Search Results for "c-11" : 405

Canadian Government Has Consulted on Copyright but Won’t Consider How Its Law Will Be Enforced

The government imposed time allocation yesterday on Bill C-11, a move that will wrap up second reading debate on the copyright reform bill on Friday and send it to the Bill C-11 committee soon thereafter. While the government’s overuse of time allocation is certainly a concern, the debate is not over and several well coordinated tweets of support hardly mask the huge public concern with the bill’s digital lock rules and proposed SOPA-style amendments proposed by several copyright lobby groups that has generated tens of thousands of emails to MPs in recent days. As described further below, the opposition stems from rules that will have an impact on the legitimate activities of millions, creating barriers to creators, students, journalists, researchers, and the visually impaired.

During yesterday’s debate, several Conservative MPs emphasized that the copyright bill is one of the most consulted pieces of legislation in recent memory. For example, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore stated “this is my 12th year as a member of Parliament and I can tell her that except for the Liberal government’s Bill C-2, the response to 9/11, this legislation will have had more consideration at a stand-alone legislative committee and parliamentary and public consideration with all of the tens of thousands of submissions we received from Canadians in person and in writing and the consultations we did across the country before we drafted the bill.”

The government is right when it says there has been wide consultation (a recap of the 2009 copyright consultation here). The question is whether it has taken the public comments into account and conducted a full analysis of the implications of its current proposal. There is reason to believe that it has not.

February 9, 2012 — 19 comments — News

Could SOPA Make Its Way Into Canadian Copyright Law?

Appeared in the Toronto Star on February 5, 2012 as Canada’s overhaul of copyright law could take on a SOPA flavour The battle over the Stop Online Piracy Act in the United States may have concluded with millions of Internet users successfully protesting against the bill, but many Canadians are […]

February 7, 2012 — Comments are Disabled — Columns Archive

Crafting Copyright Policy to Create a Competitive Advantage

Last month, the Hill Times ran a special section on copyright and new media. I contributed an op-ed (Hill Times version, homepage version) that linked copyright reform with the government’s emphasis on the Canadian economy. The column noted that one metric for assessing the effectiveness of copyright reform is to consider whether the bill uses the flexibility at international law to establish a competitive advantage when compared to our trading partners. The answer with Bill C-11 – even without the SOPA-style amendments sought by copyright lobby groups – is a mixed bag.

February 6, 2012 — 5 comments — Columns

The Daily Digital Lock Dissenter: The Series To Date

Throughout the fall, I ran a daily digital lock dissenter series, pointing to a wide range of organizations representing creators, consumers, businesses, educators, historians, archivists, and librarians who have issued policy statements that are at odds with the government’s approach to digital locks in Bill C-11. While the series took […]

January 30, 2012 — 15 comments — News

The ACTA Fight Returns: What Is at Stake and What You Can Do

The reverberations from the SOPA fight continue to be felt in the U.S. (excellent analysis from Benkler and Downes) and elsewhere (mounting Canadian concern that Bill C-11 could be amended to adopt SOPA-like rules), but it is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that has captured increasing attention this week. Several months after the majority of ACTA participants signed the agreement, most European Union countries formally signed the agreement yesterday (notable exclusions include Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Cyprus and Slovakia).

This has generated a flurry of furious protest: thousands have taken to the streets in protest in Poland, nearly 250,000 people have signed a petition against the agreement, and a Member of the European Parliament has resigned his position as rapporteur to scrutinize the agreement, concluding that the entire review process is a “charade.”

Some are characterizing ACTA as worse than SOPA, but the reality is somewhat more complicated. From a substantive perspective, ACTA’s Internet provisions are plainly not as bad as those contemplated by SOPA. Over the course of several years of public protest and pressure, the Internet provisions were gradually watered down with the removal of three strikes and you’re out language. Other controversial provisions on statutory damages and anti-camcording rules were made optional rather than mandatory.

While the Internet provisions may not be as bad as SOPA, the remainder of the agreement raises many significant concerns.

January 27, 2012 — 28 comments — News