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Industry Minister Jim Prentice will rise in the House of Commons and introduce copyright reform legislation. We can no longer speak of choices because those choices have already been made. There is every indication (see the Globe’s latest coverage) this legislation will be a complete sell-out to U.S. government and lobbyist demands. The industry may be abandoning DRM, the evidence may show a correlation between file sharing and music purchasing, Statistics Canada may say that music industry profits are doing fine, Canadian musicians, filmmakers, and artists may warn against this copyright approach, and the reality may be that Canadian copyright law is stronger in some areas than U.S. law, yet none of that seems to matter. In the current environment and with the current Ministers, politics trumps policy.

The new Canadian legislation will likely mirror the DMCA with strong anti-circumvention legislation – far beyond what is needed to comply with the WIPO Internet treaties – and address none of the issues that concern millions of Canadians. The Conservatives promise to eliminate the private copying levy will likely be abandoned. There will be no flexible fair dealing. No parody exception. No time shifting exception. No device shifting exception. No expanded backup provision. Nothing.

The government will seemingly choose locks over learning, property over privacy, enforcement over education, (law)suits over security, lobbyists over librarians, and U.S. policy over a “Canadian-made” solution. Once the bill is introduced, look for the government to put it on the fast track with limited opportunity for Canadians to appear before committees considering the bill. With a Canadian DMCA imminent, what matters now are voices. It will be up to those opposed to this law to make theirs heard.

Update: Many people have asked what they can do to make their voices heard on this issue. Last year, I posted 30 Things You Can Do about anti-circumvention legislation. Many of those recommendations still apply, starting with a letter (letter, not email – no stamp required) to your Member of Parliament, the Ministers of Industry and Canadian Heritage, and the Prime Minister.

From http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/2419/125/

I refuse to let my country take that first step down the this slippery slope, we’ve seen the evidence of this type of approach south of the border, it’s an unmitigated failure, which is even admitted by the one of the original architects of the US DMCA…

So to recap, we’ll adopt a failed US law here in Canada instead of a well thought out Canadian solution, and then after ramming this legislation through under cover of Christmas (despicable US style politics) we as citizens of this country will have the opportunity to have out voices heard after the fact to try and repair the wrong(s) that have been done? This is ridiculous, governing backwards from a manufactured problem to a solution, in upwards of 10 years?!?! This government is not my government, this government is NOT Canadian at all. Get them out.

That may be so,
but at least they are DOING something.
TRYING to make a difference.

Kudos for that.

I MEAN…IT REALLY, REALLY, TOTALLY SUCKS…eh!