"Collection Societies"

From: Russell McOrmond <russell _-at-_ flora.ca>
To: No DMCA in Canada <canada-dmca-opponents (at) flora.org>
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2001 20:28:35 -0400 (EDT)

  I just read an article in Interactive Week (I get this by snail weekly)
entitled:  "Copyright Tug O' War"
http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0,4164,2787169,00.html

  I'm a bit upset by the assumptions that this article was based on.

  It speaks about hardware vendors opposing the levies being discussed to
be added to computers because "computers can be used to illegally copy
copyright materials".  In this backward world that claims "innocent until
proven guilty", this is assuming that anyone buying blank media
(Video/audio tapes, writeable CD's, etc) is an assumed guilty of copyright
infringement and is charged accordingly.

  I might not oppose such a levy if the money were being used to go
towards research/entertainment/etc that was to be part of the public
domain, but this is a legal structure yet again unduly biased in favor of
copyright holders of proprietary information.


  Also in the article it suggests that these Levies are being balanced
against the anti-circumvention laws, possibly with the proprietary
information vendors attempting to solicit the help of hardware vendors in
their push  towards digital protection schemes.

A gem of a quote:

   While copyright holders have not taken a public role in the debate,
   Fran cine Cunningham, a spokes woman for the International Federation
   of the Phonographic Industry, which represents record companies
   around the world, says the group's members prefer to use technology
   that prevents unauthorized digital copying.

  Except that many (most?) copyright holders aren't the artists/authors,
but intellectual employers, this even goes to admit that it is the
"distribution system" - the redundant (in modern times) middleman - that
wants even further control.

  The assumptions of copyright being a simple matter of society
temporarily granting a monopoly to producers of works as an encouragement
for intellectual development has been turned on it's head.  I believe this
was done by a gradual ratcheting issue-by-issue of copyright to the favor
of specific types of copyright holders (primary these industry middle-men
between artists-and-fans/developers-and-users), and it is about time we
turned the direction of that ratchet and moved it back to a situation that
is more balanced!


Also included in the article is a reference to the Canadian situation:

   Outside Europe, Canada has imposed levies on recordable CDs. Geist,
   the Ottawa law professor, says that while there has been some
   discussion of extending these levies to PCs and MP3 players, no formal
   proposal has been developed.

   Yet a handful of technology industry officials say, on condition of
   anonymity, that if the European collection societies succeed in their
   quest for new levies, similar groups in other parts of the world would
   almost certainly be emboldened to follow suit.
   
   While Geist says that he does not expect the U.S. to embrace such
   levies in the short term, the concept is "not off the table," if
   levies come to be seen as the only way for copyright holders to get
   paid.



Michael Geist's website is at: http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~geist/

References on this site indicate he has written about the copyright reform
process, including:

http://news.globetechnology.com/servlet/GAMArticleHTMLTemplate?tf=globetechnology/TGAM/NewsFullStory.html&cf=globetechnology/tech-config-neutral&slug=TWGEISY&date=20010712

It is referenced from his website as:

   The latest edition of my regular Globe and Mail column on Internet law
   appeared on July 12th. Titled Canada's On-line Copyright Policy Takes
   Shape, the column takes a closer look at the recent discussion
   document on Canadian copyright reform. It notes that Canadian policy
   makers are sending a clear message -- compliance with the WIPO
   treaties does not necessarily mean enacting a Canadian DMCA.

  I have read the article and it is good.  If the Interactive Week quoted
him correctly, I suspect we will radically disagree on the issue of
collection societies, but I am copying him on this letter in the hopes
that he might visit http://www.flora.org/dmca/ and make commentary from
his legal background on copyright issues.

---
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
 Free Sklyarov http://www.dibona.com/dmca/ http://www.freesklyarov.org/ 
 http://www.flora.org/dmca/ Oppose DMCA in Canada! (C) reform process....
 http://russell.flora.org/drafts/copyright-2001.html My draft submission..

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