Archived - Singer, Steven

I am a software developer in Ontario. I would like to comment on the the changes to the copyright act being considered. I feel that it is important people who buy hardware devices be free to put any software they want on the devices with out requiring the blessing of the hardware vendor.

Some examples where hardware vendors might like to lock out users from changing the software on the devices include

• A cellphone maker or retailer should not be allowed to prevent someone who has purchased the cellphone from using it on another network (either a competitor or in Europe)
• A GPS vendor that sells a GPS that allows additional maps to be installed should not be allowed to require that only maps purchased from them be installable on the device
• A movie studio or electronics company such as Sony should not be allowed to say that Bluray (or any other format) discs can only be played on devices made by Sony or their corporate allies.

Any changes to Canadian copyright law must be made such that they protect the ability of small independent software developers to write software that runs on hardware devices such as mobile phones. In particular the following principals should be followed

• Reverse engineering of hardware and software devices must be allowed.
• Digital Rights Management (DRM) should not be allowed since it restricts the ability of a user who buys a piece of media from playing it on a device of their choosing.
• Authors and publishers that want the protection of copyright law must publish their works in formats that are friendly to open-source software and do not enforce device lock in or force users to obtain licenses to patents if they want to use the media that they have purchased.

Feel free to contact me if you want more information on anything I have discussed.

Steven Singer