September 12 2009

The Honourable Tony Clement
Minister Of Industry, Science & Technology
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

The Honourable James Moore
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Ministers,

I am a software developer. My business relies on innovation and creativity and openness. Do to my profession am a student who is always self teaching and self learning new skills. Copyright restricts what learning materials I have access to, and contributes to the costs of my education undermining my possibilities to remain competitive.

Also I love movies. I go to the movies, buy books, as a family we develop activities that contribute to the support of authors, directors and all the industry around them.

Canadian copyright law must be fair and representative of the needs of all Canadians. It should be simple and easy to understand. We should favour laws that are technologically neutral.

Canadians need to have full access rights to works they have paid for through their tax dollars. It ensures that the public has access to material that they've already paid for. It also ensures that government can have savings thanks to the possibility of reusing existing solutions. We need to build an open copyright system.

I am strongly opposed to adopting an American-styled DMCA that is not the solution to copyright infringement and it damages innovation and creativity.

There is no way that something like a three-strikes rule represents a balance between copyright holders and individuals. I strongly oppose to the three-strikes policy since there should be a legitimate legal process before punishment. Also individuals should be protected from liability as long as their use was private and non-commercial. The new Canadian copyright law should distinguish between commercial infringement and non-commercial activity.

It should be legal to access existing material, modify it, comment on it and/or publicly display it. Criticism, parody and satire under could not become criminal acts. Out law should not promote censorship in a gratuitous way.

The ability to circumvent digital locks and obtain circumvention technology are essential for consumers they should not be restricted to do by technology what they are not restricted by law.

I think that students and teachers should be able to critique and study our culture and ideas without paying huge access fees. The artists should have the freedom to explore and build on other works. There are fair needs that need to be broad and flexible to encourage learning as well as remix, parody, satire and other transformative uses.

I highly value my privacy so that there should be no way that an Internet service provider spy on me or anyone else without a warrant. Speech should not be censored based on unproven accusations. Our legal system should implement a notice-and-notice regime instead of notice-and-takedown.

The law should include fair dealing exemption that allows the creation, procurement and use of technological tools to permit the circumvention of technological protections for legitimate purposes. A fair dealing exemption for reverse engineering is needed to allow Canadians engaged in research, testing and study to make private copies of copyrighted materials for purposes of developing, administering or implementing new technology. Researchers need to be allowed to examine security systems otherwise they cannot guarantee the value or their work. Researchers also need to be able to publish their findings without prosecution.

Internet should remain open and free we could support that. If Canadian copyright law includes a provision to provide fair dealing exemption that ensures developers can preserve system interoperability between diverse programs, platforms, file formats, and communication protocols and maintain Internet standards that are equally open to both proprietary and open source software. The Internet will work best when we treat all platforms, sites, content and applications equally.

As a consumer of digital media and electronics I stand to be greatly impacted by changes to the Canadian copyright regime. I am worried that this Government may wrongly adopt the American approach to digital copyright law as evidenced by prior draft bills including Bill C-61.

It is essential that Canadian copyright laws advance consumer and creator interests by not employing an all-encompassing prohibition on the development and manufacturing of circumvention devices and technologies, commercial trade of circumvention devices and technologies, the possession and/or utilization of any device or technology that can circumvent a TPM or DRM for a non-infringing purpose or otherwise lawful activity such as fair dealing, interoperability, time and format shifting.

The Copyright Act should be amended to bring the backup copy provision into the 21st century by expanding the right to make an archival backup copy to all digital consumer products regardless of format or media.

Amendments to the Copyright Act seeking to add provisions relating to the liability of Internet intermediaries and subscriber actions should take a "notice and notice" approach that will provide the best balance between the protection of intellectual property rights and the fundamental rights of individual and academic expression.

Amendments to the Copyright Act need to ensure that statutory damages are limited and users must be protected from statutory damages if the user has good-faith to believe their actions and use of the work in question was fair and non-infringing, or if the user is engaged in purely private and non-commercial activity.

The concept of technological neutrality is paramount when considering changes to Canada's copyright regime that will withstand the test of time. The Government must not integrate protection for specific technologies or business models into any amendments to the Copyright Act (e.g. all-encompassing prohibition of circumvention devices and technologies). Any new legislation should be technologically-neutral to maintain flexibility into the future.

To further foster innovation, creativity, competition and investment in Canada and to position Canada as a leader in the global digital economy, it is important to expand and protect the doctrine of fair dealing. As fair dealing will undoubtedly provide any new legislation with the elasticity to adapt to future business models and new forms of creativity.

In order to direct and facilitate the digitization of Canadian heritage, a clear commitment needs to be made in order to preserve the current term of copyright. A pre-determined and generally accepted public domain date must be established for the good of all Canadians and the preservation of the heritage we so proudly maintain.

Finally, I strongly believe that as a member country actively engaged in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) Canada should not allow this non-transparent trade agreement to override the democratic process and legal framework of the Canadian domestic Copyright Act. While supposedly designed to address counterfeit physical goods as well as Internet distribution and information technology, ACTA provisions may prove to over-ride any type of domestic copyright laws and negate the entire copyright reform process.

Fortunately, there remains time and opportunity for Canada to draft legislation to ensure that the rights, values and interests of all Canadians are reflected in a truly Canadian-to-the-core approach to copyright reform. I am encouraged by the public consultations on copyright that the Government is engaged in and I am confident that this will open up the development of Canadian copyright policy to more than just traditional lobby groups and the corporate interests that have directed policies in the past.

Sincerely,

Sebastian Mantilla

North Vancouver,
British Columbia

cc: Marc Garneau — Official Opposition Critic For Industry, Science & Technology

cc: Pablo Rodriguez — Official Critic For Canadian Heritage and Official Languages

cc: Charlie Angus — NDP Digital Affairs Critic