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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 Shandy Brown on July 28, 2001 7:02 PM via e-mail
Subject: DMCA Prevention
As a computer scientist and entrepreneur, I have been disgusted by the DMCA as enacted and enforced in the United States. I consider the imprisonment and prosecution of Dmitry Sklyarov, as well as the DeCSS case against 2600 Magazine to be travesties of justice and assaults on free speech. Any law enacted in Canada that further restricted research, fair use, and free speech -- as the DMCA does -- would make me question whether I could continue being a Canadian citizen, and I would certainly deny my vote to any politician supporting such restrictions.
I make my living by creating intellectual property, and I am able to live in great comfort doing so under the current copyright laws, if anything, they are already too restrictive. It is my opinion that corporations, not content creators will, by large, be the ones who benefit from further restricting information flow. The record companies will profit, but not the artists. The publishers will profit, but not the authours. Government has an obligation to hold the fundamental rights of its citizenry above corporate profits. Technical speech, though confusing and misunderstood by most people, is still speech and my right to communicate using technical speech is fundamental. My government should be striving to protect my right to free speech, not creating new laws to snuff it out.
Shandy Brown
(address removed)
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