New Canadian anti-DRM coalition

By Cory Doctorow at 9:03 am Wednesday, Jun 28

IntellectualPrivacy.ca is a new Canadian anti-DRM coalition, devoted to ensuring that Canada doesn't end up with American-style DMCA rules that let entertainment companies use DRM to override the user rights in copyright. They've sent an open letter to Canada's Heritage Minister that's excellent:

Rather than consulting on privacy and considering copyright law reforms that would protect Canadians from the use of DRM (as an increasing number of commentators have suggested we should do), our former government proposed copyright reforms that would provide protection for DRM. Proposed ‘anti-circumvention’ provisions would make it illegal for people to circumvent copyright holders’ DRM. Such legal provisions could cripple Canadians’ ability to protect their privacy and to enjoy copyright works in private, free from copyright holders’ DRM ‘spyware’. This problem is aggravated by free-market arguments that attempt to justify DRM on the basis that people often ‘agree’ to the surveillance when they agree to the standard-form contracts implemented by DRM. However, the law must protect individuals by ensuring that such ‘agreements’ reflect the expectations of the parties and are not used to circumvent privacy. Deceptive standard-form agreements that add provisions on surveillance undermine consumer confidence and hurt the acceptance of market-based solutions.

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