Heritage committee calls for end of ISP safe harbour copyright rules

The House heritage committee says the government should do more to fight piracy, including holding internet service providers “accountable,” and put in place efforts to have streaming services develop and promote Canadian content. In a new report, the committee said the government should “review the safe harbour exceptions and laws to ensure that Internet service providers are accountable for their role in the distribution of content.” The 2012 Copyright Modernization Act included provisions providing safe harbour exceptions for ISPs to ensure they are not held liable for infringing material transmitted, cached, or hosted on their networks. In a report released on Wednesday afternoon, the heritage committee said it had heard from witnesses that the growth of illegal streaming services is linked with decreases in creator remuneration, and that Canadians are increasingly consuming infringing content online. “Witnesses agreed that the current rules regarding piracy are hard to enforce and that more could be done to aid copyright holders,” the report said. The committee also recommended the government “increase its efforts to combat piracy and enforce copyright.” It said in the report it heard from witnesses about an increasing “value gap,” meaning that there is a growing disparity between the value of content that is consumed and the revenues received by creators. “For all creative industries, the Committee heard that changes are needed to create a functioning marketplace for the creation of Canadian content,” the report said. It added witnesses “raised concerns” about over-the-top services like Netflix Inc.’s and Spotify AB’s, which are consumed by millions of Canadians and aren’t subject to Canadian content rules. “Failure to regulate these foreign entities poses a significant threat to Canadian artists and creative industries. According to some witnesses, measures ought to be put into place to level the playing field,” such as extending CRTC Canadian content requirements to streaming services and requiring those services to fund CanCon. It said the government should “develop mechanisms by which streaming services will develop and promote Canadian content.” It also said that music streaming services should be “regulated like other Canadian music services,” and that the Copyright Board should review tariffs for online music services to make sure royalty payments “provide fair compensation for artists.” In a supplementary opinion included in the report, committee vice-chair and NDP Heritage critic Pierre Nantel said he supported the report’s recommendations, but criticized it for its “timidity” and “incoherence.” “The Committee proposes, for example, that we regulate certain digital broadcasters, and not others. It proposes to regulate music streaming services, like Spotify, but not video streaming services like Netflix,” he said. Nantel added that the recommendation to develop mechanisms so that video streaming services develop and promote CanCon “effectively endorses the permanent tax break given to Netflix.” The report wrapped up the committee’s study into remuneration models for artists and creative industries, which heard from 115 witnesses -- mainly representatives from cultural industries, including creators and distributors -- between May and December 2018. That study was concurrent with the Industry committee’s statutory review of the Copyright Act, which heard from many of the same witnesses is still in the process of writing its report. The Heritage committee report had a total of 22 recommendations, including two common music industry asks -- applying the radio royalty exemption only to community and independent stations and a change in the definition of “sound recording” to allow recordings used in TV and film to be eligible for public performance remuneration. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Heritage committee calls for end of ISP safe harbour copyright rules

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Heritage committee calls for end of ISP safe harbour copyright rules

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