Attention Canadian Flisters
So, Bill C-32. Canada's copyright bill currently with a legislative committee to be fine tuned before it's implemented as law. There's still time to fix it!
The committee is currently accepting public opinion on it. You have until January 31, 2011 to email them. Here's the info:
In order for briefs on Bill C-32 to be considered by the Committee in a timely fashion, the document should be submitted to the Committee’s mailbox at CC32@parl.gc.ca by the end of January, 2011. A brief which is longer than 5 pages should be accompanied by a 1 page executive summary and in any event should not exceed 10 pages in length.
There are good things about this bill (vidding exemption! expanded consumer rights!) but there are also some parts that are really bad. Like all the consumer rights they've given can be trumped by the manufacturer if they decide to put a digital lock on it.
I strongly urge all Canadians to write in and try to fix this bill.
For more information, here are some handy links:
House of Commons' News Release
Michael Geist's Call to Action
Project Gutenber's Call to Action
Copyright law should be about providing enough protection for creators so that they can be paid to create but also provide enough consumer rights to motivate them to but the creative product. Without enough creator protections, they don't get paid and creation is stifled. Too many creator protections and consumers get frustrated and don't pay for content and creation is stifled. For a long time Canada has been in the latter boat.
The current laws are so protective that consumers feel they have no rights and may as well ignore the laws. There are so many levies in place here that people don't feel the need to pay for their creative content because they've already been fined for getting it illegally. Many of the products and services in other countries that have made it cheap and easy for consumers to pay for content aren't available in Canada because our laws are too strict for them to work, or they come here but are heavily stifled. All of this adding to the downloading culture here. All of this hurting creators more than it helps.
Bill C-32 is not going to fix all of that (and, in fact, some sections, like the digital lock provisions, only add to that culture) but if we can get it right, it would be a really good first step. Let's make this work
The committee is currently accepting public opinion on it. You have until January 31, 2011 to email them. Here's the info:
In order for briefs on Bill C-32 to be considered by the Committee in a timely fashion, the document should be submitted to the Committee’s mailbox at CC32@parl.gc.ca by the end of January, 2011. A brief which is longer than 5 pages should be accompanied by a 1 page executive summary and in any event should not exceed 10 pages in length.
There are good things about this bill (vidding exemption! expanded consumer rights!) but there are also some parts that are really bad. Like all the consumer rights they've given can be trumped by the manufacturer if they decide to put a digital lock on it.
I strongly urge all Canadians to write in and try to fix this bill.
For more information, here are some handy links:
House of Commons' News Release
Michael Geist's Call to Action
Project Gutenber's Call to Action
Copyright law should be about providing enough protection for creators so that they can be paid to create but also provide enough consumer rights to motivate them to but the creative product. Without enough creator protections, they don't get paid and creation is stifled. Too many creator protections and consumers get frustrated and don't pay for content and creation is stifled. For a long time Canada has been in the latter boat.
The current laws are so protective that consumers feel they have no rights and may as well ignore the laws. There are so many levies in place here that people don't feel the need to pay for their creative content because they've already been fined for getting it illegally. Many of the products and services in other countries that have made it cheap and easy for consumers to pay for content aren't available in Canada because our laws are too strict for them to work, or they come here but are heavily stifled. All of this adding to the downloading culture here. All of this hurting creators more than it helps.
Bill C-32 is not going to fix all of that (and, in fact, some sections, like the digital lock provisions, only add to that culture) but if we can get it right, it would be a really good first step. Let's make this work