ARCHIVED — Nicolas Coderre

COPYRIGHT REFORM PROCESS

SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED REGARDING THE CONSULTATION PAPERS

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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.

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Submission from Nicolas Coderre received on September 8, 2001 via e-mail

Subject: Canadian copyright reform

Please remember, copyright laws were historically first created to help authors let companys (eg: printing press) copy their work, because they could not do so themselfs.

The information age is changing the rules of the game. It is now free to pass along this information. No need for big companys to be the intermediarys. The people can now directly exchange information in a truly democratic way.

Please see, that we must not try to expand the capitalist material ways to the realm of ideas. Information is meant to be free. Look at librarys and universitys vs factorys and big publishing companys. Which organization do you think has truer, more humanitarian goals?

The buisness model bust adapt to the new reality. It must not be reality wich adapts itself to the likes of corporations with regulation. You can never legislate away a problem. You must understand it. It is in my humble opinion that the problem is in the way big organisations wish to retain control, rather than the way the people want to enjoy the fruits of the free information age.

In a more down to earth way, in reply to the CONSULTATION PAPER ON DIGITAL COPYRIGHT ISSUES :

> legislative measures are needed to deter the circumvention of technological
> measures that are used by rights holders to protect their rights;

It is a similar clause behind the DMCA that emprisonned Dimitry Skylarov for commiting a 'Thought Crime' in the US, when he presented his reasearch that exposed flaws in Adobe's electronic book systems. The activity of trying to find flaws in technological mesures of ANY kind is the single most effective way of designing better mesures. This kind of clause would seriously impede on publications by reasearchers that expose dangerous flaws in trusted systems, therefore prevent the rapid correction of these flaws.

> legislative measures are needed to address the liability of network
> intermediaries in relation to copyright protected materials over digital
> networks.

Ever heard of the term : don't kill the messenger? It is not he who is responsible for the bad news. This kind of legislation opens the door for abuse. Ive seen ISPs in the US so frightened of beeing sued for letting their clients distribute copyrighted material, that they often discontinued service with NO prior knowtice, NO proof, or chance for the client to defend themselfs. Effectively finding guilty until prooven innocent. Not having access to your e-mail account for several weeks for an infraction you did not commit while waiting for an important e-mail is not what most people call fair.

In conclusion, please be the first goverment to move against further empowering companys to the expense of the population's freedom.

Nicolas Coderre
Student in computer science,
Université Laval,
Québec.