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New copyright law starts Web storm

Mathew Ingram, December 9, 2007 at 7:10 PM EDT

Update:

The new copyright legislation, which was expected to arrive in Parliament this week, has been delayed -- although it's not clear whether the delay is a result of the criticisms and public outcry described below.

Original post:

The federal government is expected to release the latest version of a new copyright law this week, but it has already whipped up a storm of negative publicity on the Internet – a blogosphere and Facebook tsunami with Industry Minister Jim Prentice at the centre.

One of the architects of this storm is Dr. Michael Geist, a professor of law at the University of Ottawa and an expert in copyright and the Internet, who says he is afraid that the new law will copy the worst aspects of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Among other things, Geist says, the legislation will likely "mirror the DMCA with strong anti-circumvention legislation - far beyond what is needed to comply with the WIPO Internet treaties," and will likely contain no protection for "flexible fair dealing. No parody exception. No time shifting exception. No device shifting exception. No expanded backup provision. Nothing."

Dr. Geist has posted a YouTube video that lists 30 ways in which people can protest the legislation, and has set up a Facebook group as a central rallying point for those opposed to the new legislation.

The law professor's fight has also been adopted by half a dozen influential blogs, including Boing Boing, whose co-founder Cory Doctorow is a Canadian author and former Electronic Frontier Foundation staffer.

In a recent post, Doctorow wrote that "The US’s approach to enforcing copyright in the digital age has resulted in 20,000 lawsuits against music fans, technology companies being sued out of existence for making new multi-purpose tools, and has not put one penny into the pocket of an artist or reduced downloading one bit. The USA stepped into uncharted territory in 1998 with the DMCA and fell off a cliff — that was reckless, but following them off the cliff is insane."

Canadian copyright lawyer Howard Knopf has also been blogging about the legislation, and CBC's Search Engine show tried to get Jim Prentice to come on and do an interview, and solicited questions from readers (host Jesse Brown got more than 240 responses) but the minister said he couldn't go on the program.

The Facebook group Geist set up has more than 10,000 members after less than a week, and helped to generate a small but opinionated crowd of vocal critics who gathered at an open house event held by the Industry Minister in his home riding in Calgary on Saturday.

Other sites that have been following the issue include Fair Copyright and Digital Copyright Canada as well as Online Rights Canada

  1. Perrin Serroul from Mississauga, Canada writes: I am very glad to see the globe and mail start focusing on the story. I hope you guys keep it up. I was one of the people to email you guys about the issue. It would be nice to see more of this to keep canadians informed.
  2. Deborah Johnson from Gatineau, Canada writes: I've been following the debate about the American DMCA for quite a while. I've experienced the annoyance of having downloaded digital music, and then having them crippled by DRM because of licences not being "current". All this does is cause annoyance for the end-consumer. It doesn't protect the artist, at all. So, restrictive copyright laws that echo the defective American example are NOT welcome in my country. I will continue to lobby my MP, and every other government official out there by email, letter, telephone, and web-posting that I can. I urge all Canadians to do the same. The government is OUR voice! We must make them speak for us, not for multi-national companies who want the power in their hands. The artists whose music is disabled by these defective copyright laws don't want them either. Kudos to those who appeared in Calgary to face Mr. Prentice. You've got my thanks and "well done!" congratulations. Let's keep up this fight, until we get a "FAIR" copyright law as Dr. Geist and so many others want.
  3. Mike Parker from Canada writes: News reporting isn't what it used to be. Here is supposed to be a story and Ingram fails to give us a balance of what the actual government position is and what the protesters are actually saying. Who, What, When, How and Why are still the backbone of any good reporting.

    However, not having read or heard anything about what the hoopla is all about, I can only speculate that this supposedly draconian law is attempting to put a stop to illegal downloading or illegally copying copyrighted material.

    If that is the case, only thieves and freeloaders would have a problem with that kind of law. Personally I am tired of subsidizing all those losers who can't make it on their own but insist I pay a levy every time I purchase blank CD/DVD because to them, everyone is a suspect and therefore guilt of illegal downloading.

    If this law is proposing to put an end to freeloading be it by music pirates, or the squatter mentality musicians who can't seem to make it on their own and therefore expect me to subsidize them, then bring it on, its mighty fine by me.
  4. N. Harmon from Vancouver, Canada writes: "If this law is proposing to put an end to freeloading be it by music pirates, or the squatter mentality musicians who can't seem to make it on their own and therefore expect me to subsidize them, then bring it on, its mighty fine by me."

