ARCHIVED — Scovil
Archived Content
Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats on the "Contact Us" page.
COPYRIGHT REFORM PROCESS
SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED REGARDING THE CONSULTATION PAPERS
Documents received have been posted in the official language in which they were submitted. All are posted as received by the departments, however all address information has been removed.
Submission from Stephen Scovil received on July 28, 2001 4:50 PM via e-mail
Subject: Copyright Reform
I'm just offering my opinions that I do not agree with the suggested Digital Copyright Reform. I do believe that some copyright laws may need to change to help support artists and studios, etc. with the distrobution of their work but the protection of their rights should not come at the expense of those who wish to understand any given software or any data. I feel the extreme stance of disallowing understanding the program or file hurts fair use of a product and the freedom to customize and re-engineer a program or data file shouldn't be restrained. I'd prefer copyright protection on a case by case basis, and expect the companies will work to rely on a solid technical solution instead of legal attacks . Take them as they come, but it shouldn't hurt those who understand or wish to understand their legally owned products.
I believe allowing others to understand and create their own work to act
in a similar mannor or be compatible with formats has been of great
benefit to both industry and consumer, creating compatible products and
standard protocols, and increasing competition by allowing many
companies or individuals to bring their own ideas and push the
technology farther. Such competition and advancement is strongly helped
by many companies or individuals working on their own to understand
others' structures and formats and implementing them in their own
products. A good example is the IBM PC. When Compaq, followed by
others, reverse engineered the original BIOS chip on the IBM PC, it
opened up all sorts of possibilities, allowed lower cost, higher power
PC's from all sorts of makers, opened up the market for computer
hardware and helped build the high power equipment for personal
computers today. We may not have see how something that big can open up
from such a small thing back at that time, but looking back, we can see
how beneficial it has been. I'm asking you to please consider this as
the reform is being debated.
Thank you for listening.
Stephen Scovil,
(address removed)
- Date modified:
