Post Tagged with: "c-61"

“Made Worse in Canada”

A readers points to a new audio mashup of Prentice, Angus, and various media clips discussing Canadian copyright reform.

July 3, 2008 — 3 comments — News

Defense Minister Peter MacKay used his monthly column in The News to discuss Bill C-61. MacKay notes that copyright was a topic of discussion over the Canada Day weekend and then proceeds to offer the standard Conservative talking points on the bill.

July 3, 2008 — 4 comments — News

61 Reforms to C-61, Day 9: Music Shifting Subject To Anti-Circumvention Limitation

Having reviewed the format and time shifting provisions, I now turn to the music shifting provisions (Section 29.22). Industry Minister Jim Prentice has heavily promoted these provisions as he assures Canadians that they can now shift music from CDs to their iPods. The provision has faced significant criticism from all sides, however. The Canadian Private Copying Collective is livid at the change, arguing that it will "rob creators of their rights, denying them compensation for this use of their work." In what sounds a lot like consumer group complaints, the CPCC adds that they were not consulted on the issue and that an open consultation is needed.

From the consumer perspective, the provision does not go far enough. I think it is fair to say that most consumers believe that if they have paid for a song, they should have the right to listen to it on the device of their choice without further compensation (CRIA seemingly agrees). Such uses should be considered fair uses and the value of listening to a song on multiple devices can be built into the initial purchase price.

Yet the music shifting provision is subject to some significant limitations that undermine their fairness.

July 3, 2008 — 39 comments — News

Fair Copyright for Canada Activity Calendar

In addition to the Calgary plans for Jim Prentice's Stampede Breakfast on Saturday, the Vancouver chapter meets tonight and the Winnipeg and Ottawa chapters both meet on July 8th. Given this activity, I've created a Google calendar that will feature upcoming events as well as important dates in the copyright […]

July 3, 2008 — Comments are Disabled — News

CNA Expresses Concern With Press Freedoms Under C-61

The Canadian Newspaper Association has issued a position paper with its views on C-61. While the paper addresses several issues, its concerns with the anti-circumvention provisions are the most striking. The CNA notes that:

Bill C-61 makes it an offence to bypass any technological protection used on Internet sites. This is not normally an issue for newspaper public sites, but might apply to sites requiring registration, and to paid archive services. While this is positive for rightsholders seeking to protect content from unauthorized access, it could have implications on newsgathering, news reporting, and press freedom broadly, as is shown in the discussion below.

Under section 29.2 of the current legislation, there is a fair dealing defence to copyright infringement for news reporting. As drafted, Bill C-61 throws up roadblocks. For instance, if documents are encrypted, it will be illegal to break the encryption. This means that journalists who come across or are sent electronic documents (for example from a whistleblower) may be unable to use them without incurring very significant liability, even though there are no barriers on using the same materials in print format. It might also mean that citing video or other content from a digitally protected work (say, a DVD movie in which a newsmaker once appeared) could incur liability.

July 2, 2008 — 9 comments — News