    No, it is a law that makes piracy even more valuable. It isn't about shutting down illegal downloads at all, since they don't exist in Canada. In Canada the Levy on recordable media pays for that. What they want is to stop the LEGAL downloads of public domain goods, created by artists and developers like myself who create products but don't profit from them. With these new copyright laws all of P2P will be closed off as "illegal" even if I permit my goods to be downloaded there for free.

    What it means to you is that you get to pay Microsoft and other American corporations full price plus 40% exchange rate (no matter where the dollar is at apparently), in order to get something that a Canadian would have done for free.

    Why "free"? Because it is a product that shows the quality of my services and its is those services that pay me.

    What you want is to pay top American dollar (usually several times over), and be permitted to repay them whenever they release a minor update. Failure to pay for the minor update means the Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) they put in place will turn off your access to the goods (be it music, software, movies, art, ebooks ...).

    So, go ahead and toss your support in there. I won't feel sorry for you either if you get what you want.
  5. Chris Levesque from Calgary, Canada writes: Mike Parker from Canada writes: However, not having read or heard anything about what the hoopla is all about, I can only speculate that this supposedly draconian law is attempting to put a stop to illegal downloading or illegally copying copyrighted material.

    ///

    Do you think you should have the right to take a CD (one which includes DRM technology, as many do these days) that you legally purchased from a store, rip the music to your computer in MP3 format, and then upload the MP3s to your iPod or other portable media device? That seems like a reasonable and lawful thing to do, right? Not so if this law is passed and includes anti-circumvention measures as is speculated.

    This will do absolutely nothing to stop piracy and will only make the lives of honest consumers more difficult. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to break the DRM on a CD I purchased so I can copy it to my iPod, but anti-circumvention laws would make such an action illegal.
  6. Dave B from Chilly Victoria, Canada writes: Nice to know that our MPs can turn around, bend over and present their best side to Big Media and smile while BM is at it. Can neo-cons READ? Do they not follow all the completely unjust lawsuits launched by BM? What's next? Sell out our privacy rights?
  7. R H from Calgary, Canada writes: If this type of law passes then nearly everyone would currently be breaking the law.
    Imagine...
    Use a PVR(Tivo)? That's recording, that's illegal!
    Backup a CD in case it scratches? That's piracy!
    Make a friend a mix tape? You rotten criminal!
    Lend out a book? Where's your lending license? Got to jail!

    "Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one's sensations."
    ~ Paul Cézanne
  8. Rob M from Calgary, Canada writes: I have already written my MP in the past, and will do so again about this issue. I certainly hope that we can avoid the precepice that the US has plunged over with the DMCA.

    Rob
  9. N. Harmon from Vancouver, Canada writes: Apparently the current government decided not to release the bill? Is there any word on this, or maybe an update to this article would be good. After all, if they decided to wait a bit to review their stance, then it's very likely the public outcry plus this article had something to do with it.
  10. the catholic church from Canada writes: It's disgraceful that the only coverage this topic gets in the G&M is in a blog, buried from regular readers who need to know about this issue and how it will affect them. Why is this not a section-front story, or on the G&M web site's homepage? Did we really need 5 articles about Conrad Black's prison sentence? Come on G&M, you can do better than this. How about informing the public about the federal government's actions and how individual Canadians will be affected?
  11. Chuck the Canuk from way out east, Canada writes: I have been against this sort of abuse by governments and the RIAA for years. They are taking this way way too far and it should be canned, period. Governments and these huge entertainment corporations are ruining people's lives and making ordinary grandmothers and 10 year olds look like criminals. The RIAA in the states is the lowest form of humanity there is. They, and the MPAA and groups like them should be banned and not allowed to lobby and buy their way into the pockets of elected officials. They have done more to erode public confidence and sales of music and movies, than all the so called pirates put together. Yes, the idiots who burn millions of copies of movies and music and sell them should be jailed, that is stealing, but to sue little kids and old people for burning a copy of their own legally purchased cd and moving the tunes to an ipod??? Gimme a break. Typical neo, Harper Conservative, Bush loving government we have here now. Draconian. Where can we sign petitions against this fascist crap?
  12. Stephen Green from North Saanich, Canada writes: While we have yet to see the proposed legislation, there is enough strong rumours to send bags of mail from all quarters to protest this issue.

    I tire of this copyright issue that seems to make everyone a bloody criminal, adds unwarranted costs to unrelated devices and is making someone extremely rich other than the musical author.

    Protest, let us protest in the strongest way.
  13. Jean Naimard from L’Abord-à-Plouffe, Canada writes: One of the worst perverse effects of an eventual DMCA is the prohibition of multi-region DVD players. In effect, that would restrict people to view DVDs solely issued by Hollywood, as it would be illegal to view films from Europe or Asia.

