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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 Mark Higgins received on September 8, 2001 1:28 PM via e-mail
Subject: Consultation Paper on Digital Copyright Issues
I am writing to express my serious concern about the CPDCI. It contains intellectual property provisions that, similar to the US's DMCA, make it illegal to circumvent encryption schemes designed to protect intellectual property. These provisions fundmentally change our society's view of what rights consumers have - even if those rights are not actually enshrined anywhere, people generally feel it is fair to have fair use of intellectual property they have purchased. The provisions in the CPDCI severely curtail such common behaviour as fair use and research, and only serve to enrich the "middlemen" in the intellectual property game: not consumers, and rarely the artists who create the intellectual property to begin with.
Please - remove these controversial provisions from the CPDCI. The only people who want these provisions included are corporations who act to maximize shareholder value - it is up to our government to guard the consumers' interest. Traditionally government has let the different players in the intellectual property arena agree among themselves on copyright provisions, assuming that consumers' rights would on balance be upheld. In the past this has held true; however, as technology pushes copyright issues closer and closer to the end user, this assumption begins to fail.
Addressing copyright in an age where intellectual property can be copied at zero cost is a serious challenge in our modern society. I hope we can build thoughtful policy that benefits everyone - both consumers and producers of intellectual property,
Sincerely,
Mark Higgins
[Address removed]
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