Received from Anne Marie Pavlov:
;:Excellent questions! Thanks for making me think...
Music File-sharing: What is your position on the issue of file-sharing in Canada--should it be illegal?
;:The Green Party believes heartily in moving with technology and using it in a powerful way to make the world a better place. Needless to say, sharing files leans in the direction of a paperless economy, and we love that. It also allows the maximum number of users to see/use the files with the least amount of wasted resources.
Technological Protection of Copyrighted Materials: What is your position on using legislation to prohibit circumvention of TPMs?
;:Not too sure about this. Of course, there will always be hackers, and there will always be law-abiders. But TPMs are an infinite frustration to those who need to copy their files/software for legal purposes. I don't know that legislation is the answer.
Educational Use of Internet Materials: Do you support an amendment to the Copyright Act to allow for the use of freely available materials on the Internet by participants in an educational program?
;:Yes
ISP Liability for copyright infringement: Should ISPs be protected from liability for copyright infringement when others merely transmit copyrighted materials over their facilities, or when others post copyrighted works on websites that the ISP merely hosts?
;:Yes, they should be protected. It's impossible for an ISP to possibly be aware of and control the data travelling over their wires. The manpower required to do this would be prohibitive. Most ISPs do an excellent job when problems are reported, and police themselves accordingly. And a lot of concerned citizens report problems to the ISPs who can often solve the problem, if the data is located on their server. But this is an impossible task when the data resides on the infringer's computer and is merely being transferred over the ISP's wire.
What is your position on the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage's proposed "notice and takedown" scheme requiring ISPs to remove content on the sole basis of alleged copyright infringement?
;:Not sure about this one.
Open Source Software: What is your position on increasing or mandating the use of open source software in government operations?
;:Directly from our platform:
;:In this era of increasing technology dependence, both in business and in daily life, software has become a vital economic resource. Software applications must be trustworthy, reliable and easy-to-use. The Open Source Movement is emerging as a competitive rival to privately developed and marketed software, producing programs of equal or better reliability and security.
;:The Green Party will:
;:Require federal agencies to initiate transitions to open source operating systems and productivity software.
;:Make technology that has been developed at public expense, a publicly owned resource. Software that has been developed at taxpayer expense will be released under an open source license, making it free for all Canadians to use.
;:Procure only software that stores, loads and transmits information in industry standard formats, for which full technical specifications are available. Procurement of systems that require closed licenses or use vendor-specific formats would be used only if no alternative is available.
;:Shorten the length of software patents to seven years. The software business cycle is so fast that longer patents only stifle innovation.
Spam: How do you propose to approach the problem of spam?
;:Directly from our platform:
;:In Canada, over ten billion junk e-mails are sent every year. The federal government and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission have yet to address this issue. While spam is an international problem, Canada should start becoming part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.
;:The Green Party will create Anti-Spam laws with the following rules:
;:E-mail marketers will be forced to identify themselves properly.
;:Marketers must make their pitches honestly.
;:Marketers must honour any person's request to be removed from their contact lists.
;:Marketers must abide by a Canadian "do-not-spam" registry.
;:CSIS will coordinate with the international law enforcement and security agencies to crack down on the worst spammers.
National ID cards: What is your position on National ID cards?
;:I think National ID cards are a great idea.
;:Sincerely,
;:Anne Marie Pavlov
;:Hamilton Centre
;:Green Party Candidate