Big telecoms ask MPs for beefed up anti-piracy measures

Some of the battles taking place before the CRTC related to site-blocking are now playing out on Parliament Hill, as big telecoms ask MPs studying the Copyright Act to strengthen anti-piracy measures to respond to a new wave of commercial piracy. BCE Inc. representatives said lawmakers should consider empowering courts to order “intermediaries” into preventing infringement, which could include things such as search engine delisting or revoking domain names. Bell also called for an increase in law enforcement efforts on piracy “worst offenders,” and that Parliament set up a new administrative enforcement office and direct the RCMP to prioritize digital piracy operations. “We believe the most urgent task facing the committee in this review is to modernize the act and related enforcement measures to meet the challenges posed by global internet piracy without unduly burdening legal businesses,” Robert Malcolmson, Bell’s senior vice-president of regulatory affairs, told the House of Commons industry committee Wednesday. He said S.42 of the Copyright Act, which contains criminal provisions for content theft, has “grown outdated” and should be re-written so it’s “technologically neutral,” and said streaming-related piracy needs to be covered. Rogers Communications Inc. representatives similarly said commercial operations should face criminal penalties for benefiting from theft and that the existing prohibitions are “not strong enough,” and also called for “injunctive relief” through the courts that could lead to blocking orders or disabling access to stolen content on preloaded set-top boxes. Currently, there is a Federal Court injunction on the sale of pre-loaded set-top boxes. David Watt, senior vice-president of regulatory affairs at Rogers, said the company has watched the rise of pre-loaded set top boxes and illegal streaming with “deepening concern.” “Illegal streaming has become the primary vehicle by which thieves make the stolen content available,” he said. “We need new tools in the Act to combat this new threat to the rights holders and to our Canadian broadcasting system.” Both Bell and Rogers cited Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s own polling research that showed 26 per cent of Canadians admitted to accessing pirated content online. They also pointed to Sandvine Corp. research showing a chunk of Canadian households are now streaming stolen content through illegal set-top boxes. The FairPlay Canada coalition, which includes Bell, Rogers, Quebecor Inc. and CBC/Radio-Canada, among others, has already asked the CRTC that it create an independent commission that would deal with requests for blocking websites engaging in piracy. Shaw Communications Inc. vice-president of legislative and policy strategy Cynthia Rathwell said the Copyright Act largely already “strikes an effective balance” and “extensive changes” would not be in the public interest. But, she said, Shaw would support an amendment to “clarify” the Federal Court’s authority to be able to order ISPs to block access to infringing websites. Not all ISPs that appeared before the industry committee Wednesday spoke in lockstep on piracy. TekSavvy Solutions Inc.’s representative Andy Kaplan-Myrth, vice-president of regulatory and carrier affairs, asked MPs to do the exact opposite: oppose any site-blocking proposals, which he maintains would violate common carriage principles. When asked why his opinion differed, he suggested it was because other telecom companies are vertically integrated. There was fairly widespread agreement by ISPs, though, when it came to a need to tweak the notice-and-notice system. Kaplan-Myrth proposed changes to notice-and-notice that would standardize the process and help ISPs deal with costs. “Even a small fee” would help, he said. Watt suggested $100 per IP address would be appropriate for Norwich order requests and should be included in the regulations for the Copyright Act. The lack of a regulation specifying a fee ISPs can charge to disclose customer information following a court order led to a recent Supreme Court case. The court confirmed earlier this month that ISPs can charge “reasonable” costs. That $100 figure is something Kaplan-Myrth said his company hadn’t reviewed, but when asked by MPs about the figure, he suggested it seemed to be a reasonable ballpark. — With reporting by Kyle Duggan at kduggan@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Big telecoms ask MPs for beefed up anti-piracy measures

Broadcast | September 27, 2018

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Big telecoms ask MPs for beefed up anti-piracy measures

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