A hot topic that will have many punches thrown over this session will most likely be the highly debated and controversial copyright reform bill. A bill that would mimic the highly disliked DMCA bill in the USA. The bill that was suppose to be tabled in the fall session but was delayed when sudden and vocal opposition was demonstrated by the very people who would be effected by this proposed law change, the voters!

A lot of the organization behind this opposition comes in the form of a Facebook group. Started by Dr. Michael Geist, law professor and Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, the Facebook group “Fair Copyright for Canada” has attracted the attention of 37000 users and resulted in national news coverage by CBC’s The Hour and The National.

While all that might be old news to some readers, a new development was the creation of local chapters that started quietly over the Christmas break. Just this past week The Fair Copyright for Canada group went public with its announcement of local chapters spanning 13 cities. I was delighted to be asked to start the Halifax Chapter and welcome anyone in the Halifax area to join. You are also encouraged to start your own campus or city chapter if one is not already in existence. Just contact Dr. Geist through the national Facebook group.

The momentum of this group continues to grow with coverage on Computer World Magazine’s site and on local newscasts across the country. This is an important step in bringing the concerns of the public to the MP’s who will eventually vote on this issue. Any stakeholders, who have a desire to see a balanced copyright reform bill put before the House of Commons, or an unbalanced bill defeated, are asked to get involved and ensure that your concerns are heard. Through these Facebook groups we will be making available the necessary information about who to contact, how to get involved, any rallies, and most importantly how this will effect you.

This development is also notable for demonstrating the impact that social networking sites can have on an organization. Although that is another topic. So please get involved, learn how this can affect you, and most importantly stand up for your rights.

There has been a fairly loud laugh and a collective head shaking as intelligent people attempt to understand how a U.S. firm feels that not only is the content of their site the property of the owner – and it is – but the HTML code that allows your browser to view it is also property of the owner. Not only is it their property but you are forbid from viewing it [the HTML]. In addition, this firm attempts to prevent you from linking to them, or referring to them, without permission. The firm Inventor-Link is represented by the law firm Dozier Internet Law – and I assume advised by them – who have recently attempted to prevent another site from posting one of their take down letters, citing it as intellectual property. A letter from a firm who think that is possible is likely neither intellectual nor property but most likely, a document filled with such verbose legalese that it only attempts to scare and confuse the target into submission.

All these two firms are demonstrating is a general misunderstanding of internet technology and I hate to point it out, the law.

To the first point I will simply state that in order view a web page a browser must make a temporary copy [cache] of the information in order to display it to the viewer (if you are uncomfortable with this do not post anything online as this is simply how it works). If viewing the HTML is violation then certainly copying is as well. To the second point I will remind everyone that it is a long standing legal precedent that you are free to link to, cite appropriately, and criticize properly, any site you wish. Such as I am now. How either firm figures this is helping them is beyond me.