Michael Geist

The government yesterday gave notice of time allocation on the Bill C-11 debate, which will cut short the debate over the copyright bill. The move does not come as a surprise, given the willingness to use time allocation for other bills and the Conservatives’ consistent position that it will not further amend the bill. As I’ve stated repeatedly, there is much to like in Bill C-11 including expanded fair dealing, new consumer exceptions, new rights for user generated content, the notice-and-notice approach for ISPs, and the a cap on non-commercial statutory damages (this came up during the House of Commons debate as Conservative MP Chris Alexander quoted my comment on some of the balanced provisions but omitted the criticism on digital locks). Moreover, the decision to reject demands for website blocking, notice-and-takedown, an iPod tax, and disclosure of subscriber information suggest that the bill could have been considerably worse.

However, the decision to leave the digital lock rules unchanged remains the bill’s biggest flaw and given the widespread opposition to the approach makes a mockery of Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore’s insistence that the bill reflects the public support. Yesterday, Moore defended the approach:

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