Canadian Education Groups Seek Changes in Newly Proposed Copyright Law

Some professors and students in Canada are grumbling about a new copyright-reform bill that was introduced there Wednesday, saying that it would lead to new restrictions on the use of media in classrooms, distance learning, and libraries.

The proposed law is designed to make it easier to go after commercial pirates while allowing individuals to copy legally obtained content from one device to another and to make backup copies. But critics say the bill’s protection of so-called digital locks—encryption that publishers place on music, movie, or software files to keep them from being illegally copied—could make it impossible for users to do things that are technically legal, like making copies for educational use.

“The government has struck some pretty good compromises over all, but the one place where they didn’t compromise at all was with digital locks, and that’s incredibly disappointing,” said Michael Geist, Canada research chair in Internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, in a phone interview. “Locks aside, the bill is good for higher education,” he said. For instance, he says, the law allows professors to use materials for educational use, but only if they destroy them 30 days after the course ends. “I would say the bill is flawed but fixable,” he said.

Mr. Geist is urging readers of his popular blog to let the government know what they like about the bill and what they want changed before it becomes law.

David Robinson, associate executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, said in a phone interview that the digital-lock provisions need to be changed. “It’s going to make it even more difficult to use copyrighted material for teaching and studying,” he said. “If material that can be legally copied now because it’s available in paper form becomes digitized and has a lock, it cannot be copied for any reason, including education or research.” He says the measure will effectively lock down a vast amount of digital material. “If a student wants take a clip from a DVD or CD for a class presentation and there’s a digital lock, it can’t be used,” he said.

Paul Davidson, president of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, said in a statement that the digital-lock rules are “overly strict.” But he said that collges welcome some provisions of the law and its overall goals. “Professors and students at Canadian universities are both creators and users of copyright works,” he wrote. “Canadian universities recognize the importance of balance between the desire of creators to receive fair remuneration for the use of their works and the public interest in being able to use information for purposes such as research and education. This copyright law will result in a fairer treatment for both parties.”

The country’s education ministers issued a statement highlighting the benefits of the bill. “It is excellent that the bill allows students and educators to use Internet materials in their learning and teaching activities without fear of copyright infringement,” the statement says.