The copyright consultation concluded last fall and it seems worth reminding Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Tony Clement what Canadians had to say when they asked for their opinion on copyright reform. It has taken some time to calculate the final numbers as the government conducted a review to ensure that all were properly posted. There were ultimately more than 8,300 submissions – more than any government consultation in recent memory – with the overwhelming majority rejecting Bill C-61 (6138 submissions against, 54 in support), while thousands called for flexible fair dealing and a link between copyright infringement and anti-circumvention rules.
Post Tagged with: "copycon"
Why SOCAN Wanted To Keep Its Copyright Submission Secret
Howard Knopf provides his take on why SOCAN wanted to keep its copyright submission secret. The key issue – retroactive legislative reform.
SOCAN’s Secret Copyright Submission Posted Online
The government has now completed posting all the submissions it received during the copyright consultation (I'll be posting a final summary shortly). Interestingly, the final submission to be posted was from SOCAN, but it came with some controversy. Sources say that SOCAN requested that its submission not be posted online. The terms of the consultation clearly indicated that all submissions would be posted, so it is difficult to identify the grounds for non-disclosure. Ultimately, the government posted access to the submission, though not the submission itself. This means that anyone can obtain a PDF copy of the submission via email, but it will not be searchable like every other submission. Note that this also raises privacy concerns as interested Canadians are required to provide personal information in order to obtain a copy of the SOCAN document, creating a list of everyone who has requested a copy.
Copyright Consultation Provides Blueprint for Reform
Forgotten amidst the focus on ACTA over the past two weeks, was a recent column (HT PDF version, homepage version) I wrote for the Hill Times on the lessons that can be drawn from this summer's copyright consultation. The piece appears as part of a special section on copyright that included an interview with Industry Minister Tony Clement, Charlie Angus, Howard Knopf, Pina D'Agostino, and Simon Doyle (amont others). I note the government is still in the midst of posting all the submissions, but with thousands now online, it is not too early to begin drawing some lessons.
What does the consultation teach us? There are at least eight conclusions of note:
OHRLP Publishes Compilation of Copyright Consult Submissions
The Osgoode Hall Review of Law and Policy has published a compilation of copyright consultation submissions in its November 2009 issue. My copyright consultation is available for download.
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