Appeared in the Toronto Star on January 4, 2010 as The Ten Players Who Will Shape Technology Law Predictions about future technology law and policy developments are always fraught with uncertainty, yet identifying the key players is a somewhat easier chore. Although Parliament is not scheduled to resume until March, […]
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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:
Copyright Consultation Provides Blueprint for Reform
Appeared in the Hill Times on November 2, 2009 as Copyright Consultation Provides Blueprint for Reform This past summer, Industry Minister Tony Clement and Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore successfully completed the first national public consultation on copyright policy in eight years. While there were a few inevitable hiccups, the […]
Government Directs CRTC To Consider Fee-For-Carriage
Following on yesterday's post on how Conservative MPs submitted comments to the CRTC in support of fee-for-carriage, this morning Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore announced an Order-in-Council directing the CRTC to hold hearings and report back on a fee-for-carriage system in Canada. The challenge, as noted yesterday, is the possibility […]
Six Days Left: Canadian Net Users Caught As Copyright Consultation Nears Conclusion
[The following post appears simultaneously as a guest post on TorrentFreak today]
Seven weeks ago, the Canadian government launched the first national copyright consultation since 2001. The consultation, which has featured town hall meetings, by-invitation-only roundtables, an online discussion forum, and an open submission process, has attracted considerable interest with over 4,000 submissions to date.
While the overwhelming majority of those submissions have called for balanced reforms that would strengthen fair dealing, create a liability safe harbour for intermediaries, and link any new anti-circumvention rules to actual copyright infringement, there is reason for concern.
There are only six days left in the consultation and the thousands that have spoken out for fair copyright – the students, teachers, Internet users, software programmers, privacy advocates, librarians, and a growing number of creators – now find themselves under attack from two sides.