Government copyright Twitter page
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- The Canadian government has opened a copyright consultation site for people “concerned with copyright and its implications in our increasingly digital environment”.
Yesterday, the first of 10 ’roundtable’ copyright discussions was staged in Vancouver and the new Canadian government Twitter Copyright page asks visitors to, ” Stay tuned for the follow-up to the Vancouver round table later this week.”
No doubt someone will explain to whoever’s organising the site that tweets are supposed to be as it happens, not as it happened days ago.
But it’s a start and meanwhile, the next roundtable is slated for Calgary today, followed by »»»
July 29: Gatineau – Round Table
July 30: Montreal – Town Hall
August 5: Winnipeg – Round Table
August 27: Toronto – Town Hall
The roundtables are ‘in-camera’ meaning neither the public nor the media are all0wed in to watch and listen.
Other times and dates have yet to be announced.
Heritage minister James Moore (right) and industry minister Tony Clements will be at both ‘town hall’ meetings,which will also be streamed with limited (and no doubt tightly controlled) opportunities for people to ask questions and make observations online.
There’ll also be “limited space available for members of the public”.
The government has finally woken to fact it’s dealing with a highly intelligent and highly vocal public that’s quite capable of making its thoughts and wishes felt via the net. So it’s making a bid to try to make sure it, and not the Great Unwashed, is in charge.
The web page has an rss feed, roundtable audio-video transcripts, and »»»
- An online submission centre which, “gives you an opportunity to respond to a few specific questions on copyright. You can also submit your own paper or report to us so that other people can view your work.”
- An online discussion forum: “This interactive venue gives you a forum to talk to the government and to each other online.”
- Multimedia centre: “This will hold the audio and video transcripts of the round tables and town hall meetings.”
However, Ottawa law professor and outspoken net activist Michael Geist (right) is already organising his own contribution.
“There has been some criticism over the past week about perceived ‘A’ lists for those invited to roundtables and those excluded,” he blogs, going on »»»
My view is that the only list that really matters is the list of people who take the time to make a public submission. That process is open to everyone and this is the ideal opportunity to ensure that Canadians voices are heard. The government has not consulted on copyright since 2001 and this consultation represents both a crucial opportunity and a potential threat.
While Canadians can ensure that the government understands that copyright matters and that a balance is needed, some groups will undoubtedly use the consultation to push for a return of Bill C-61.
Indeed, the recording industry has already said that that bill did not go far enough. That means we could see pressure for a Canadian DMCA, a three-strikes and you’re out process, and the extension of the term of copyright to eat into the public domain.
Countering those calls will require broad participation. To help foster that participation, tomorrow I will be launching a new website geared specifically to the copyright consultation along with my short form response to these questions.
I plan to blog a long form response throughout the summer.
Stay tuned.
first of 10 – Copyright talks start in Vancouver today, July 20, 2009
blogs – Copyright Consultation Launches: Time For Canadians To Speak Out, July 20, 2009
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