Digital Copyright Canada

I did a quick lookup of the new list of MPs for those races for past members of Heritage Committee and members of Industry Committee.

Past Heritage Minister Honourable Hélène Chalifour Scherrer, Liberal candidate for Louis-Hébert, lost her seat to Roger Clavet of the Bloc Québécois.

6/23/2004 5:00:00 PM - Public interest groups like PIAC asked five federal parties what they plan to do about spam, privacy and open source once in office. Four of them responded. Find out how technology issues stack up on the national agenda

by Fawzia Sheikh

[Read full article | http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&sid=55943]

CIPPIC responds to Bulte Report on Copyright Reform:
Together with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), CIPPIC issued a highly critical response
(PDF) to the Interim Report on Copyright Reform released by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last month. CIPPIC and PIAC state that the report ignores key evidence and submissions by public interest groups, and lacks reasoning for some key recommendations. They call for rejection of the report and for a more balanced approach to copyright reform in Canada.

Text version follows:

News Release

Ottawa, ON

June 21, 2004

Public Interest Groups make Internet an Election Issue

Three public interest groups have launched a campaign to focus the attention of political parties and candidates on issues involving the Internet and user rights. The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), Digital Copyright Canada, and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) have asked party leaders and candidates for their views on user rights under copyright law and other technology-related issues.

CIPPIC and PIAC also issued today a highly critical response to the Interim Report on Copyright Reform released by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last month. CIPPIC and PIAC state that the report ignores key evidence and submissions by public interest groups, and lacks reasoning for some key recommendations. They call for rejection of the report and for a more balanced approach to copyright reform in Canada. See http://www.cippic.ca/whats-new .

Surprising answers emerge from surveys

With much at stake, there's little debate

MICHAEL GEIST

LAW BYTES

With the federal election now just one week away, millions of voters are sizing up the national parties' positions on a wide range of issues. For those interested in technology law and policy issues — including copyright, spam, and privacy — the election campaign has been a disappointment as technology policy has barely registered on the election-issue radar.

Read full article in Toronto Star

1.Music File-sharing: What is your position on the issue of file-sharing in Canada--should it be illegal?

;:The NDP supports measures that protect the rights of creators, and ensure that their work is valued and compensated, whether it appears on the radio, in print media, on the internet or elsewhere.

;:Any copyright legislation needs to balance the rights of creators, users and distributors. Creators must be fairly compensated for their work, and only a creator can waive that right. At the same time, users need fair access, in order to encourage a vital Canadian culture. We would support legislative measures that involve a careful balancing of all of these factors.

;:Envoi par courriel
;:Le 16 juin 2004

;:Madame Philippa Lawson
;:Directrice générale
;:Clinique d'intérêt public et de politique d'internet au Canada
;:Faculté de droit
;:Université d'Ottawa
;:Ottawa (Ontario)
;:K1N 6N5

;:Madame,

;:Nous avons bien reçu votre lettre ainsi que la liste des différentes questions envoyées dans le cadre de la présente campagne électorale.

;:C'est avec plaisir que nous répondons à vos interrogations qui, nous l'espérons, vous permettront d'apprécier les orientations politiques du Bloc Québécois.

Questions

__Partage de fichiers de musique__

Stories about our site have been published by a few popular online media: [LinuxToday | http://linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/2004061200526OSCYPB], [LISnews | http://www.lisnews.com/article.pl?sid=04/06/17/0542226], [NewsForge | http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/06/16/1340256], and [SlashDot | http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/12/231218].

There were earlier references to the Petition for Users' Rights:

• BoingBoing
  
• Pressepapiers.net

University of Ottawa Law professor Michael Geist writes in this article in the Toronto Star:

The conflicting responses reflect two very different visions of the Internet.
...
Those concerned about the effects of greater protections view the Internet primarily as a technology for creating, not a technology for copying. For this group, represented by the millions of Internet users that post messages to newsgroups, maintain blogs, or actively share their work online, the Internet is not a spectator sport. From their perspective, copyright law should support innovative and creative work, not obstruct it.

The replies from the Green Party of Canada were posted to their website.

The following is just a local copy, formatted the same as done for other replies.