ARCHIVED — Kevin Mack
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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 Kevin Mack received on September 11, 2001 via e-mail
Subject: copyright reform
It is my hope that Canada will not adopt legislation similiar to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) established in the United States of America. I am concerned in particular with any proposed restrictions on "circumvention of technologies used to protect copyright material".In my judgement the DMCA has not struck a good balance between the rights of copyright holders and consumers; it has given too much control to publishers and has effectively taken away "fair use" rights formerly exercised by citizens under previous copyright law.
Any policy which makes "circumvention of technologies" illegal is, in my opinion, unjust. I believe that the existing copyright laws are adequate and that enforcement of these laws is sufficient in protecting the interests of rights holders.
With the older "analog" technologies, the design, manufacture and sale of devices such as photocopiers and audio and video recorders is legitimate . Merely providing the "digital-era" equivalents should not be a crime.
It would also be unwise to draft laws modelled after the DMCA whose constitutionality is questionable and which has yet to be seriously challenged.
Kevin Mack
(address removed)
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