal Letter on C-61

Earlier this week, I posted a letter from NDP leader Jack Layton that is sharply critical of Bill C-61.  The language used in the letter is apparently being used by other NDP MPs.  The same appears to be true for Liberal MPs.  Several people have sent me copies with only […]

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June 22, 2008 20 comments News

Liberal Response to Net Neutrality

Julianna Yau posts a response she received from a Liberal MP on net neutrality.  The response notes the deregulatory approach at the CRTC and states that "this approach does not afford proper recognition to the rights of Canadian internet users, and has resulted in the problems we are beginning to […]

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May 8, 2008 4 comments News

Where Do The Liberals Stand on Copyright?

Dan McTeague, the longtime Liberal MP for Pickering-Scarborough East, is best known for his Private Member's bill on tax-deductible RESPs that caused the government a fair share of heartburn and was ultimately not supported by his own party which did not want to risk an election on the issue.  McTeague has been a longtime advocate for many consumer issues, including campaigning against high gas prices and fighting for more consular support for Canadians abroad.  Notwithstanding this record, McTeague is rapidly emerging as a vocal voice on another issue – U.S.-style DMCA copyright reform.  Indeed, while McTeague may be the Liberal Party's Consumer Affairs critic, he is decidedly anti-consumer when it comes to the issue of copyright.

Last November, McTeague formed the Parliamentary IP Caucus, which has held regular, private meetings with those advocating tougher copyright reforms including the Canadian Manufacturing Assocation, CRIA favourite Deborah Spar, and ACTRA.  On the Industry Committee, where he sits as Vice-Chair, he pushed heavily for the anti-counterfeiting report that includes a WIPO ratification recommendation.  Yet McTeague's emergence as the new Sam Bulte only became crystal clear at a panel session I attended in Toronto yesterday on copyright and IP, which raises critical questions about where the Liberals stand on copyright.

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April 24, 2008 Comments are Disabled Stop CDMCA

Where Do The Liberals Stand on Copyright?

Dan McTeague, the longtime Liberal MP for Pickering-Scarborough East, is best known for his Private Member's bill on tax-deductible RESPs that caused the government a fair share of heartburn and was ultimately not supported by his own party which did not want to risk an election on the issue.  McTeague has been a longtime advocate for many consumer issues, including campaigning against high gas prices and fighting for more consular support for Canadians abroad.  Notwithstanding this record, McTeague is rapidly emerging as a vocal voice on another issue – U.S.-style DMCA copyright reform.  Indeed, while McTeague may be the Liberal Party's Consumer Affairs critic, he is decidedly anti-consumer when it comes to the issue of copyright.

Last November, McTeague formed the Parliamentary IP Caucus, which has held regular, private meetings with those advocating tougher copyright reforms including the Canadian Manufacturing Assocation, CRIA favourite Deborah Spar, and ACTRA.  On the Industry Committee, where he sits as Vice-Chair, he pushed heavily for the anti-counterfeiting report that includes a WIPO ratification recommendation.  Yet McTeague's emergence as the new Sam Bulte only became crystal clear at a panel session I attended in Toronto yesterday on copyright and IP, which raises critical questions about where the Liberals stand on copyright.

Read more ›

April 24, 2008 23 comments News