CMEC copyright amendment call
p2p news / p2pnet: Canada’s Council of Ministers of Education (CMEC) was in Ottawa today. Reason for the visit? Federal copyright legislation.
“Jamie Muir, the Nova Scotia Minister of Education, is quoted extensively in the release on the visit (which interestingly contains several references to the recent CMCC effort to bring the views of Canadian musicians to the fore),” says professor Michael Geist.
“When Muir says that ’students and teachers need fair access to Internet materials – and our laws must provide the necessary framework and clarity to provide them with that access’ he is right. When Muir says that ‘we want the new Copyright Bill to reflect the reality of Internet usage today and not support outdated and unsustainable business models that limit access to publicly available Internet materials’ he is right. And when Muir says that ‘we believe that Canadian students and ecuators have a right to use publicly available materials without a copyright collective charging a licensing fee for access’ he is right again.”
But, “Where CMEC goes wrong is with how they propose to achieve those goals,” states Geist.
“The reality is that the Supreme Court of Canada has already given Canadian teachers and students most of these rights. To the extent that certain uses in the classroom are not covered, the solution does not lie with an Internet-specific exception any more than with Access Copyright’s dangerous extended licensing proposal. The middle ground on this issue is fair use, which, if built upon the current fair dealing standard, would give educators and students the access they need, the Canadian public the access it needs, and creators the appropriate compensation that they seek.”
Below is the full text of the CMEC press release. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Education Ministers want amendment in federal copyright legislation
Priority issue – educational use of the Internet – discussed with federal ministers
When education ministers consider the federal government’s new copyright legislation, educational access to the Internet will remain a priority. The ministers’ Copyright Consortium Chair, the Honourable Jamie Muir of Nova Scotia, has met with Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda and will soon be meeting with Industry Canada Minister Maxime Bernier to ensure that the next federal copyright bill is a balanced piece of legislation that includes an education amendment for students and educators.
“Because copyright legislation impacts directly on our policies and practices in classrooms across Canada, we are most concerned with fair and reasonable Internet access for students and teachers in their educational pursuits,” says Minister Muir, whose consortium represents education ministers in Canada with the exception of the province of Quebec.
“Students and teachers need fair access to Internet materials – and our laws must provide the necessary framework and clarity to provide them with that access,” says Minister Muir. “Our meeting with Minister Oda was very positive, and, indeed, there is the recognition that copyright legislation will need to address the education community’s priority issue.”
Musicians have attracted attention to issue of digital copyright laws
Education Minister Muir comments that the Canadian Music Creators Coalition’s recent meetings with the federal ministers have captured the public’s interest in the anticipated copyright legislation. He says, “Like these musicians, the education community is very concerned about the new legislation. We want the new Copyright Bill to reflect the reality of Internet usage today and not support outdated and unsustainable business models that limit access to publicly available Internet materials.”
“As far as garnering media and public attention for our position, Barenaked Ladies are an impossible act to follow,” jokes the minister, “but we are very pleased that artists like Steven Page, Sarah McLachlan, and Avril Lavigne have focused media and public attention on the issue of digital copyright laws and what the new legislation will mean for Canadians’ access and use of the Internet.”
“For the education community, we believe a large part of the Internet is in the public domain, and we don’t want to see Canadian-made fences placed on the Internet’s public space. We simply don’t want the establishment of restrictive measures that will negatively affect the quality of education for today’s Internet-surfing generation and for future Canadian students and educators.”
Minister Muir adds, “We believe that Canadian students and educators have a right to use publicly available materials on the Internet without a copyright collective charging a licensing fee for access.”
Education Minister Muir related that he had a frank discussion with Heritage Minister Oda about the failings of the Copyright Bill introduced in the last Parliament. “Bill C-60 was wholly inadequate from the perspective of the education community because it failed to address the educational use of the Internet. We hold great hope that this Parliament will produce a new piece of legislation that will achieve a balance between protecting the interests of
copyright owners and providing students and teachers with access to Internet materials.”
Ministers of education and national organizations representing over 7 million Canadian students, teachers, and parents have proposed a copyright amendment safeguarding the educational use of the Internet in routine classroom activities such as saving and sharing publicly available texts or images.
Minister Muir says, “Our proposed education amendment would allow access to publicly available Internet materials while respecting the rights of those creators who post on-line for commercial purposes. In our proposal, students
and teachers would be able to access those on-line materials that are ‘free.’ Those materials posted on-line for commercial enterprise would still require payment should students and teachers wish to access and use them. The proposed education amendment would provide a conditional access that is reasonable and fair.”
The goal: to safeguard access to public Internet materials for educational uses
Because Internet content is an integral part of students’ learning experience in Canada, education ministers strongly believe this issue cannot be ignored. Minster Muir explains, “It requires an amendment in the copyright legislation to clarify what parameters will be placed around the educational use of the Internet and at what cost. The Government of Canada and provinces and territories had invested millions of dollars in bringing high-speed Internet access to Canadian classrooms, and putting educational information on-line, and it is in the public interest to amend copyright laws to protect the educational use of the Internet.”
“In failing to safeguard the educational use of the Internet, Ottawa would seriously compromise student and teacher access to a valuable learning resource. It would effectively pull the plug on students and teachers across the country,” says Minister Muir.
Also See:
Michael Geist – CMEC Visits Ottawa, May 30, 2006
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