New Canadian Copyright Bill Introduced - Librarians Unhappy

Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy! Big headaches ahead.

After multiple delays, the federal government finally introduced its much awaited copyright reform bill in the House of Commons yesterday (the LEGISinfo site links to the text of the bill and provides backgrounders from government agencies).

The Canadian Library Association is very disappointed:

"Overall, the Bill is extremely complex and will need more detailed study, but there are many glaring problems. Fundamentally, the Bill circumvents user rights (...)"

"Another example is desktop delivery of interlibrary loan. Bill C-61 ignores the fact that the 2004 CCH Supreme Court Judgment already allows Canadian libraries to do desktop delivery of interlibrary loan. The provisions in Bill C-61 require libraries to lock up interlibrary loan with DRM, something that most libraries would not have the resources to accomplish. This would force many libraries back to delivering interlibrary loan via paper copies."

Other reactions:

• Reaction to planned copyright law changes (Globe and Mail compilation): "Here is a sampling of reaction to the draft copyright law that Canada's government unveiled Thursday."
• The Canadian DMCA: Check the Fine Print (Michael Geist, University of Ottawa Law School): "As expected, [federal Industry Minister Jim] Prentice has provided a series of attention-grabbing provisions to consumers including time shifting, private copying of music (transferring a song to your iPod), and format shifting (changing format from analog to digital). These are good provisions that did not exist in the delayed December bill. However, check the fine print since the rules are subject to a host of strict limitations and, more importantly, undermined by the digital lock provisions (...) The education community received several provisions that are largely gutted by the fine print. For example, library materials can be distributed in electronic form, but must not extend beyond five days. In other words, it turns librarians into locksmiths."
• CIPPIC Disappointed With New Copyright Bill - Proposed Law Adopts Worst of DMCA (Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic): "... the big copyright players, and the American administration, should be thrilled with the government’s draft legislation – they are the big winners here. Losers, unfortunately, include Canadian consumers, security researchers, educators, students, privacy advocates, Canada’s public domain and Canadian innovators and creators ..."
• Copyright bill: All ours, or a DMCA copy? (Mathew Ingram, Globe and Mail columnist): "It's also worth noting that this copyright legislation is just one of the fronts the government is working on when it comes to protecting the interests of U.S. content companies: there's also the secretive Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which is a multi-country effort to create laws that would extend the powers of border guards -- allowing them to seize devices that are suspected of containing copyright infringing materials, for example -- and would also force ISPs to reveal the identities of even suspected infringers without requiring a court order."