ARCHIVED — Ian Ward
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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 Ian Ward received on September 10, 2001 via e-mail
Subject: Intent of Copyright
Copyright was created to grant authors of original works a limited monopoly on the distribution of those works. Its purpose was to encourage creative expression, not to guarantee profit to authors or publishers. Now that people are able to create and share books, music and movies easily with the advent of new technologies, traditional publishers of books, music and movies are worried that their current business models will be less profitable in the future.
These publishers are now petitioning governments around the world to alter the direction of technology through legislation such as the DMCA and the proposed SSSCA in the United States. The result of the DMCA has been the criminalization of computer programmers working in the field of security, and gagging of university professors doing research on water marking technologies. At the same time there has been no documented reduction in abuses of copyrighted materials.
There are already fair, balanced laws dealing with copyright infringement in Canada. New laws that make previously legal acts effectively illegal, by making the tools required illegal as the DMCA does, skew the delicate balance of copyright and damage all of our freedom. The SSSCA requires all computer hardware to come equipped with technology that controls what users can do with copyrighted materials, treating all users as potential criminals. These laws give publishers the ability to circumvent the balance of copyright set out by the Copyright Act, in essence giving them the ability to write their own laws.
The current balance of copyright must be protected. As technology marches forward some companies' business models will necessarily change. The government of Canada should not be in the business of creating or maintaining profit for any group of private companies. Reject all calls for restrictions on Canadian citizens' use of new technology.
- Ian Ward
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