Copyright Law

Columnists Sound Off on C-61

By Michael Geist

While I've been focusing on the many Canadian editorials criticizing Bill C-61, it is worth noting that mainstream media columnists are focusing on the issue as well.  The Globe and Mail's Ivor Tossel covers the issue today, suggesting that "the bill seems doomed to failure."  The article also includes a link to a podcast discussion of the issue.  Craig McInnes of the Vancouver Sun writes that:

C-61 is about greed, not just rewards, about stifling the age-old enjoyment of sharing music with friends. It imposes a rigid black-and-white legal framework on a multihued, free-flowing landscape. It's about insisting on horse-and-buggy etiquette in an automotive age.

Catherine Ford of the Calgary Herald, in a piece titled Copyright Law Would Turn Millions Into Criminals, says:

While the purported beneficiaries of the new act are those artists, the real beneficiaries will be the companies who publish, control and market such work. With the possible exception of an original piece of art, all intellectual property are copied and distributed by someone other than the creator. It is these middlemen who will profit from digital locks, regardless of the hype about copyright protection.

Update: Matthew Claxton of the Langley Advance writes that "the copyright bill will makes us crooks", while Ron Petrie of the Regina Leader-Post talks about how the law "will make it hard to live in the past."

Full post as published by Michael Geist on June 20, 2008 (boomark / email).