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Canadian Library Association on C-11

The Canadian Library Association has released a new position paper on Bill C-11. The CLA directs much of its concern to the digital lock rules:

The prohibitions on the circumvention of digital locks in Bill C‐11 exceed Canada’s obligations under WIPO copyright treaties. Canada agreed to distinctive wording and flexibilities inherent in WIPO Internet Treaties. WCT art.11 and WPPT art. 18 both protect the right holders but also allow flexibility in national laws for permitted legal uses. Bill C‐11 gives a new right to copyright owners negating the flexibilities in the Internet Treaties and directly contravening the basic, longstanding individual rights sanctioned in Canadian copyright law. With this provision, Canada is allowing a technical feature to override a nuanced information policy, permitting owners’ rights to overreach their legitimate limits, and impinging on the ability of libraries to fulfill their public interest mandate. 

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4 Comments

  1. It’s probably just me, but all articles like this do is remind me that democracy is effectively dead in Canada… with practically ubiquitous disapproval of C-11’s digital locks provisions outside of those with conservative interests, and the government steadfastly refusing to make any compromises on the matter, even though such compromises could achieve the desired ends with regards to treaty obligations, it makes me seriously question the validity of our political system.

  2. Yeah Mark, it’s just you. Democracy includes conservatives. They won the election.

  3. No Mark it’s not just you.

  4. UnMark: That they won the election has no bearing on how they appear to be conducting themselves currently. They’ll might start playing a little more nicely when it gets near election time, but with regards to this matter, I expect it will be too late by then.