The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has adopted a position paper on C-61, warning of its effects on freedom of speech and privacy.
Post Tagged with: "Copyright Canada"
61 Reforms to C-61, Day 29: TPMs – Interoperability Exception Restricts Third Parties
The problems with the interoperability exception in Bill C-61 extend beyond its impact on open source software. The U.S. DMCA restricts the ability for a person to disclose information obtained through circumvention for the purposes of interoperability by stating that the information may be made available to others on the condition that the person "provides such information or means solely for the purpose of enabling interoperability of an independently created computer program with other programs, and to the extent that doing so does not constitute infringement under this title or violate applicable law other than this section."
Bill C-61 regulates not only the initial circumventer but anyone else that comes into possession of the information. Section 41.12 (1) includes an interoperability of computer programs provision that is very similar to the U.S. DMCA. Subsection (4) allows the same person to "communicate the information obtained under that subsection to another person for the purposes of allowing that person to make the computer program and any other computer program interoperable." That also covers similar terrain as the U.S. DMCA.
“They Haven’t Waited for the DMCA”
A blog reader posts another C-61 mashup titled "They Haven't Waited for the DMCA."
61 Reforms to C-61, Day 28: TPMs – Interoperability Exception, Linux and DVDs
The emergence of open source software as a powerful alternative to proprietary software models has been an important business and societal development. Open source software is today widely used by consumers (e.g., Firefox browser) and businesses (e.g., Linux operating system, Apache web server). From a policy perspective, the Canadian government's professed goal is to create a level playing field so that the marketplace rather than laws will determine marketplace winners. It has opposed attempts to create policy preferences for open source (over the objection of some advocates and countries) instead favouring a more neutral approach.
Notwithstanding the claims of neutrality, Bill C-61 creates significant marketplace impediments for open source software. Achieving a level playing field requires interoperability so that differing computer systems can freely exchange data. The bill includes an interoperability provision at Section 41.12 which states that the anti-circumvention provisions do not apply to:
a person who owns a computer program or a copy of it, or has a licence to use the program or copy, and who circumvents a technological measure that protects that program or copy for the sole purpose of obtaining information that would allow the person to make the program and any other computer program interoperable.
The problem with this provision is that it does not extend far enough to maintain a level playing field.
61 Reforms to C-61, Day 27: TPMs – Encryption Research Exception Restricts Peer Review
Bill C-61's encryption research exception also potentially creates a restriction on peer review, an essential part of the scientific process. The current exception at Section 41.13(3) provides that circumvention devices (ie. software programs) may be distributed if for the purpose of encryption research and the researcher:
(a) uses that technology, device or component only for that purpose; or
(b) provides that technology, device or component only for that purpose to another person who is collaborating with the person
In other words, a circumvention device distributor can provide it to an encryption researcher and the researcher can provide it to other researchers with whom they are collaborating. While this covers access to circumvention devices for encryption researchers and their research team, it would not appear to cover non-affiliated researchers who might be asked to conduct peer review on the encryption research.
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