As Michael Geist says in his blog post today, we Canadians have until the end of this month to send comments on the new copyright bill, Bill C32, to the legislative committee now responsible for it. I'm not sure it's exactly the "Canadian DMCA" that Cory Doctorow describes it as (especially since the DMCA itself is now more flexible on fair use and digital locks than our expected bill), but a copyright bill has no business protecting digital locks. IMHO. For the record, here's the letter I've just sent. (To send your own, consider these sources and strategies.)

Dear Bill C32 legislative committee,

There are solid gains for fair dealing in Bill C-32, but the bill protects digital locks more strictly than current US copyright law or even ACTA, now -- and this protection trumps the bill’s otherwise substantial gains in fair dealing for Canadian consumers, educators, and businesses. Furthermore, digital locks — TPMs, DRM, etc. — are not intellectual property and should not be covered by IP legislation.

Bill C32 should provide protection for circumventing digital locks when undertaken for lawful purposes. As has been widely noted, this provision would still let Canada meet its obligations to international copyright agreements like WIPO and ACTA.

Thank you for fielding my comments on Bill C32.

Cross-posted from Academicalism