[A2k] CBC: Government ready to drop copyright bomb

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/06/11/tech-copyright.html

Government ready to drop copyright bomb
Last Updated: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 | 7:25 PM ET
By Peter Nowak, CBC News

The government is ready to introduce controversial new copyright
legislation that experts believe will introduce harsh new restrictions
on downloading, copying songs to CDs and music players, unlocking
cellphones and time-shifting of television shows.

Minister of Industry Jim Prentice and the Minister of Canadian
Heritage Jos=E9e Verner will unveil the bill to amend the Copyright Act
on Thursday at 10:45 a.m. ET with brief statements, followed by a
question-and-answer session with the media.

Critics fear the bill will mirror the U.S. Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA), which similarly brought in restrictive measures
and opened the door for copyright owners to enact huge lawsuits
against violators.

Prentice has said on several occasions that Canada's Copyright Act
must be amended in order to bring the country into compliance with the
World Intellectual Property Organization treaty it signed in 1996.

The minister was forced to retreat on introducing the bill in December
after being hit with major public opposition. More than 20,000 people
joined a protest group started on social networking site Facebook by
University of Ottawa internet and e-commerce professor Michael Geist,
an outspoken critic of the bill.

The opposition to the legislation has only grown since then, with the
Facebook group counting more than 40,000 members now.

Canadian artists, librarians and students, as well as a business
coalition made up of some of Canada's biggest companies =97 including
Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp., as well as Google Inc. and
Yahoo Inc. =97 have expressed their opposition to any legislation that
imposes harsh copyright restrictions.

The chorus of opposition was joined last week by a coalition of
consumers groups =97 including Option consommateurs, Consumers Council
of Canada, Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), the Canadian
Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) and Online Rights
Canada (OnlineRights.ca) =97 who wrote a letter to the two ministers.
The consumer groups expressed dismay that they had not been consulted
on the pending legislation.

Prentice responded to questioning in the House of Commons last week by
saying he would not introduce the bill until he and Verner were
satisfied that it struck the right balance between consumers and
copyright holders.

Geist has repeatedly attacked the government on his blog for its lack
of consultation with the Canadian public on the issue. However,
Prentice has met with U.S. trade representatives and entertainment
industry lobbyists to discuss the legislation.

"Prentice should be honest about the core anti-circumvention rules
that are likely to mirror the DMCA and run counter to the concerns of
business, education and consumer groups," Geist wrote on his blog.
"Those rules are quite clearly 'Born in the USA.'"

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997