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Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 22:53:15 -0400
From: "David Fewer [c]" <dfewer(_at_)uottawa(_dot_)ca>
To: David Fewer <dfewer(_at_)uottawa(_dot_)ca>
Subject: Media Release - Digital Security Coalition [u]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Digital Security Coalition Concerned over Copyright Bill
IT security research and technology decries new liability for circumvention
of technological protection measures
Ottawa, ON - June 20, 2005 - The Digital Security Coalition
(www.digitalsecurity.ca), a coalition of Canada's leading security research
businesses, today expressed concern with Bill C-60, the government's draft
copyright legislation. The legislation proposes to introduce a series of
new rights to benefit copyright holders, including prohibitions on the
circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs) and on tampering
with rights management information (RMI). Rights holders use TPMs and RMI
like digital locks to regulate access to and use of digital content.
"Security firms address security weaknesses by circumventing technological
protection measures," states Brian O'Higgins, Chief Technology Officer of
Third Brigade, Inc., and spokesperson for the coalition. "That is our
business, and this bill needlessly complicates that business by introducing
a new layer of risk and liability."
"Burdening the Canadian technology industry with new laws is always
dangerous," states Bob Young, the Canadian co-founder and director of Red
Hat Inc., and founder and CEO of Lulu Enterprises, Inc. "In this case, the
government has simply not demonstrated a need for this dangerous
legislation. There is no evidence that these new rights will benefit
Canadians, Canadian companies, or the Canadian economy. In fact, the US
experience with anti-circumvention laws suggests the opposite:
anti-circumvention laws are bad for security researchers, bad for consumers
and bad for competition."
Mr. O'Higgins agrees. "These proposals are too broad, too vague, and too
dangerous for security researchers. The best that can be said for this Bill
is that it is not substantially worse than what the government first
proposed back in March."
"It's like making screw-drivers illegal because they can be used to break
and enter," explains Mr. Young. "Good legislation targets the illegal act,
not the legal tools an infringer might use. These proposals risk
undermining Canada's commitment to fostering an economy built on innovation
and opportunity."
Background
The government's copyright bill proposes to amend Canada's copyright laws to
implement obligations arising from a pair of 1996 treaties crafted under the
auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization, or WIPO: the 1996
Copyright Treaty and the 1996 Performers and Phonographs Treaty,
collectively known as the WIPO Internet Treaties. The treaties require
member states to provide for legal protection against the circumvention of
TPMs.
"A number of nations have already enacted legislation to implement their
anti-circumvention obligations under the WIPO Internet treaties," says David
Fewer, legal counsel for CIPPIC, the Canadian Internet Policy and Public
Interest Clinic of the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law. "The results
have been very troubling from a technology perspective." The American
experience under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the DMCA), the U.S.
implementation of the WIPO Internet treaties, demonstrates that
anti-circumvention rights are often used for reasons other than copyright
protection, such as to reduce competition or segment markets. More
troubling from a public policy perspective, however, are circumvention
claims seeking to silence critical security research. Such attempts are at
base motivated by a desire to maintain control over security research in
respect of particular platforms or applications. "We should be learning
from the American experience, not copying it," suggests Professor Fewer.
"The DMCA has had a demonstrably negative impact on security research in the
United States. That is an undisputed fact. No one will benefit from the
`liability chill' these laws will create."
The coalition intends to play an active role before the Parliamentary
committee ultimately struck to review the bill.
The coalition's website is at www.digitalsecurity.ca. Digital Security
Coalition members include:
Third Brigade, Ltd.
Bob Young, co-founder and director of Red Hat, Inc., founder of Lulu, Inc.,
and owner of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Football Team
Cinnabar Networks Inc.
AEPOS Technologies Corporation
Borderware Technologies Inc.
Certicom Corp.
Credentica
Elytra Enterprises Inc
Innusec, Inc.
Klocwork Inc.,
Q1 Labs, Inc.
Random Knowledge Inc.
Synomos Inc.
VE Networks, Inc.
- - 30 -
For more information, contact:
Brian O'Higgins
Spokesperson for the Digital Security Coalition
Chief Technology Officer
Third Brigade, Inc.
Suite 500, 495 March Rd
Ottawa, Ontario, K2K 3G1
Phone: 1-866-684-7332
Ottawa Local: 613-599-4505
Mobile: 613-291-3812
Fax: 613-599-8191
Bob Young
Founder, CEO, Lulu, Inc., www.lulu.com
Co-founder, Director, Red Hat, Inc., www.redhat.com
Co-founder, Chairman, Center for the Public Domain, www.centerpd.org
Owner, Hamilton Tiger-Cats Football Club, www.ticats.ca
E-mail: bob(_at_)lulu(_dot_)com
Lulu, Inc.
Suite 210
3131 RDU Centre Dr
Morrisville, NC, 27560
Tel: 919-459-5858 ext 227, or Annie ext 230
Fax: 919-459-5867
Cell: 919-604-3777
For more information on the legal background, contact:
David A. Fewer
Legal Counsel
CIPPIC (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic)
Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
57 Louis Pasteur Street
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5
Phone: 613-562-5800 ext. 2558
Mobile: 613-252-0655
Fax: 613-562-5417
For more information on the Digital Security Coalition, see
www.digitalsecurity.ca.
For Bill C-60 and the government's accompanying backgrounder, FAQ, and
Ministers' letter, see:
http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/progs/pda-cpb/reform/index_e.c
fm
For a Canadian overview of the policy implications of proposals to extend to
Canadian rights holders rights to TPMs, see:
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/progs/pda-cpb/pubs/protection/protection_e.pdf
and
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/progs/pda-cpb/pubs/protectionII/protection_e.pdf
For more information on the American experience under the DMCA, please
visit:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/unintended_consequences.php
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