Canada: Cyber Offensive Fights Copyright Changes

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The changes to Canada's Copyright Act will have an effect on cyberspace and those who use it, so it makes sense that the opposition to the government's plans are using the Internet to stage their protests.

From blogs to Wikimedia, the opposition is taking advantage of the digital environment to get its message out. The intent is to get the federal government to drop or change Bill C-61 when Parliament resumes in September.

Michael Geist is a professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in Internet and e-commerce law. Geist is at the forefront of this struggle. He has a blog and maintains a Facebook group, Fair Copyright for Canada , that claims 90,000 members.

Fair Copyright for Canada was created in December and has become so large that members have created local chapters by city and riding to better organize their efforts. To spread the word even further,many of the local groups have also developed wikis to keep their members informed.

Geist said "We're talking about more than just copyright here. We're talking about the digital environment. This legislation represents a real threat to the vibrancy of that online environment."

The bill was introduced by Industry Minister Jim Prentice iin June. Prentice referred to the new bill as a made-in-Canada solution to online piracy. Critics responded immediately saying the bill was a carbon copy of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the U.S.

Bill C-61 would make it illegal to circumvent digital "locks" on CDs and DVDs, and impose a $500 fine on anyone caught downloading illegal copies of music or movies.

A video contest on YouTube that invited Canadians to give their thoughts on Bill C-61 in 61 seconds. A panel of five judges, including Ontario Privacy Commissioner Anne Cavoukian, will announce the winner on Sept. 15, the day MPs return to the House of Commons.


"The activity online proves that a broad range of stakeholders, with varying interests and vantage points, care deeply about this issue," Stefanie Power, Industry Canada, said in an e-mail response.


The online protests have flowed over into the offline world where, for example, Kempton Lam, a Calgary business consultant, used his blog and Facebook to organize a rally outside a breakfast hosted by Prentice last month.


"There are so many Canadians who have issues will this bill," Lam said.

"And the online forum has helped us get informed, which leads to offline rallies. After we meet, members write about what we learned, post videos back on to the blogs and Facebook."

Letter-writing campaigns and one-on-one meetings with their MPs have been organized. Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal, for example, held a town hall meeting last month to discuss the legislation after his office was flooded with letters from concerned constituents.

In December the bill was delayed after heavy criticism flooded the blogosphere.


"When you get tens of thousands of Canadians speaking out like this, there's big political risk for any political party that chooses to ignore them," Geist warned.