Thursday, November 10, 2011

Bill C-11 Information Round-Up

From the FB Group:

I would like to bring something to everyone's attention, an upcoming bill that will have a direct affect on all of us. Bill C-11, called the "Copyright Modernization Act". You may have heard about an earlier incarnation of this bill, called "C-32"; this is the exact same bill, word-for-word. It is being pushed largely by lobbyists representing U.S. interests, and there is evidence to suggest this lobbying is largely funded by U.S. corporations.
For the most part the bill has people's support; it has been praised as being a healthy compromise between what various different groups have been pushing for. But there is one section of it that has received widespread criticism, Digital Locks. The provisions concerning digital locks completely overrule everything else, and they undermine our property rights. It makes circumventing a digital lock illegal regardless of the circumstances, even if it was being circumvented for legal purposes. This will have negative repercussions in schools, libraries, and in your own homes.

This CBC article does a great job of explaining the bill.

Michael Geist has written on this topic extensively, he currently holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law. He is writing a series of blog posts called "The Daily Digital Lock Dissenter" that has been very informative. It's updated daily with reports on the progress of the bill, and the various different perspectives people have on it. He's done a great job of explaining the bill and the reason the Conservative party is pushing for the bill in this post.

For more information I'd recommend reading his blog.

The actual bill, and it's current progress in parliament, can be viewed here.

Virtually every person and organization that has expressed their thoughts about this bill has opposed the digital lock provisions, I think this is something we can all agree on. Nobody benefits from this, apart from foreign corporate interests. We can talk about this more at our next GA, I'll be posting more information to this page later for those that are interested.

==

This topic was raised at the GA on 10 November.

2 comments:

Erika said...

Here's an informative website about Bill C-32, the Copyright Modernization Act (Bill C-11's former designation).

http://www.copyrightgetitright.ca/

Since nothing has changed in the actual legislation, all the information on this website still stands.

Gudahtt said...

Not quite the same thing, that website is a campaign on behalf of writers, publishers, anyone that produces content basically, and it's in opposition to something the teachers unions have been asking for for decades. That is, exceptions to copyright for educational purposes. This is a case of one group v.s. another, the public as a whole doesn't have a problem with this particular part of the bill. It's clearly beneficial for everyone involved but the content producers.

The issue that stands a chance of uniting us is digital locks, which nobody has supported aside from the Conservative party. In opposition to digital locks, there is:
Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI) BC, Canadian Consumer Initiative, Retail Council of Canada, Canadian Council of Archives, Canadian Teachers' Federation, Canadian Federation of Students, Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Documentary Organization of Canada, Canadian Library Association, Council of Ministers of Education Canada, Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright, Canadian Association of Research Libraries, Canadian Historical Association, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Canadian Bookseller Association, Canadian Home and School Federation, Film Studies Association of Canada, Canadian Bar Association, Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Appropriation Art, Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives, Canadian Association of Law Libraries, Federation Etudiante Universitaire du Quebec, Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres, Canadian Association of Media Education Associations,
Association of Canadian Community Colleges

And that's just to start with :p

Newer Post Older Post Home