ARCHIVED — Alexandre Elias
Archived Content
Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats on the "Contact Us" page.
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 Alexandre Elias received on September 13, 2001 via e-mail
Subject: Comments on CPDCI section 4.2
To Industry Canada and the Intellectual Property Policy Directorate,
Regarding the Consultation Paper on Digital Copyright Issues, I would like to say that I am opposed to the DMCA-like measures proposed in section 4.2 of the paper.
I think that such measures would be counter to the some of the core values of our society. Rather than defend copyright holders against true infringers, they would criminalize anyone creating tools that could possibly be used to violate copyrights. This would be a grave change to copyright law.
Consider some of the implications:
Such a law would indefinitely extend the traditional "time limit" that is at the core of copyright. Consider a digital work, protected by technological measures, slated to move into the public domain in 20 years. Once the 20 years are up, users are in principle allowed to distribute the work freely. However, at this time there are almost certainly other works, still under copyright, that are protected by the same technological measures; it would therefore be illegal to create the circumvention software necessary to distribute the public domain work. In practice, the theoretically "public domain" work would still be covered by copyright law.
In general, such measures extend the control of copyright holders (who, it should be noted, are mostly outside Canada) to the detriment of consumers' fair-use rights. Consumers have already shown they detest draconian copyright protection -- the DivX system was a dismal failure for this reason -- and it should not be forced on them. No one wants to buy a locked box that cannot be legally opened without asking a corporation.
Furthermore, the DMCA has already had a chilling effect on computer security research in the United States; scientists are afraid to release their discoveries, for fear of being prosecuted.
I hope you will reject the provisions envisaged in section 4.2 of the CPDCI. Implementing these proposals would have a chilling effect on the freedoms Canadians hold dear.
Sincerely,
Alexandre Elias
(Address removed)
- Date modified:
