Canadian policy review more influenced by American regulators than by public action

The Library of Congress announced on Monday that that actions which involve breaking digital locks in order to access software do not constitute digital circumvention under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the United States. In other words, iPhone "jailbreaking" and similar practices are now protected by fair use laws in the US, much to the dismay of Apple. This surprising decision has compelled Canadian Industry Minister Tony Clement to review Canada's upcoming bill to amend the Copyright Act (Bill C-32), which is something that months of public protest has been unable to accomplish.

While opinions on whether or not the upcoming bill strikes an adequate balance between user and creator rights have varied greatly, one thing the government has been almost universally criticized for is allowing the bill to influenced more by American corporations than the interests of Canadian citizens and artists. Although few have been satisfied with the legislation in its current form, Heritage Minister James Moore has been rather prolifically defencive over the government's position and dismissive of criticism. Although some may see the decision to review Bill C-32 in the autumn as a positive development, the fact that it is little more than a reaction to regulatory changes in the United States reaffirms the critique that the interests of the United States play a greater role in policy-making issues that surround Canadian media than our country's citizens are even allowed to.

It should also be noted is that the only reason this review of the DMCA was even made possible was because of a provision in the legislation that allows for revisions to be made every few years. No such conditions exist in the proposed Bill C-32.