Previous |
Next |
December 14, 2007, 12:34 PM ET
Canadian Professor Fights Copyright Bill Via YouTube
Michael Geist, a technology-law scholar in Canada, has been vigorously campaigning against a proposed copyright reform bill via YouTube and Facebook. The measure, he warns the public, would mirror the controversial U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act by restricting the use of digital works, and making it illegal to bypass copyright protection devices on digital books, recordings, and other material. In a video he posted on YouTube this month, he urges people to write letters to government officials, university presidents, and media outlets to denounce the copyright proposal. Mr. Geist also started a Facebook page called Fair Copyright, which has signed up over 23,000 people.
Now it appears that his offensive may be working. Mr. Geist, research chairman of Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, wrote on his blog Thursday that the Canadian government has decided to hold off introducing the bill at least until late January.
“An astonishing number of people have voiced their concern over the past two weeks and the government seems to have listened. Now it must act by openly consulting and engaging with a country that genuinely cares about copyright,” Mr. Geist wrote. —-Andrea L. Foster
Categories: Legal-Troubles
Add Your Comment
Commenting is closed.