Opposition parties planning to amend Tories’ digital locks provision in C-32

All three federal opposition parties have lined up against the Conservative government’s approach to protecting digital locks in copyright reform Bill C-32, setting up the controversial provision for amendment at committee stage. “Once again, the Conservatives have taken a punitive approach by calling for digital locks, a measure that is unfavourable to artists and consumers,” Bloc Québécois MP and heritage critic Carole Lavallée wrote in a party policy position emailed Monday to The Wire Report. The Bloc is the latest party to come out against the controversial proposal, seen as the single largest point of contention that all three opposition parties have with the bill. Bill C-32 proposes legal protection for “digital locks,” or the digital rights management on content and devices. The legislation takes a strict approach to enforcement, like the Conservative government’s former Bill C-61, making it copyright infringement to circumvent digital locks in most consumer cases. Consumer groups are lobbying against the protection for digital locks, saying the proposal would override important copyright exceptions like fair dealing and trump new rights proposed in the bill for “format shifting” (copying content from one medium to another), “time shifting” (storing content for later use), a so-called “YouTube exception” permitting users to remix “legitimately acquired” content for non-commercial purposes, and other exceptions for parody, satire, and education. In her letter, Lavallée identified a host of Quebec groups that are not pleased with the bill, including the Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Québec (RAAV), the Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL), the Société québécoise de gestion collective des droits de reproduction (Copibec), and the Agamm qui regroupe l’Association des professionnels de l’édition musicale (APEM). “Why? Because consumers will not have easy access, and when they do, the artists and rights holders will not receive any compensation. Everyone is unhappy except the entertainment industry, especially American companies,” Lavallée wrote. In an interview, Lavallée told The Wire Report that the party will vote in favour of the bill at second reading, sending it to a special legislative committee where the parties can amend it. She said the bill’s protection for digital locks is too punitive, does not encourage distribution, and is not in line with the Bloc’s copyright policy principles of remunerating creators, encouraging distribution, promoting public respect of copyright, and taking action against large-scale, professional piracy. “I hope they’re open to amendments,” Lavallée said of the Conservatives. When asked if the Bloc intends to amend the digital locks provision in the bill, she said the party will try. “The Bloc Québécois cannot accept that it’s at the heart of this bill,” she said. The NDP have come out strongly against the provision, and Liberals say it needs amendment if they can strike a better balance. Bill C-32 will implement two Internet treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that Canada signed in 1997. The treaties call for protection for digital locks—but the question is to what degree. Article 11 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty says countries must “provide adequate legal protection and effective legal remedies against the circumvention of effective technological measures that are used by authors in connection with the exercise of their rights under this Treaty …” In 2005, the former Liberal government’s Bill C-60, another WIPO Internet treaty implementation bill, proposed conditional anti-circumvention provisions that tied liability to the intent to infringe copyright. Bill C-60, like the Conservative government’s Bill C-61 that followed it, died on the order paper due to an election. In a phone interview Monday, Liberal MP and industry critic Marc Garneau confirmed the party wants to have a closer look at the provision as it is proposed in Bill C-32 and will seek to amend it if a better balance can be struck. Garneau said the party is not against digital locks, but that consumers should have the flexibility to use devices, media or content that they own. “If it’s possible to amend it, if there’s a technical way to achieve it, then yes,” he said, when asked whether the party is seeking to change the provision. “I think that’s the major issue that stands out.” He added that the Liberals will look at all available options, including those put forward by the parties. In an interview on TVO program Search Engine last week, Industry Minister Tony Clement said he wants to see a discussion take place between the parties, and suggested that he is open to amendments to the bill. “I’m not Moses coming down from the mountain here with something chiseled in tablets that will be good for all eternity,” he said, noting that Canada needs to move ahead on copyright reform. “The point is we’ve got to come to a resolution, because we’ve been at this for 14 years and we really have to move on and get something in writing, in legislation.” Clement pointed out that Bill C-32 proposes exceptions to the circumvention of digital locks for reverse engineering, encryption research, security testing, software interoperability, meeting the needs of the hearing impaired, and unlocking cell phones. But he added: “We’re going to keep on talking and we’re going to make the best bill possible that can pass this Parliament.” Clement and Heritage Minister James Moore have said that some sectors, such as the video game industry, depend on protection of digital locks to sustain their business models. NDP MP and digital affairs critic Charlie Angus said in an interview that his party is currently working on potential new wording for the provision that he thinks will be acceptable to the other parties. He said one simple solution is to add a provision to the legislation that says protection for digital rights management does not override user exceptions or fair dealing rights guaranteed in the law. “I think the parties want to work together and get the copyright bill through at this point,” Angus said. “All along Clement has sent signals that there needs to be a better balance than there was previously, with C-61.” Garneau said he has an 18-inch stack of stakeholder positions on copyright that he intends to read over the summer. He said he hopes to see the legislative committee get to work quickly in the fall because it will be “decision time” on copyright. The NDP and the Bloc support extending the existing private copyright regime to digital media devices, but the Conservatives are staunchly against the idea, and the Liberals say they are still considering how artists can best be compensated. sdoyle@thewirereport.ca

Opposition parties planning to amend Tories’ digital locks provision in C-32

Broadcast | June 21, 2010

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