Received from Mike Murphy:
;:Hi Philippa
;:Answers to you tech questions I hope they help you and your collogues make your voting decisions.
Music File-sharing: What is your position on the issue of file-sharing in Canada--should it be illegal?
;:File-sharing is one of those disruptive technologies that comes along now and then to challenge the entertainment industry's status quo. For example, the invention of the cassette tape led to the record industry protesting that it would destroy music sales (it didn't). The invention of the VCR led Hollywood to claim that the movie industry would collapse (Hollywood now makes plenty of money from VCR tape and DVD sales). Banning file-sharing would be like banning the VCR; it would just protect business from change at the expense of consumers. In my view it is better for the entertainment industry to develop new business models than to seek government protection. One good example is Apple's iTunes, a legal music downloading service which also allows burning to a CD and limited file-sharing. This service is doing very well.
Technological Protection of Copyrighted Materials: What is your position on using legislation to prohibit circumvention of TPMs?
;:The purpose of copyright is to give content creators an incentive to create works while also guaranteeing public access to ideas (and thus spurring innovation). I am opposed to a US-style Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as it goes too far in restricting the flow of ideas to the public, and will reduce the pace of innovation. Again, I believe that this issue is less one of enforcement and more one of developing new business models, which is the responsibility of industry, not government.
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. This benefits all of society and is consistent with past "fair use" practice (photocopying of materials for educational use).
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?
;:ISPs should be protected. ISPs in my view are common carriers, like the telephone company. They are no more responsible for the content on their servers than Bell Canada is for what people say on their telephone lines.
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?
;:Again, ISPs in my view are a common carrier and not responsible for content on their servers.
Open Source Software: What is your position on increasing or mandating the use of open source software in government operations?
;:A major concern with proprietary software is that of security; we can't get "under the hood" to fix problems ourselves or even to be certain that the software is secure for government operations. Therefore I believe that we need to do more in government to explore the benefits of open source software.
Spam: How do you propose to approach the problem of spam?
;:Spam is an international problem, which we need to tackle both in Canada through legislation banning most spam and internationally on a bilateral and multilateral basis. The way forward on this is clear, but the Liberal government has taken no action. A Conservative government would act quickly.
National ID cards: What is your position on National ID cards?
;:Currently many of the forms of identification and registration cards, designed for specific uses, invade privacy, or are used by third parties for the collection of private information, and are of little or no value in combating internal threats to our peace and security. Terrorism and other forms of potential disruptions to society (organized crime) cannot be contained by a trusting, freedom loving, and peaceful society in which individuals are permitted total anonymity: we must be able to ensure that those in our midst can be identified as Canadian citizens or identified as visitors. Protection of the privacy and the rights of the individual is paramount but we must now be prepared to protect the rights and security of all individual Canadians. Efforts to date have failed to respect the rights and ensure privacy. Our goal will be to ensure that all persons claiming to be Canadian citizens will be identifiable but whose privacy and rights will be respected." The problem is: How do we address the problem of "anonymity" while respecting privacy.