Second reading of Bill C-32 kicked off yesterday with hours of discussion from MPs from all political parties.  Six months after the bill was first introduced, the debate offered the first opportunity to get a sense of where the various parties stand and which issues will be most contentious when the committee tasked with review the bill begins hearings within the next couple of weeks (coverage from PostMedia).

The issue at the top of the Liberal and NDP agenda is digital locks.  Both parties (along with the Bloc) expressed concern with the digital lock approach in Bill C-32.  The Liberals repeatedly emphasized the need for consumers to have the right to circumvent for format shifting, backup copies, and other consumer activities.  This would require changes to both the consumer provisions and the general anti-circumvention provision, since both create barriers to these basic consumer activities.  Given that the U.S. now allows circumvention of DVDs for some non-commercial purposes, this seems like a reasonable compromise.  The NDP placed the spotlight on the impact of locks on education and teaching, describing the exceptions that require destruction of teaching materials 30 days after the end of the course as a digital book burning. 

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