ARCHIVED — Evelyn Mitchell

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 Evelyn Mitchell received on September 10, 2001 via e-mail

Subject: Comment on Consultation Paper on Digital Copyright Issues

To Industry Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage,

As a Canadian software developer living in the US, I confront the tension between strong publishers copy rights, and strong rights to read on a daily basis.

It is critical to intellectual development and economic growth that a fair and equitable balance be maintained among those who create original works, and those who read original works with a view to critical study and inspiration.

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act, here in the U.S., has broken the balance between publishers and readers solidly in favour of publishers. You need to look no further than the imprisonment of Dimitry Sklyarov to see how far that balance has been broken.

A democratic society requires the freedom of intellectual pursuit. Without the right to read, and to use what one reads in the creation of our own original work, all intellectual activity ceases. We all stand on the shoulders of giants. Reading is more than just the viewing of words on a page. In the case of digital works, it often consists of instrumenting a work to investigate it (reverse engineering), or of using it in ways unanaticipated by the original author as part of security research.

I urge you to consider rewriting this proposed legislation to address this imbalance and to ensure that Canadian's rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are not severly limited in favour of often foreign commercial interests.

Regards,

Evelyn Mitchell
(address removed)