[Ottawa_users] copyright feedback requested

[Scott Mitchell]

On 14-Aug-2009, at 13:19 , Andrew Ross wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> Following up for those that asked at last night's meeting. The
> following is the link to the open source debate event page:
> http://www.fosslc.org/drupal/node/407
> ...

Thanks, Andrew.

On a related note, the following is an extract from a "call to action"  
briefing to the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences,  
by L. Murray.  The full briefing is mostly slanted towards researchers  
in humanities and social sciences, but the following is applicable to  
anybody and may be of specific interest to those interested in  
licences, data access issues, and "fair use":

"On July 20th, the Ministers of Industry and Canadian Heritage  
announced a public consultation on copyright issues, to continue until  
September 13th. They say they intend to introduce new legislation in  
the fall.

It is very important that member organizations and institutions submit  
a comment in this consultation. The Copyright Committee of CFHSS will  
be preparing a Federation‐wide statement over the next month. But it  
is imperative that individual scholarly organizations and scholars  
participate in this consultation: this is where the Ministers will be  
able to put a face to issues that often seem abstract. Why would DRM  
impair your work? Why do you need fair dealing? Why would a longer  
copyright term be a problem? What other issues and provisions matter  
to you, and why? And why is your work important anyway? Aim for a  
combination of specific examples of your scholarly practice,  
invocation of principles of freedom of expression and access to  
intellectual heritage, and statements about specific desired or  
problematic provisions. Short is fine."

...

"The government has set up a website, http:// 
copyright.econsultation.ca/, to which Canadians can send comments on  
five questions:
• How do Canada’s copyright laws affect you? How should existing  
laws be modernized?
• Based on Canadian values and interests, how should copyright  
changes be made in order to
stand the test of time?
• What sorts of copyright changes do you believe would best foster  
innovation and creativity in Canada?
• What sorts of copyright changes do you believe would best foster  
competition and investment in Canada?
• What kinds of changes would best position Canada as a leader in the  
global, digital economy?

These questions may frame your response, but it would be appropriate  
too to bend them in the directions that best reflect your concerns."