Bill C61 — The Canadian DMCA & Book Publishing
As has been widely reported, new copyright legislation was announced this week in Canada. The book publishers are for it. The librarians are against it.
There is a couple of interesting things in the bill.
- It allows for recording television programs, but then you have to delete them. No time limit is given.
- It requires ISPs to keep tabs on their customers. They aren’t liable but they have to keep track of the accused. Urr shouldn’t you have to be proven guilty first? This kind of soft enforcement sounds messy. I suppose it is better than immediate lawsuits. We’ll see.
- There is a blanket anti-circumvention clause. I was hoping to see anti-circumvention laws targeted at commercial use, not consumer use. Sadly that didn’t happen. Unlocking your cell phone seems to be the example everyone in the press is using to explain the whole mess.
The cultural-imperialistic overtones of this whole thing make me shudder. The fact that Minister Jim Prentice is dropping it late in the house sitting, without any public consultation, is kind of skeezy. That stuff aside what does it really mean for Canadian book publishing?
The Consequences for Canadian Book Publishing
I think it all comes back to the innovation argument. Does this bill help or hurt innovation in Canadian book publishing? Some say innovation can’t happen unless artists get paid. That is true. Others say innovation can’t happen (as fast) as long as you are propping up old business models. That is also true. I am with the latter camp. The artists will be rewarded in the end. The publishers — as rights holders — don’t need protection. That might sound naive, but the future path for book publishers can’t rely on the value of something that is infinitely copyable (that value approaches zero overtime btw). The smartest, not the protected, will survive this crunch.
There is a Frost in the Great White North
This bill has the potential to chill the burgeoning digital market in Canada. Ebooks haven’t exactly caught fire in this country… yet. So to introduce a bill that could stunt the growth of this market, right at the time it is finally taking off, would be bad. The problem is the market, the market players, and even the ebook itself are all still taking shape.
We have finally decided on an ebook standard (hooray) but the ebook-as-a-file model may not prevail. It is in a horserace with the ebook-as-platform model. This bill assumes ebooks (and all IP in general) will be files.
The bill also favors the dominant US industry players whom, up until now, have demonstrated little interest in the Canadian market. I, for one, would love to be able to buy ebooks from Amazon (or mobipocket) then transfer them to Sony Reader. This bill makes that explicitly illegal. It forces me to wait for the Kindle to come to Canada instead of buying a device from Sony. Sony has committed to the Canadian market (thankyou) but their selection isn’t as good. Sigh. I guess I will play-wait-and-see with ebooks instead of diving in. I bet I am not the only one.
Still Waiting For Bezos
eMusic’s CEO David Pakman gave a great talk about clawing market share away from iTunes at this year’s Book Expo America. Available at Bookexpocast.com. eMusic was able to gain a footfold in the market, in part, by providing an alternative to the DRM at iTunes. That was what customers wanted.
By making content portability more difficult, this bill discourages Canadian readers to consume ebooks how they want, when they want, where they want. That makes the possibility remote of a homegrown eMusic-style alternative to the Kindle and puts Amazon, Ingram, and Audible firmly in the driver seat of the Canadian market. Is that the end of the world for Canadian publishers? No. It is simply a bummer for Canadian consumers and Canadian upstarts.
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