We believe anti-circumvention measures encourage and support the use of digital locks and litigation against music fans. Thus, we oppose the inclusion of such measures in legislative reform. Copyright laws must accommodate the interests of Canadian music creators. We support our fans’ legitimate interests in having a say in how they enjoy our music, and policy decisions should take this into account. Policies that fail to accommodate such interests should be rejected.
The choice of whether or not to use a TPM in connection with controlling access to a copyright protected work or which restricts copyright protected acts rests with rightsholders. Some will choose to use them, others will not. In accordance with the WIPO Treaties, rightsholders should have recourse against persons who deliberately circumvent their TPMs. By the same token, users who have legal access to a work should not be prevented by TPMs from availing themselves of statutory exceptions or limitations. Moreover, legal protection for TPMs should be subject to privacy, interoperability, and encryption research considerations, for example.
NDP MP and party leadership candidate Romeo Saganash posts a piece in the Huffington Post that expresses concern with the digital lock rules in Bill C-11.
Dès lors, le Gouvernement se doit de se poser la question d’intégrer spécifiquement de telles dispositions au sein de la Loi sur le droit d’auteur, alors que l’échec des mesures techniques de protection est évident, et que celles-ci seraient déjà protégées dans notre arsenal législatif. Nous avons aujourd’hui le recul nécessaire pour affirmer que la protection légale des mesures techniques de protection est dangereuse pour la vie privée des consommateurs, que bien souvent elle porte atteinte à la liberté d’expression, et qu’elles limitent les utilisations légitimes des oeuvres.
Legislation must ensure that individuals and the not-for-profit library, archive, museum, and education institutions which serve them can circumvent TPMs for non-infringing purposes. Increasingly content providers are recognizing that TPMs which restrict using legally acquired content on different devices are not acceptable to consumers. TPMs which restrict legal copying or format shifting should not be protected in legislation. Canada’s public libraries place a high priority on service to multicultural communities including recent immigrants. Of necessity this requires the provision of audio-visual collections which may have regional coding. TPM legislation as formulated in other countries and the last copyright legislation tabled in the House of Commons could be used to make illegal the ownership of DVD players which bypass regional coding. Such an outcome is especially unacceptable in a multicultural country such as Canada and certainly has the potential to impede public library service.
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 231: Sara Bannerman on How Canadian Political Parties Maximize Voter Data Collection and Minimize Privacy Safeguards 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 230: Aengus Bridgman on the 2025 Federal Election, Social Media Platforms, and Misinformation 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 229: My Digital Access Day Keynote – Assessing the Canadian Digital Policy Record 
Queen’s University Trustees Reject Divestment Efforts Emphasizing the Importance of Institutional Neutrality 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 228: Kumanan Wilson on Why Canadian Health Data Requires Stronger Privacy Protection in the Trump Era
Michael Geist
mgeist@uottawa.ca
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