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: Michael Geist

Covering the Return of the Canadian DMCA

By Michael Geist

Yesterday's post on the government's plans for the copyright bill generated widespread coverage both online and in the mainstream media.  There were many notable blog posts from creators (here, here) and other sites (here, here, here, here, here, here). The media picked up on the story:

• Globe and Mail: Pending copyright bill to mimic U.S.: Geist
• CBC: 'Anti-consumer' copyright bill on way: expert
• Canwest: Consumers won't like conservative copyright bill: expert
• Financial Post: Conservatives preparing new copyright bill for June, expert
• Wire Report: Tories poised to repeat Bill C-61 copyright legislation, Geist says
• GigaOm: Canadian Government Planning Strict New Copyright Law?
• Exclaim: New, Harsher Canadian Copyright Bill Reportedly Heading Our Way 
• Fast Forward Weekly:  Harper Conservatives set to ram through copyright bill  

The articles themselves are home to hundreds of comments, with the CBC article alone featuring more than 700 comments in less than 24 hours.  The Wire Report includes a comment from Barry Sookman, CRIA's lawyer, arguing that leaking information was inappropriate and that the post is trying to "put pressure on the government to change a decision that is already made."

While Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and the Prime Minister's Office were unsurprisingly mum on the contents of the bill, Liberal MP Justin Trudeau didn't mince words in this tweet: "Forget the hockey spat; DMCA is where @mpjamesmoore and I REALLY disagree."

Update: It was brought to my attention that the CBC report says I that said that the bill will end fair dealing. I said no such thing. I did not speak to CBC before the publication of that article and the post on which it is based clearly refers to flexible fair dealing reform, not the elimination of fair dealing.

Full post as published by Michael Geist on May 06, 2010 (boomark / email).