Post Tagged with: "digital locks"

Angus Files Petition, Comments on C-32 & Digital Locks

This week NDP MP Charlie Angus used debate on the anti-spam bill to sound off on copyright reform and Bill C-32: the present government’s plan with digital locks would actually lock down content unnecessarily and criminalize individuals who have legal rights, for example, librarians or blind people who need to […]

October 22, 2010 — 7 comments — News

In Praise of Copying

The National Post has an interesting article on the benefits of copying and the concerns associated with Bill C-32. The article includes a discussion of York University’s Marcus Boon’s book on copying (available for free download) and Ian Kerr’s exceptional article on digital locks in From “Radical Extremism” to “Balanced […]

October 18, 2010 — 8 comments — News

Locking Out Lawful Users

Osgoode Hall Law School professor Carys Craig has a great post at the IP Osgoode site on her article in From â€œRadical Extremismâ€ to â€œBalanced Copyrightâ€: Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda, the copyright book from Irwin Law that officially launches tomorrow. Craig’s article focuses on two key aspects of Bill C-32: the fair dealing reforms and the impact of the digital lock provisions. On fair dealing, Craig brings much-needed perspective to the fair dealing reform, which has been the target of an ongoing fear mongering campaign that implausibly and inaccurately claims that it will erode Canadian culture. Rather, Craig notes:

Educational, parodic and other transformative uses have long been recognized as potential fair uses in the United States. Indeed, the need to expressly include these specific exceptions in Canada speaks more to the shortcomings of the Canadian approach to fair dealing (in contrast to US fair use) than it does to the pursuit of a genuine balance between owners and users in the copyright reform process.

Craig reserves her harshest criticism for C-32’s digital lock provisions, which she describes as “unduly expansive,” concluding:

October 13, 2010 — 30 comments — News

Bill C-32: My Perspective on the Key Issues

With the House of Commons back in session this week, there has been growing speculation that Bill C-32, the copyright reform bill, will emerge as a government priority. Given the rhetoric we’ve seen over the past three months, it seems likely that proponents of the digital lock approach will seek to paint critics as anti-copyright, pirates, and radical extremists. While the rhetoric may seek to delegitimize consumers and many Canadians vocal on the copyright issue, the reality is that many consumer and education groups have been far more supportive of the bill than proponents such as the music industry.

With the caveat that I can only speak for myself, the following post covers the most contentious aspects of Bill C-32 by aggregating some of my posts and comments. When the bill was first introduced, my immediate response was that the government did a good job compromising on some very contentious issues (ISP liability, fair dealing, consumer provisions, statutory damages) but that the digital lock approach represented a huge flaw that undermined many of the positive steps forward. This remains my view – if we can find a compromise on digital locks, I think this is a bill worth supporting. The following five issues are likely to be the among most contentious in the upcoming hearings:

September 21, 2010 — 46 comments — News