Copyright Consultations
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Archived - Giesbrecht, Josh
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I'm a teacher. I don't want my fair dealing rights trampled because someone put DRM on their media. DRM should not hold education hostage.
I'm a programmer. I know that outlawing DRM cracks is ridiculous. We already have a political solution (existing copyright law, which already makes things such as software piracy illegal), and a technical solution (DRM). Trying to enforce the technical solution by adding another, redundant political solution is a waste of energy. Add to that the fact that DRM has no knowledge of fair dealing, and that DRM solutions in the past have often violated users' privacy or simply messed up their computers, and it becomes downright wrong to prevent end users from removing or bypassing DRM when necessary.
I'm an independent content creator (software, photography). I don't believe that U.S.-style copyright reform will do anything at all to protect me if I release content for sale.
What do I want to see?
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Flexible fair dealing that recognizes format and time shifting as well as opening the door to allowing parody, satire, and (reasonable) remixing of works.
Anti-circumvention reforms should be linked to circumventions for the purposes of infringement. Don't make it illegal for me to circumvent DRM on media which I have the right to copy (by fair dealing or otherwise). Do not ban circumvention tools. Otherwise fair dealing and other reasonable right to copy (eg. format shifting) is being trampled on.
Extend the backup provision to all forms of digital data, not just software.
Please do not extend the term of copyright beyond the current 50 years. Public domain works benefit future creators and the public.
We do not need to make the same mistakes that the U.S. made with their copyright reform. Please consider the good of the Canadian public and not just corporate lobby groups feigning to represent the needs of Canada's creative community.
For what it's worth, these are all my own words. However I would also direct you to Michael Geist's 'Speak Out On Copyright', which generally reflects my own views as well:
http://speakoutoncopyright.ca/my-short-answer
Thank you for this public consultation.
– josh giesbrecht
Abbotsford, BC
Canada