    Now, tell a country with a non-negligible percent of the population born abroad that they cannot access their own culture!!!

    This cannot fly.
  14. john shantz from Canada writes: This is an important enough issue to base your vote on. Why are the Conservatives following the Liberals in bowing to US big business. Remember the Pharmaceutical industry and its spokesperson, a former Liberal cabinet minister. (Just check drug prices in Mexico if you think that one isn't costing us.) Maybe the Green Party or the NDP could take a stand on this.
  15. Fred Smith from The Frozen North, writes: Re: Jean Naimard's comment
    "Now, tell a country with a non-negligible percent of the population born abroad that they cannot access their own culture!!! "

    No, tell a province with a non-negligible percent of the population that speak a language other than English that they cannot access French culture.

    Can you really imagine telling the Quebequois that they may not partake of French culture because they are not allowed to have DVD players that play French movies. Compound the insult by insisting that they must, instead, watch American movies.
  16. Purple Tory from Alberta, Canada writes: RE: David Gibson from Hamilton, Canada:

    Maybe we should taser those gosh darn kids who are downloading music in their mom's basement. Perhaps even send them to prison for copyright infringement. Sorry kid, welcome to the real world, where profit is more important than people. Share a CD with a friend? You're a criminal.

    The funny thing is, even if we instated the death penalty for copyright infringement (as many industry lobbyists would love) it still wouldn't stop file sharing. You would need to destroy every computer in the world to do that. The genie is out the bottle and will never go back in, no matter how many reactionary laws are passed by bought politicians. The people who need to adapt to the real world are the music and movie cartels. "Welcome to civilization" - a civilization where data flows across borders like the air we breathe, a file can travel the world in seconds, and anything that can be seen or heard can be copied and shared.

    I'm sure the horse and buggy industry was upset by the advent of automobiles, but times change. Deal with it. It's not the government's job to protect the profit margins of your defunct industry.
  17. Andrew Wells from Toronto, Canada writes: This proposed legislation sounds like just another level of government red tape that nobody needs (...and I thought Conservatives were supposed to stay OUT of peoples lives, sheesh!).

    The copyright issue is done, dead, finito. All the good shows are on Video On Demand, and I haven't heard a new band worth downloading in years.

    Besides, Geezers over 30 don't even know whats out there to copy, and kids under 30 are so far ahead of the legislation with emerging technologies, that we will never manage to stem the flow of pirated content anyway. Ever heard of BitTorrents...? If not, you're a dinosaur.

    Better to take in a live show, or better yet, go steal a book like Abbie Hoffman told you to do.

    I just wish our Government could get it right and not simply copy the U.S. Now that's ironic!
  18. Dean Ol from Vancvouver, Canada writes: Mike Parker's comment is ignorant of the major issues concerning web copyright law, and is therefore unacceptable. I require this individual to first issue an apology, and second, he must retract his comment. Failure to do so will result in further requirements.
  19. fragglerock westcoast from Canada writes: The only thing this ridiculous law will accomplish will be to make piracy extremely profitable. The more I read, the more I think it would be good to ditch the day job, find a kid too young to be prosecuted as an adult, and have him set up his room in Mom's basement for producing copies. Making things illegal does not make it go away. It just makes it more expensive.
  20. Randall Quaid from Canada writes: It's sad to see people like M.Parker and others of their ilk, so sadly misinformed, while it's so nice to see someone mention the levy on recordable medium we pay for the right to use blank cd's, if we so choose, Parker is not so much ignorant, as sadly misinformed, why, well the media of course, how many times have you heard the sad excuses for newspeople on television refer to "illegal" downloading of music in this country, they spread this ignorance with their laziness, failing to do basic research on the issue. Hey Mr.Parker, what about people like me who purchase cd's for open source software or personal family photos, in other words no damn movies or music, yet I get clipped by those slimey buggers running the recording industry with the levy. btw,look to Europe, or even down south, DRM is a travesty, Wal-Mart, is forcing the no DRM issue..it's only sleazy companies like MS who support DRM...and also, if DRM goes through how quickly is the levy coming off???, I'm not about to keep contributing to those slimey buggers.
  21. M T from Canada writes: "Geist is the paid mouthpiece for cheapism and stealism."

