Michael Geist

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries currently has approximately 500 members representing a wide variety of law library interests across Canada. It provides a forum for the exchange of information and ideas among members, fosters cooperation among Canadian law libraries, and plays an active role in promoting access to legal information for all Canadians. CALL has addressed digital locks within the context of Bill C-32, noting the implications for access to law:

Libraries and other knowledge institutions are increasingly dependent on works in digital form and are acutely affected by the deployment of TPMs to limit access to or use of copyrighted materials. Vendors should not be permitted to undermine the balanced rights users have been granted by the fair dealing clauses of the Act. Vendors should not be permitted, as part of their business model, to make otherwise fair (and therefore legal) dealings with copyrighted materials effectively illegal. Effecting what is or is not legal in our society is the job of our legislature. To say that this issue is fairly resolved because purchasers have a choice not to buy materials with digital locks is disingenuous and misleading. Vendors often have exclusive rights to sell particular content, and libraries and knowledge institutions have a mandate to meet all of the research and educational needs of their users. It is rarely possible for us to purchase the same content from any alternative vendor, let alone one who has chosen not to prevent what are legal uses of the material under the Copyright Act.

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