ARCHIVED — Ardavan Tajbakhsh
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COPYRIGHT REFORM PROCESS
SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED REGARDING THE CONSULTATION PAPERS
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Submission from Ardavan Tajbakhsh received on September 10, 2001 via e-mail
Subject: Canadian "DMCA" Proposal
From: Ardavan Tajbakhsh,Manager, Technology Infrastructure Division,
Computing & Communications Services,
Carleton University
To: Industry Canada,
Department of Canadian Heritage,
Intellectual Property Policy Directorate,
and any other concerned agencies
To whom it may concern:
I am writing to you today to express my grave reservations regarding your proposals contained within the Consultation Paper on Digital Copyright Issues (CPCDI).
I believe that such extreme measures, which are based on the naive US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), go too far and tread upon an individual's rights in situations which were hereto deemed to be "fair use". The proposals as stated will place unwarranted power into the hands of publishers and their lawyers, at the expense of an individual's rights.
Working within the IT sector of a major Canadian University, I am very sensitive to the need to protect author's works and uphold existing copyright laws. I am also well aware that technology is moving at an ever increasing and rapid pace which is often difficult to keep abreast of. However, I also believe that this situation requires further study and a more equitable measure to be placed into effect rather that what appears to be more of a "knee jerk" reaction to what is happening with the pace of technological change in the world today.
Canada has long been a leader in Human Rights, and appears to me to be one of the most democratic nations on earth. It distresses me, then, to see that you are merely following the lead of the DMCA proposal in the United States, which is itself being challenged legally. Why follow the actions of the United States, further restrict and erode individual's rights and freedoms, when you have the opportunity to take the lead in such an important issue as this and propose language which is far more equitable and fair than what you are currently proposing to do?
The DMCA can serve as a lesson in what not to do. Do not go where they have gone before and created controversy and provisions which restrict our free rights, but instead blaze your own path within a country where we enjoy the the freedoms that we do today. Please make a sincere effort to remove the existing controversial and anti-freedom provisions from the CPDCI document.
Canada has long been known as a nation which promotes and encourages innovation. Please do no try to enact laws which will stifle that innovatine spirit.
Ardavan Tajbakhsh,
(address removed)
- Date modified:
