Barry Sookman, lawyer and registered lobbyist for the Canadian Recording Industry Association (now Music Canada), the Motion Pictures Association – Canada, and Canadian Publishers Council, has an op-ed in the National Post claiming that concerns that proposed amendments to Bill C-11 could result in SOPA-style rules in Canada are the stuff of wild claims and hysteria.

The short response is that Sookman’s column – along with his clients – downplay the dramatic impact of their proposed amendments. Their proposed amendments to C-11 would radically alter the bill by constraining consumer provisions, heaping greater liability risk on Internet companies, and introducing website blocking and Internet termination to Canada. Several of these provisions are very similar in approach to SOPA in the U.S. and the comparison is both apt and accurate. Moreover, the column leaves the false impression that Bill C-11’s digital lock rules are standard when they are widely opposed by numerous stakeholders that Sookman would not dare to call anti-copyright.

There is much more to take issue with in the column and I’ve done so in paragraph-by-paragraph format below. Sookman’s column is posted in italics and my response immediately follows:

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