Michael Geist

The debate over C-11 resumed this week in the House of Commons with Paul Calandra, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, invoking a claim that raises the question of how the Canadian digital lock rules compare to those found in Europe. In response to the ongoing concerns with Bill C-11’s digital lock rules – they are easily the most discussed issue during the debates – Calandra stated:

We know that in Europe there is much greater support for TPMs and that has not actually reduced the availability of content online. Does she have any rationale for thinking Canada’s less stringent use of TPMs through the bill would somehow reduce the availability of content for Canadian consumers?

Calandra’s comments raise two issues: (1) whether the Europe has stricter support for digital locks; and (2) whether digital locks reduces the availability of online content.

The first issue is an important one since claims that Europe has stricter digital lock rules than those proposed in Bill C-11 are plainly inaccurate. Indeed, many Canadians would be far happier with the Bill C-11 digital lock rules if we matched some of the approaches found in Europe. European implementations include:

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