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Letter to My MP

June 13th, 2008

To: Mr. Rick Casson
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

CC: The Honourable Jim Prentice P.C, M.P.
5th floor, West Tower
C.D. Howe Building
235 Queen St.
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H5

CC: The Honourable Josée Verner, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Canadian Heritage
25 Eddy Street
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M5

Subject: Please Stand Against the New Copyright Bill

Dear Sir,

I am a constituent who has been following recent developments in Canadian copyright law. I’m concerned that the Copyright bill presented by the government on June 12th goes too far in outlawing the lawful use of copyrighted material, and does not take into account the needs of consumers and Canada’s creative community who are exploiting the potential of digital technology. I’m disappointed that this bill adopts an American approach to digital copyright laws, instead of crafting a Canadian approach.

Canada’s copyright laws need to advance Canada’s interests. This means copyright laws that respect ordinary consumer practises, such as unlocking cell phones and copying the contents of purchased CDs and DVDs for use in iPods (or other digital music players). The current bill outlaws these practises. This means copyright that facilitates the work of Canadian creators, such as documentary filmmakers, who instead find that this bill outlaws the use DVDs as source materials for their films. This means we find made-in-Canada solutions to the challenges of file-sharing, such as consideration of the Peer-to-Peer proposal of the Songwriters Association of Canada. Instead, this bill paves the road to importing the consumer file-sharing lawsuit strategy that has failed so spectacularly in the United States. Canada deserves better. WE DESERVE BETTER, and you can make a difference.

Please ensure that this bill really is made for Canadians by allowing all Canadian stakeholders a say in its final contents. That means meaningful consultation in the coming months, and opening up Canada’s copyright policy to more than just the special interests that lobbied behind the scenes for this law. As my MP, I urge you to represent my interests in the copyright debate.

Sincerely,

Jeff Milner

Check out Online Rights Canada’s new action alert, “Tell MPs What’s Wrong with the Prentice Bill” and use the site to send a message to your own Member of Parliament.

Here’s what their website says about it:

“After months of hesitation, Industry Minister Jim Prentice has finally revealed his re-write of Canada’s rules of copyright. Tell your MP just what you think of it.”

2984 people have used the copyrightforcanadians.ca website to take action. Add your voice today!

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One Response to “Letter to My MP”

  1. Jeff Milner says:
    June 20th, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    Today I received a response from Minister of Canadian Heritage, The Honourable Josée Verner.

    His email reads:

    The Government of Canada has introduced Bill C-61 (An Act to Amend the Copyright Act). The proposed legislation is a made-in-Canada approach that balances the needs of Canadian consumers and copyright owners, promoting culture, innovation and competition in the digital age.

    What does Bill C-61 mean to Canadians?
    Specifically, it includes measures that would:

    * expressly allow you to record TV shows for later viewing; copy legally purchased music onto other devices, such as MP3 players or cell phones; make back-up copies of legally purchased books, newspapers, videocassettes and photographs onto devices you own; and limit the “statutory damages” a court could award for all private use copyright infringements;

    * implement new rights and protections for copyright holders, tailored to the Internet, to encourage participation in the online economy, as well as stronger legal remedies to address Internet piracy

    * clarify the roles and responsibilities of Internet Service Providers related to the copyright content flowing over their network facilities

    * provide photographers with the same rights as other creators

    What Bill C-61 does not do:

    * it would not empower border agents to seize your iPod or laptop at border crossings, contrary to recent public speculation

    What this Bill is not:

    * it is not a mirror image of U.S. copyright laws. Our Bill is made-in-Canada with different exceptions for educators, consumers and others and brings us into line with more than 60 countries including Japan, France, Germany and Australia

    Bill C-61 was introduced in the Commons on June 12, 2008 by Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Heritage Minister Josée Verner.

    For more information, please visit the Copyright Reform Process website at http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/crp-prda.nsf/en/home

    Thank you for sharing your views on this important matter.

    Here is my response back:

    Thank you for your response.

    I would like to bring to your attention that you must have misunderstood my fears for Bill C-61. I will try to make it more clear using the information YOU have provided me. You make the point that:

    “Bill C-61 would expressly allow you to record TV shows for later viewing; copy legally purchased music onto other devices, such as MP3 players or cell phones; make back-up copies of legally purchased books, newspapers, videocassettes and photographs onto devices you own; and limit the “statutory damages” a court could award for all private use copyright infringements;”

    However, the site you linked to states that in fact,

    “Some conditions would apply to the use of this exception. The individual must not have circumvented a technological measure (TM) or digital lock to make the copy, for example.”

    What this means is that Bill C-61 takes fair use out of the hands of the people of Canada and into the creator’s hands– Do you understand why this is not a good law?

    So much for parody; so much for educational use; so much for making a documentary using material you’ve legally acquired — Bill C-61 makes these things illegal as per the rights holder’s whims.

    Or how about this point on “format shifting”:

    “Again, there would be conditions to guide the use of this exception, such as the requirement that the copy of the source material could only be used by the owner of the material for private purposes.”

    What exactly do “private purposes” entail? This law is supposed to bring clarity to the situation. But do using works for news reporting, documentary creating, parody, or education count as public or private purposes?

    This is NOT A GOOD LAW FOR CANADA.

    And as for the new provisions in enforcing copyright on the Internet, this bill paves the road to importing the consumer file-sharing lawsuit strategy that has failed so spectacularly in the United States. Canada deserves better.

    Again, I thank you for your response, but it is a non-response to the concerns that I have brought up.

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