    Paid by whom, moron. The question should be who's paying you, CPC or CRIA?
  22. J W from Montreal from Canada writes: As a musician, I would not want people to download my album for free and never get a cent back for my hard work. I would definately not have a problem with users buying my album and then transferring it to their computer/mp3 player for their OWN use. Nothing drives me more crazy then when I pay $15 to $20 for a cd and I can't even put it on my mp3 player.
    I think that a better idea than stricter copyright laws would be for sites like myspace to start paying their musician users a royalty each time their song is played - just like the radio does and a lot of the video sites are doing these days (paying ppl with videos a royalty each time their vid is played).
  23. J W from Montreal from Canada writes: "Stephen Green from North Saanich, Canada writes:
    I tire of this copyright issue that seems to make everyone a bloody criminal, adds unwarranted costs to unrelated devices and is making someone extremely rich other than the musical author."

    Exactly, it seems just like when the US raised the price on writable cds/casettes, and this money was supposed to go to musicians becuase people were pirating their music ....guess what...the average musician never saw a dime of this money.
  24. Edward Toplak from Burlington, Canada writes: When will Canada think for itself and not jump over the DMCA cliff but rather suggest a reasonable middle of the road approach?
    When are we going to pass laws to protect consumers that makes it illegal for anyone to place root kit software into our computers without our knowledge so that they can monitor our computers without our knowledge.
    It does not matter if your name is Sony, you as big business will still resort to devious measures to make more money. Long live free enterprise, big business, and 1984
    Edward
  25. Some Guy from Ottawa, Canada writes: Mike Parker's comments are those of a 65 yeard old technical-neophyte baffoon. If he would simply read up on the issue he might not have embrarassed himself so easily on the G&M forum.
  26. Adrienne Stevenson from Canada writes: Another example of the slippery slope to emulation of the worst the USA has to offer. Why on earth would we want to follow them into the abyss? Now more than ever we should be distancing ourselves from their draconian policies. Besides, like others on this list, I have many friends in the arts and know only too well that the originators of the copyrighted material are rarely, if ever, the ones to benefit from this type of law. Only big corporations and lawyers see the cash. And yes, that's very American too. Not a good road to travel. I wonder -- does this have anything to do with the rise of independent music production and web sales by originators, and the fall of multinational recording and publishing companies? I'd hazard a guess that there are more of them behind this proposed law than there are individual musicians and artists. Something to ponder.
  27. . . from Metropolis, Canada writes: Part 1
    The best way to cover up the real issues is to create a tempest in a teapot, a distraction. The recording industry is a power yes, but only a part of a much larger power using all governments as a tool, a means to add this cog, one of many, to a system already in place. Control and monitoring are the ultimate goal. Consider how much power the Patriot Act gives the American government over it's people. Now consider a system that goes beyond America and covers the world. Consider how your ability to buy and sell in this digital world is already at the mercy of someone with a keyboard who can freeze your assets with the stroke of a key or two. Consider when electronic currency is our only option. Consider how data mining can amass everything stored on some computer and create a portfolio on you, complete with information and contacts from emails, social sites, purchases, url's visited, health records, etc., even pictures you put online matched to your IP address. They even want to use new chipped drivers licences as a port to this info claiming it is necessary for convenient border crossing. Now as someone said, give them the power to bypass laws we have to protect our IP identities with the installation of root kit software into our computers by cd or law no less, with the power to snoop where our information reveals who we are and it becomes a much bigger issue than ripping cd's. Consider also why P2P is seen as a threat to these goals.
  28. . . from Metropolis, Canada writes: Part 2
    The stumbling blocks we create today will no long be a problem tomorrow once these systems are in place. Dissension of any kind including what we write here and more importantly dissenters can be silenced once and for all and where will that leave us? Consider how these comment sections may not be giving us a voice but ultimately be used as a tool to take it away by drawing us out. Now consider ultimately once these systems are in place how easy it would be for someone or a group to use this technology to fulfil the dream of world government. Don't be distracted by Billy or Suzy downloading tripe. It's about as relevant as the hype the media gives to celebrity to distract us from the fact they no longer address reality. This is all reality, no longer fiction. Look and think higher.
  29. . . from Metropolis, Canada writes: Could this be another attempt to harness and control the internet? We already are restricted in our access to the world by sites which tell us what is "relevant" for our browsing pleasure. Compare the ease of accessibility of ten years ago to now. Sites such as Google, Yahoo, etc., are worldwide portals into local affairs, portraying of course, only the affairs which are not seen as dissenting or dangerous to the "free" world. Our view of the world is increasingly GROOMED for us on the net as it already is through newspapers and television/radio. The internet is the last bastion of free speech. Will not this act restrict us, restrict blogs, etc., something the Americans are already living with as bloggers are being jailed? Consider this. It will become illegal to copy for future reference by way of paste/copy or computer or media recorders any published works, the intent being no doubt that as history is constantly revised, even as it is now on a weekly basis, there can be no legal record of previous histories to contest revised or edited information. One more thing to ponder in the big picture.
  30. Rich McCue from Victoria, BC, writes: Here is my letter to the governemnt... I emailed to and sent it via canada post to my local MP, and the Prime Minister:

    http://richmccue.com/2007/12/08/canadiandmcabad/
  31. Brian Licee from Burnaby, Canada writes: What's the big deal??

