Canadian Bloggers Gain Ground Against Tory Copyright Plans

"I'm the last guy in the world to be an activist," admits Mr. Lam, a Calgary-based technology consultant and blogger (www.ideasrevolution.com) who organized a rally at Mr. Prentice's Calgary riding office over the past weekend. "The copyright issue of fair use and dictating who can have access to what information really bugged me. And instead of just bitching, I figured I'd better do something."

That something resulted in about 50 people -- some of whom drove from Edmonton to Calgary -- gathering and confronting Mr. Prentice about his proposed copyright legislation.

That, along with heated blogs, online discussions and the delivery of thousands of e-mails and letters, has apparently led the minister to ask for the revision of sections of the document dealing with digital rights management (DRM) and anti-circumvention technology.

(That's the technology that blocks users from gaining access to information without paying for it and imposes stiff penalties on those who break through the barriers. It's a key part of the U.S. Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DCMA), which many believe to be the template for the Canadian legislation.)

While there is now considerable
celebration about the CDMCA's delay, in my view such celebration is
premature. The decision to delay the bill is the right one, but it
could still reappear within the next few days (indeed, Dierdre McMurdy
reports that that is the hope). Even if the delay stretches into 2008,
a delayed bill that does not feature a genuine copyright balance is
little better than the bill that was to have been unveiled today. For
those concerned with fair copyright, I believe this means that they
must continue to press for balanced copyright by writing to the
Ministers, their MPs, their provincial Ministers of Education, as well
as to their University Presidents and school district leaders.

For the Industry Minister, there is an opportunity to turn this into
a political and policy win. He has seen first hand the passion of
Canadians who seek balanced copyright. He can now turn to the thousands
of Canadians who have written and called over the past 10 days and
invite them to participate in an open consultation process. The
government should use the next six weeks to develop a consultation
paper that outlines its preferred approach and invite all Canadians to
comment. A winter consultation could lead to a new bill by late spring,
still offering the chance to reform Canadian copyright law in 2008.
While there has been considerable criticism leveled at Prentice, this
is the same man who two weeks ago did the right thing on the wireless
spectrum auction by putting the interests of consumers first. He now
has the chance to put the interests of all Canadians first by launching
a copyright consultation early next year.