Canada and The WIPO Treaties: Flexibility Was Always Key
Yesterday I blogged about the origins of the WIPO Internet treaty, challenging Mihály Ficsor's claims that the treaty requires a ban on the distribution and manufacture of circumvention devices. Coincidentally, I recently received long overdue documents under the Access to Information Act that highlight the Canadian position during the negotiations of those treaties. As the Canadian delegation prepared to go to Geneva for the final round of negotiation, then Deputy Minister Kevin Lynch (later Clerk of the Privy Council under Prime Minister Harper) provided then Industry Minister John Manley with a memorandum approving the Canadian instructions (the delegation was led by Danielle Bouvet, then with Industry Canada).
Three issues stand out from the document. The first has to do with the hesitation with the treaty itself. The memo acknowledges "in certain areas, the proposed treaty language has not been the subject of adequte debate within Canada – or indeed internationally." Perhaps arising from these concerns, the memo concludes by noting "the delegation will not have full powers to sign a treaty."
Second, the position of the Canadian government was to support provisions that would not result in major changes to domestic law or were sufficiently flexible in implementation. In particular, the memo states that "Canada will also support provisions that constitute minor changes to domestic policy, or which provide flexiblity to adopt measures compatible with Canadian policy." The delegation instructions were therefore limited to provisions consistent with Canadian law (which the WIPO Internet treaties were not) or were flexible in implementation.
Third, notwithstanding the admitted lack of debate, it is striking to see how much more open the WIPO Internet treaties were than the current ACTA negotiations. The memo states:
Drafts of the treaties to be negotiated at the Conference were made available by WIPO in early September 2006. Copies have been distributed by Industry Canada to over 200 individuals and groups representing Canadian stakeholders, who were invited to file written submissions. Consultation meetings were held with individual stakeholders. The key stakeholders were invited on November 14 to review the draft treaties with the author, Jukka Liedes of Finland.
Compare that process with the current one in ACTA, where there are no drafts to share – just vague promises about making drafts available after the talks are concluded.
CBC Sued for Unauthorized Fashion Show Taping
Nygard International, a women's clothing company, has sued the CBC for unauthorized recording of a fashion show. The company claims both trespass and copyright infringement.
NB Court Orders Production of ISP and Facebook Records
A New Brunswick court has ordered a plaintiff in a disability insurance claim to obtain “a history of her computer account use” from her ISP and “request” her ISP to generate a record accounting for her FaceBook use.
Amazon Kindle DRM Broken
Amazon's Kindle DRM, which restricts ebooks to the device, has been broken. The hack reportedly allows ebooks stored on the reader to be transferred as PDF files to other devices.
Support EFF’s International Work!
The Internet is global, and so are threats to digital freedom. Over the past year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has fought Internet censorship, oppressive copyright laws and privacy violations wherever they’ve been under threat around the world.
With the help of our global partners and supporters like you, EFF has been able to achieve great things over the past year:
- Protecting Freedom of Expression. EFF helped establish the Global Network Initiative, garnering commitments from leading technology companies worldwide to resist pressure from government censors in repressive countries and to advance freedom of expression in their products and services.
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- Assembling the World’s Copyright Laws. EFF helped create Copyright-Watch.org, the most comprehensive publicly available database of international copyright laws ever assembled. Currently including the laws of 187 countries, Copyright-Watch.org was created to strengthen the global network of copyright experts, to facilitate comparative policy research, and to provide for national advocacy support.
- Creating Global Privacy Standards. EFF worked with public interest organizations from every continent to create international standards for privacy that ensure the priority of civil rights in the face of increasing surveillance and monitoring.
- Influencing European Internet Policy. EFF collaborated with digital rights and consumer protection advocates in Europe to preserve judicial oversight and due process in IP enforcement efforts and to fight Three Strikes proposals.
- Promoting Access to Knowledge in Developing Countries. EFF promoted access to knowledge in the developing world by encouraging government bodies to create interoperability standards that encouraged universal access.
- Exposing the Lack of Transparency in Trade Negotiations. EFF led the battle to shed sunlight on the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret multi-national pact that could severely limit digital rights.
- Fighting Against Abuse of Cybercrime Legislation. EFF supported local activists in Brazil, Kazakhstan, and Thailand fighting against the abuse and misuse of cybercrime laws to suppress legitimate activity. EFF also fought to secure privacy rights and civil liberties protections in the legislative implementation of the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention.
This is but a sample of the things we’ve worked on in 2009. For more information about our international mission, see http://www.eff.org/issues/international.
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Happy Holidays from EFF’s International Team
Comcast To Compensate Throttled BitTorrent Users
Comcast has decided to settle one of the lawsuits brought about over their use of the Sandvine BitTorrent throttling hardware to ‘manage’ their network. For those who were affected, there is the possibility of receiving a payment from a $16 million fund set up by the Internet service provider.
When the copyright enforcer breaches
Its amusing / ironic / puzzling whenever someone who aggressively tries to protects its own copyright, trade-marks, or other intellectual property finds itself on the opposite side. In other words, they engage in the very behaviour that they find offensive in others.
The latest example is Vanoc (aka the Vancouver Olympics). Seems that there are a [...]
Give to EFF This Holiday Season and Receive Free BookMooch Points
This holiday season, for every $10 you donate to EFF, you can receive one BookMooch point, worth one free book of your choice, from BookMooch founder and EFF board member John Buckman! Just join BookMooch and then email the receipt of your donation here to redeem your points. (You can find John Buckman’s official announcement on the Bookmooch blog.)
BookMooch is a community built around exchanging used books — it’s completely non-commercial and costs nothing to join or use. Members list books that they are willing to exchange, list books that they want to receive, and earn points based on their participation. You get one BookMooch point when you send someone else a book; you spend one BookMooch point when you “mooch” (receive) a book from another member. Take advantage of this promotion to get some free books while supporting EFF and the ongoing fight for digital civil liberties!
IFPI Settles With Cyberlocker Sites, Takes Over Domains
After taking legal action, IFPI has now reached a settlement with the operators of several cyberlocker hosting sites. Under the agreement, the owners of the sites will pay IFPI around $50,000 in compensation. They will also hand over their domain names to the music industry group so they cannot be used for infringement in future.
M&R launches procurement portal
Readers interested in changes to the UK’s procurement regime may want to take a peek at the procurement portal we launched recently. This follows changes implemented following the Remedies Directive that took effect at the weekend. Public authorities are now…
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