Michael Geist

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The Legal Side of Gaming’s Digital Revolution

Peter Nowak has a great interview with Maxime Gagne, a lawyer with Heenan Blaikie who represents video game developers. Asked specifically about an exception to the Bill C-11 digital lock rules for private use, Gagne states: I haven’t seen the exception but there could be ways that it’s crafted that […]

November 4, 2011 — 10 comments — News

Will the Government Take Action Against the Memory Card Tax?

ACTRA is in Ottawa this week for a two-day lobby campaign on issues such as cultural funding and copyright. The group will undoubtedly focus on extending the private copying levy to iPods, an issue it has raised in the past. While there is seemingly no prospect of extending the levy to iPods, the question now is whether the government is prepared to take action against the plan to extend it to memory cards.

The Copyright Board of Canada recently established the timing for the hearing on extending the private copying levy to electronic memory storage devices such as SD cards. The hearing will not start until October 2012, but the time for the government to act is now. Given its opposition to the “iPod tax”, it is hard to see how it can possibly support extending the levy to SD cards and other storage devices. In fact, last year Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore specifically referenced memory cards in a debate on extending the levy:

November 3, 2011 — 30 comments — News

The Daily Digital Lock Dissenter, Day 22: Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives

The Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives represents archives, archivists, and individuals committed to the preservation of archival records in the province. It provided a submission in the national copyright consultation that included the following on digital lock rules: Prohibiting circumvention for legal purposes such as preservation activities by archivists […]

November 3, 2011 — Comments are Disabled — News

ACTRA Rep Says Mashups “Morally Wrong”

ACTRA is in Ottawa this week for one of its regular lobbying efforts. Copyright will undoubtedly form part of the effort and will apparently include an unexpected issue. Leah Pinsent is fighting against the Bill C-11 mashup provision, which allows Canadians to create new works for non-commercial purposes with attribution. […]

November 3, 2011 — 12 comments — News

The Daily Digital Lock Dissenter, Day 21: Privacy Commissioner of Canada

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has not spoken out on the recent copyright bills, but in 2008 she wrote a public letter to then-Industry Minister Jim Prentice expressing concern “about possible changes to the Act authorizing the use of technical mechanisms to prevent copyright infringement that could have a negative impact on the privacy rights of Canadians.” The Stoddart letter, which came in the aftermath of the Sony rootkit case, stated:

If DRM technologies only controlled copying and use of content, our Office would have few concerns. However, DRM technologies can also collect detailed personal information from users, who often do no more than access the content on a computer. This information is transmitted back to the copyright owner or content provider, without the consent or knowledge of the user. Although the means exist to circumvent these technologies and thus prevent the collection of this information, previous proposals to amend the Copyright Act contained anti-circumvention provisions.

Commissioner Stoddart has not commented on the adequacy of the personal information exception in Bill C-11, but there is reason for concern.

November 2, 2011 — 14 comments — News