Michael Geist

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Microsoft Misleads on Copyright Reform

The Hill Times this week includes an astonishingly misleading and factually incorrect article on Canadian copyright written by Microsoft. The most egregious error comes in the following paragraph which attempts to demonstrate why Microsoft thinks reform is needed:

Imagine you're an aspiring author who decides to self-publish on the internet in hopes of supporting yourself and catching the eye of a publishing house. Now imagine someone hacks into your website and accesses your work and begins using the ideas expressed in your work for their own commercial benefit. You should be protected, right? In Canada, you are not.

Actually, you are protected.

February 4, 2008 — 52 comments — News

Prentice Backtracks On Treaty Policy

The Hill Times turns itself over to copyright this week with no less than four articles and op-eds on the topic (including one from me revealing a secret meetings between CRIA and the Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Wilson). The most important of article is a front page, lead […]

February 4, 2008 — 4 comments — News

Is Prentice’s Copyright Bill Born in the U.S.A.?

The Hill Times runs a special op-ed (HT version, homepage version) in which I note that while the influence of the U.S. government in crafting a Canadian version of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act has been a recurring theme, what has gone largely unnoticed is the role that some Canadian lobby groups have played in quietly encouraging the U.S. to step up the pressure. Indeed, according to documents recently obtained under the Access to Information Act, last spring Canadian Recording Industry Association President Graham Henderson met with Wilkins' counterpart – Canada's Ambassador to the United States Michael Wilson – to encourage him to pressure both governments to prioritize U.S. style copyright reforms.

February 4, 2008 — Comments are Disabled — Columns

The Conservative Copyright MPs – An Update

My recent Copyright MPs posting generated a considerable amount of attention along with a number of suggestions of how it could be improved. These included adding ridings with large colleges (who often offer many technology-focused programs), more clearly identifying those ridings where the incumbent does not plan to seek re-election, and focusing more intently on the Conservative MPs, given that they will be the most directly affected by a Canadian DMCA.

While I will focus on the other parties – particularly if/when a new bill is introduced – for the moment it is the Conservatives that are on the hot seat on copyright given Industry Minister Jim Prentice's plans for a Canadian DMCA. With that in mind (and with the additional caveat that I think all MPs will hear from their constituents on copyright), the updated list of Conservative Copyright MPs from West to East is posted below. To qualify as a Copyright MP, the MP needs to have won the riding in the 2006 election by 10 percent or less and have a university or college in the riding. Only colleges with over 5,000 students are included.

February 3, 2008 — 9 comments — News

Yau on CMEC Copyright Proposal

Julianna Yau identifies precisely why the CMEC's copyright education exemption proposal is so damaging – it actively encourages the use of DRM to lock out education.

February 1, 2008 — 1 comment — News