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Monday July 26, 2010 |
Since the introduction of Bill C-32, I have consistently argued
that the digital lock provisions are far more restrictive than what is
required under the WIPO Internet treaties. Now two recent
developments
in the U.S. demonstrate that the Canadian proposal is also considerably
more
restrictive than what is found in the U.S.
First, a significant
new appellate court case from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded
that the restrictions on circumventing an "access control" (ie. a
digital lock that restricts access to a work rather than a copy control
which restricts copying of a work) are far more limited than previously
thought. With language that bears a striking similarity to those
arguing circumvention should be permitted for lawful purposes, the U.S.
appeals court states:
Merely bypassing a technological
protection that restricts a user from viewing or using a work is
insufficient to trigger the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision. The
DMCA prohibits only forms of access that would violate or impinge on
the protections that the Copyright Act otherwise affords copyright
owners.
In other words, the U.S. court has found that DMCA is limited to
guarding access controls only to the extent that circumvention would
violate the copyright rights of the copyright owner. This is very
similar to what many groups have been arguing for in the context of
Canadian legal reform.
c-32, circumvention, clement, copyright, digital locks, dmca, moore Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareMonday July 26, 2010 |
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Monday July 19, 2010 |
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Maclean's Andrew Potter has a must-read opinion
piece
that links Industry Minister Tony Clement's response to the census
issue with the Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore's copyright bill
response. While Potter makes the political link, Howard Knopf
connects
the policy dots in this post.
census, clement, copyright, moore, potter Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareMonday July 19, 2010 |
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Wednesday June 16, 2010 |
The federal government’s national consultation on a digital economy strategy is now past the half-way mark having generated a somewhat tepid response so far. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) argues the consultation document itself may bear some of the blame for lack of buzz since the government asks many of the right questions, but lacks a clear vision of the principles that would define a Canadian digital strategy.
One missed opportunity was to shine the spotlight on the principle of "openness" as a guiding principle. In recent years, an open approach has found increasing favour for a broad range of technology policy issues and has been incorporated into many strategy documents. For example, New Zealand identified "openness is a central principle of [its] Digital Strategy 2.0."
The consultation document includes a brief reference to open access for government-funded research, but it seemingly ignores the broader potential for a strategy with openness policies as a key foundational principle.
Where might an openness principle make sense?
clement, digital economy strategy, open, open access, open data, open source Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareWednesday June 16, 2010 |
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Tuesday June 15, 2010 |
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TVO's Search Engine features a detailed interview with Industry Minister Tony Clement on Bill C-32. Clement is clearly sensitive to the concerns associated with digital locks in the bill, though his suggestion that the new provision on ephemeral recordings would allow broadcasters to circumvent locks for news reporting does not appear consistent with the bill. c-32, clement, copyright, search engine, tvo Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareTuesday June 15, 2010 |
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