[d@DCC] Letter from Heritage Minister in regards to digital copyright reform.

Thu Dec 11 12:55:47 EST 2003

I am sending copies of this letter to my MP, John Manley, a few interested
MP's in this area of policy, as well as a few issue critics.  A copy will
be publicly archived on http://www.digital-copyright.ca/

Please forward.

Honourable Sheila Copps,

  I would like to thank you for your letter earlier today relayed to me by
Luc Rouleau, Acting Director, Ministerial Correspondence Secretariate.  I
am including this letter below for reference.

  As included in my final submission to the Heritage Committee
http://www.flora.ca/copyright2003/ , there are a few threats to creators'
rights that concern me the most:

  - the replacement of creators' rights in copyright with controls 
    embedded in software authored by intermediaries.  This is the 
    consequence of "legal protection for Technological Protection
    Measures" (LpfTPM) as interpreted by countries like the United States
    in their Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

    Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools must be under
    the control of citizens, and not a third party such as the vendor who 
    may create these tools.  It is critical for creators to be in control
    of the tools they use to create and communicate their works.  This 
    applies both to the software that governs the use of the tool, as well 
    as the interfaces (file formats, communications protocols, etc) 
    used by these tools.

    A protection of creators' rights in ICT requires a rejection of 
    interface copyright, and some of the vendor-promoted extreme
    interpretations of LpfTPM.

  - the replacement of creators' rights in copyright with a "right of
    remuneration", as seen with the private copying regime.  The 
    collection of royalties must be understood not as a right, but as one
    business model among many.

    While I support creators having the ability to voluntarily join 
    collective societies to simplify the administration of their 
    rights, I oppose having non-voluntary collective societies imposed on 
    entire categories of works or on multi-use media.

    There are other methods to collectively administrate rights in
    copyright, and not all are based on royalty payments.  License
    agreements as seen with Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) 
    may be understood as another example of a voluntarily joined 
    collective administration of rights.

    FLOSS is itself part of something much larger that has been termed 
    "commons-based peer production" which applies to more than just the 
    production of software. Peer production may turn out to be as important 
    to the information/knowledge economy as the creation of the 
    corporation and the assembly line were for the industrial economy.

(To read more about peer production I offer a campaign site I am making
ready for the upcoming federal election:  http://www.peerproduction.org/ )

  It has appeared from my conversations thus far with Minister Copps that
she supports these threats.  I appeal to her to read and contemplate the
many government submissions I have made and possibly reevaluate her
current position.  While she may be committed to ensuring the protection
of creators through the public policy objectives of the Copyright Act, she
may inadvertently be harming creators' rights.

  I look forward to ongoing conversations with Canadian Heritage, Industry
Canada, and all other policy makers on this matter.

Seasons greetings, and thank you.

---
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> 
 Governance software that controls ICT, automates government policy, or
 electronically counts votes, shouldn't be bought any more than 
 politicians should be bought.  -- http://www.flora.ca/russell/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 10:58:52 -0500
From: Min_Copps at pch.gc.ca (RWM: Note this email address does not work)
To: russell -AT- flora.ca

Dear Mr. McOrmond:

      On behalf of the Honourable Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian
Heritage, thank you for your correspondence of October 11, 2003, regarding
copyright reform with regard to free software.

      Ms. Copps appreciates your advising her of your views and has noted
your comments with respect to this matter.  The issue of protecting
creators= rights is an important one.  The Minister remains strongly
committed to ensuring the protection of creators through the public policy
objectives of the Copyright Act.

      Ms. Copps has noted that you are preparing a submission to the
Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for its review of the Government
report on the workings of the Copyright Act.  The Standing Committee
operates independently of the Government and can invite witnesses to appear
on issues in which it has an interest, including those related to software.
The interest and active participation of informed Canadians will ensure
that the Copyright Act continues to achieve all of its public policy
objectives.

      I trust that this information is useful.  Please accept our best
wishes.

                                    Yours sincerely,

                                    Luc Rouleau
                                    Acting Director
                                    Ministerial Correspondence Secretariat

c.c.: The Honourable John Manley, P.C., M.P.
      Mr. Reg Alcock, M.P.
      Mr. Mauril Bélanger, M.P.

---------- Letter that Luc Rouleau was replying to ----------

Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 16:30:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: Russell McOrmond
To: Copps.S
cc: Manley.J, Belanger.M,
    Reg Alcock
Subject: Hamilton and Free/Libre Software

(Note: My MP is Hon. John Manley now that I have moved to Ottawa-South
from Ottawa-Vanier.  I am copying Mauril Bélanger and Reg Alcock who have
shown interest in this area of public policy, and who may help to ensure
that these ideas become visible to the minister).

  I would like the following article to be brought to the attention of
Hon. Sheila Copps:

---cut---

Bob Young: Life, Linux and Lulu

10/10/2003 5:00:00 PM - The new owner of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats discusses
the IT industry's evolutionary dead end, his next big idea and the strange
connection between free software and ketchup

http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&lid=1&sid=53762

---cut---

  I have interacted with Minister Copps a number of times in relation to
copyright reform, including being a participant in the Minister's Forum on
Copyright April 4th, 2003

http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/progs/pda-cpb/forum/index_e.cfm

  She has a home-riding hero in Bob Young that she may want to contact to
learn more about Free/Libre Software.  I believe it is critical for
current copyright reform that the minister to become more aware of the
variety of ways in which software is created, and not just the legacy
business models based on those from the manufacturing sector (companies
like Microsoft)

  Once Minister Copps recognizes that Free/Libre Software is critical to
protecting creators' rights (rather than what I suspect currently which is
that she feels it as a threat), then I can be called upon to clarify any
of the details.

  My submission to Heritage Cmtee http://www.flora.ca/copyright2003/
contains much more detail, and will be finalized soon.

---
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
 Governance software that controls ICT, automates government policy, or
 electronically counts votes, shouldn't be bought any more than
 politicians should be bought.  -- http://www.flora.ca/russell/

--
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