    If you want to copy someone's material so what?
    Be my guest.
    I think other than an academic setting (school) anyone should be able to copy any work especially in the literary and entertainment fields. Copying someones work is the sincerest form of flattery. These rules and laws are set-up by governments to protect corporate big media. Just look at all the writers on strike now in N. America do you think most writers make an excellent living off of craft?

    What's the damage done? Most of the content in media in N. America is crappy anyway thanks to just 5 companies that own 95% of all media in Canada for example. It's 500 channels and 50 million URLS with little or no meaningful content. It's the same old story the only people that get to benefit are lawyers, media Moguls, the politicos and CRTC bureaucrats.

    Nope, you won't find creativity in our present situation-only more BS.
  32. Patrick Rogers from Kamloops, Canada writes: Too bad our legislators weren't in the same frame of mind 100 years ago. They would have banned the gasoline engine because it might have put the horse breeders out of business.
  33. Double Speak from Canada writes: Conservatives new motto " Sell out Canada" Who does Prentice really work for Canadians or Americans?

    I wonder what the liberal Party will do with this copyright bill?? Support the gov't or will the liberals ask Dr Geist to help shape Liberal platform/amendments on the copyright legislation?? Time will tell

    I wonder if Harpie Cons will follow what the majority of average Canadians want -- that is fair use copyright laws or will they listen to their political and music/movie industry masters in the USA??

    I hope Harpie and his Con friends will make this a non confidence matter? :) So that Cons will become a minority party again
  34. Kevin Kaminski from Calgary, Canada writes: I'm an IT consultant, programmer and musician. I believe Canada does need some copyright reform but this bill isn't it by a long shot. It's a piece of over the top corporate special interest legislation to milk consumers for every dime they can get. Can Harper's government do a bigger backflip? I don't know but they are sure trying. Please let your MP know that this is not in the interest of Canadians!
  35. Erich Walther from London, Ontario, Canada writes: As we Canadians lose our sense of an independent culture, and have been forced ever more to OBEY our haughty neighbor's lead, this pressure has not simply been adopted, rather, it is causing incredible social unrest among Canadians and creating a great deal of hatred towards the united states among Canadian youths, who feel the impacts of such decisions on their lives very much.
    This is not a simple outrage about copy write laws, it is essentially, the outcry of Canadians against this seemingly American controlled government we have in power, as well as the Canadian youth's sense of the growing lack of individuality between us and our American neighbors. This is all building a great deal of prejudice towards the USA.

    However, more to the point, I simply wished to comment that regarding the so called "artist's rights" which the music industry claims to be protecting, have never truly been threatened at all. NOT AT ALL!... Those artists aren't starving or going cold, believe me!

    I am a musician, I have 6 Fully produced albums and over 60 hours of yet unreleased material.. I put a lot of time and effort into making my music. And I post it on the internet for FREE, because I am not an opportunist, I work for a living, I don't sit of my duff singing songs and expect to be paid for it. That doesn't help the economy, and those people aren't contributing members of society, they are lechers, who sing nice songs, but that's all... A strong conviction, I know, but I put my music out because I enjoy making music, and art is meant to be appreciated, not profited from... So what about artists like myself, who WANT to distribute our art for free to the public???

    And quite frankly, the consensus is that Canadians DO NOT WELCOME American laws in our country, and this Canadian is NOT an ally of the US, and I will Revolt if forced to. So let's all say "NO!"..
    If no one OBEYS, the laws CAN'T be enforced!!!
  36. Harry Cardwell from Burlington, Canada writes: Isn't it amazing that the U.S. military built the internet, the U.S. information technology industry marketed every available means for downloading material from the web in the form of computers etc, and then stand back in amazement and cry 'thief' when people actually have the audacity to use the tools they have sold.

    On the issue of roaming charges and overseas use of cell phones, most Bell phones don't operate on overseas networks (for my 'protection', or so i was told when I questioned this with Bell!?) and don't carry SIM cards. I got round this in the UK by walking into an Orange Mobile store, and buying a pay-as-u-go phone for 10pounds, about $20 - try finding a phone for a similar price in Canada. No connection fee, and no 911 charge (the sales staff at Orange fell around in hysterics when I told them Canadians actually pay for this service), and cheaper minute by minute costs than in Canada, as well as avoiding those roaming charges. Oh, and the phone works great!

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