The government of Canada is holding copyright consultations with the public until September 13. I am pleased to see that the official government website allows for comments and some social functionality; you can view the most read comments and the most recent comments easily. The topics covered by the consultation – Copyright and You, Test of Time, Innovation and Creativity, Competition and Investment, and Digital Economy – bear some similarities to the CRTC’s spring eConsultation on ISP practices. Looking through some of the comments, I was pleased to see people comment in favour of expanded fair dealing (that’s the approximate Canadian equivalent to the U.S. concept of “fair use”) and protection for the public domain. I would also compliment the designers of the commenting system – there are moderators for each area and background documents to help citizens get up to speed. You can also attend townhall style meetings to comment on this issue in person and read transcripts of the nine sessions already held.
Librarians, information professionals and anyone with a stake in the digital economy should pay attention to copyright issues. As the economy shifts more and more toward services and intellectual production, copyright becomes a central issue. It wasn’t always this way. I recall a lecture that Michael Geist gave where he remarked that copyright was regarded as something of an esoteric aspect of commercial law in the 1980s; that is certainly no longer the case. Copyright is a balancing act that needs to take account of the needs of creators to obtain compensation and users to access those materials. Arguably, recent changes in copyright law (especially in the United States) have tilted the balance too heavily toward content owners and creators.
Many Canadian librarians and associations have been active in speaking out during these copyright consultations. The Canadian Library Association’s Copyright Working Group has argued for stronger fair dealing, critiqued digital locks, and that a “notice and notice” regime for ISPs should be adopted (rather the the “notice and takedown” procedure used in the US). The Ontario Library Association has also produced a guide to help librarians understand what the implications of copyright reform to their professional duties. Karen Adams, speaking on behalf of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, spoke at the Winnipeg round table and public hearing back in August. Of course, there are many more contributors out there; this is simply a sampling.
What did I learn in doing research? I knew that there was a proposal to adopt protection for digital locks (digital locks prevent one from accessing content on media such as DVDs and making a backup copy, for example). Making it illegal to circumvent digital locks would have harm the ability of disabled persons to access materials. Copyright reform affects everybody, so take a few moments and learn about the issues. Then, if you are so moved, communicate your views to your Member of Parliament or comment through the online consultation system.
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