[Ecommerce] M. Geist: Australian report on TPM provision implementation

[Manon Ress]

 From Michael Geist's blog:

http://michaelgeist.ca/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,1137/
Itemid,85/nsub,/

Kim Weatherall provides a quick summary (http://www.lawfont.com/
2006/03/02/tpm-inquiry-report-is-out/) of what is an exceptionally
important Australian parliamentary report on TPM provision
implementation.  The report includes 37 recommendations with a long
list of protections.  Kim points to coverage of region coding
(specifically excluded as TPM), linking access controls to copyright,
and exceptions when the amount of non-copyright material protected
under a TPM is substantial (and modestly doesn't reference the
committee's citations of her own work).

There is lots more including exceptions for fair dealing, education,
and libraries.  Moreover, the committee made it clear that changes in
the law that facilitate greater access (such as format shifting or
backup rights) should be matched by a TPM exception.  As Kim concludes:

"Two arms of government have now spoken: the High Court of Australia,
and a committee of the Parliament. Both have affirmed that copyright
law must be balanced; that anti-circumvention laws should be matched
to copyright rights, rather than overly extending them . How will the
executive react?"

This report should obviously be required reading in Canada.  In fact,
it should be more than just read.  It should be matched by a similar
process (just as recently occured in the UK) that ensures that
Canadian law similarly preserves the appropriate balance should we
enact anti-circumvention provisions.

The copyright lobby argued that Bill C-60 did not go far enough in
protecting TPMs.  It seems to me that this report from independent
parliamentarians (no pro-user zealots there) confirms that the
opposite is true: the bill did not do enough to provide consumers and
the marketplace with adequate protections from TPMs.

************************************************
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

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