One of Bill C-61's few good points is the notice-and-notice approach for Internet Service Provider liability. The notice and notice system involves a notification from a copyright holder – often involving movies, software or music – claiming that a subscriber has made available or downloaded content without authorization. The ISP […]
Post Tagged with: "61 reforms"
61 Reforms to C-61, Day 40: TPMs – No Regular Review Process
The U.S. DMCA experience leaves little doubt that the introduction of anti-circumvention legislation will create some unintended consequences. No matter how long the list of circumvention rights and other precautionary measures, it is impossible to identify all future concerns associated with anti-circumvention legislation. The U.S. DMCA addresses this by establishing a flawed tri-annual review process. The system has not worked well, creating a formidable barrier to new exceptions and long delays to address emerging concerns.
As bad as the U.S. system is, the proposed Canadian system under Bill C-61 is worse since there is no mandated review of the exceptions at all. Instead, Canada gets a flexible process that will allow the government to consider new exceptions if and when it sees fit. In other words, the same government that brought you the Canadian DMCA will decide if there is a need to add any exceptions. Section 41.2 (1) provides that:
61 Reforms to C-61, Day 39: TPMs – No DRM Labelling Requirement
Supporters of anti-circumvention legislation often dismiss consumer concerns by arguing that "if you don't like DRM, don't buy the product." In other words, no one is forcing anyone to buy products with DRM. Leaving aside the fact that this may not be true – students may increasingly find that they are required to buy electronic texts for their courses that come in DRM-only packages – consumers often don't know that they are buying products with technological restrictions. Most consumers know little if anything about DRMs and the limitations that may be placed on consumer entertainment products such as CDs, DVDs, video games, or digital download services. While there may some limited disclosures – DVDs indicate the region code, if your eyesight is good enough you might notice that some copy-controlled CDs warn on the back corner that they may not play on all computers, and digital download services all feature lengthy user agreements that few consumers will ever read – they are plainly insufficient and the government should not support the legal fiction that "informed" consumers are knowingly purchasing products that contain a host of limitations.
61 Reforms to C-61, Day 38: TPMs – No DRM Regulatory Authority
One of the ongoing concerns with anti-circumvention provisions is the prospect that the legal rules create incentives to use – and possibly misuse – DRM. France, which many people hold up as an example of a country that prioritizes copyright and creator protection, has many of the same concerns about […]
61 Reforms to C-61, Day 37: TPMs – No Requirement to Unlock for Exceptions
Many countries have recognized the danger that combination of DRM and anti-circumvention legislation may effectively eliminate user rights or copyright exceptions in the digital environment. Creating exceptions is one way to address the issue, but another is to adopt an approach of "with rights comes responsibilities." In this case, if companies are going to obtain new legal rights for DRM, they must also shoulder the responsibility of unlocking their content when requested to do so by users for legal purposes. This is a common theme in copyright laws around the world which often identify courts, tribunals or mediators as the source to ensure that rightsholders do not use DRM to eliminate user rights. Three examples of many:
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