Professor Michael Geist has his initial reactions up on the bill tabled today. He characterizes it as “a close model of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act” which closely matches my first impression based on the backgrounder. He has a quick, five point analysis up and has promised more once he has had time for closer scrutiny.
Some highlights:
- The language around DRM is worse than I feared. Here in the US, there have been bills suggested to make circumvention tools outright illegal and much case law that so far has held up a safe harbor where there is substantial non-infringing use. This bill would have Canada leap frog the question and outright criminalize these tools.
- There is no regular exemption processing, like under the US DMCA. That odd phrase I spotted, about the government intervening for the public good? According to Geist’s reading so far, that is substituting for the regular exemption petition and review process.
- He suspects that if ACTA comes to fruition and Canada signs, the milder notice and takedown system and safe harbor for ISPs will be irrelevant. I noticed not only the mention of ACTA in the backgrounder but also C-59, the camcorder bill, so Geist’s point is credible.
- The otherwise generous education provisions, on which I did not comment, seem to be hugely limited by the particulars of the bill.
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