Filed under: copyright, Digital Economy | Tags: Internet Blackout Protests, PIPA, Research Works Act, SOPA
Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic blackout protest page January 18, 2012.
The Internet is a major source of innovation for both the economy and society. It enables entirely new forms of business, communication, and knowledge and plays a central role in changing repressive societies, creating global awareness, and forging relationships. The Internet provides us with a set of online freedoms.
It’s fascinating (and in many cases disturbing) to see governments attempt to modernize legislation from pre-Internet days and in some cases introduce new legislation seeking to leverage the Internet or control it. Yesterday, January 18, 2012 many of you may have experienced “blackout protests” when thousands of websites went dark in protest against two draft anti-piracy and counterfeiting bills in the US Congress.
Wikipedia’s web site featured this:
And today they posted the following thank you:
I thought I’d try and make sense of these protests. What are these bills all about? Why are legislators bringing them forward? Why are people protesting? How does it affect Canada? Is there similar legislation being brought forward in Canada? How does it affect me?
At this juncture in the evolution of the Internet rather than embracing the innovations the Internet is bringing many legislators seem intent on curbing it.
In the US two draft anti-piracy and counterfeiting bills are currently being reviewed in the US Congress. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). SOPA is intended to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. PIPA is intended to give the US government and copyright holders tools to curb access to “rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods”, especially those registered outside the U.S. These bills are in response to the perceived problem that piracy is having a large negative impact on US content industries.
It’s interesting to compare the list of those supporting SOPA with those opposing SOPA. Supporters of SOPA represent the movie, music and publishing industries while those opposed are primarily from the technology, public interest, and human rights groups. These lists themselves are interesting as they establish a kind of public transparency and accountability for what is happening.
There are several major problems legislators face in creating legislation of this kind including:
- clearly defining, and substantiating the nature of the problem legislation seeks to rectify. For an interesting analysis of this regarding SOPA see SOPA, Internet Regulation and the Economics of Piracy. It’s also interesting to hear from entities like Pirate Bay who are clearly the targets of this legislation – see The Pirate Bay’s SOPA Press Release
- legislation of this kind requires precise and technologically savvy language. See A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP for an analysis of this perspective.
- legislation of this kind cannot erode or negatively impact societal freedoms or adversely affect innovation and economic/societal benefits. These issues are explored in: Websites Everywhere Dark In Protest Of US Anti-Piracy Legislation
SOPA and PIPA are not the only contentious bills. There is also the Research Works Act. In the US the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a policy that ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH publicly funded research. The Research Works Act seeks to prevent NIH and any federal agency from adopting such open access policies. See Anti-Open Access Rises Again and Academic publishers have become the enemies of science.
While all the bills I’ve mentioned so far are US, Canada is not immune to similar activities. Our federal government has been pressured by the US to take stronger stands on enforcing copyright and IP similar to those being taken in the US. In response Canada’s government has taken steps to comply through efforts to update copyright legislation, signing of ACTA, and its willingness to join in the Trans Pacific Partnership. Michael Geist and others have written widely on these developments. See:
C-32 Posts
2011 in Review: Developments in ACTA
Canada Signs ACTA: What Comes Next
TPP Copyright Extension Would Keep Some of Canada’s Top Authors Out of Public Domain For Decades
Help Preserve the Canadian Public Domain: Speak Out on the Trans Pacific Partnership Negotiations
I find it disturbing that with all these legislative bills the economic benefits of a few are superceding the public benefits of many. These bills seek to control and limit freedom as is so eloquently expressed in my colleague Scott Leslie’s Short Poem About SOPA.
But for me its not just about control and freedom its about optimizing the use of technology. Much of what I see happening is seeking to break or disable technology in order to enforce old business models. I’m dismayed when I see technologies hobbled for economic gain. See Publishers vs. Libraries: An E-Book Tug of War for example. When David Wong says in his brilliantly funny 5 Reasons The Future Will Be Ruled By B.S. that “The future is going to hang on whether or not businesses will be able to convince you to pay money for things you can otherwise get for free.” I’m really hoping he’s wrong. In the digital world the incremental cost of distributing digital goods is next to zero. Creating business models based on artificial scarcity is sheer folly and fails to leverage the innovation that technology and the Internet bring.
If we truly are interested in improving our economies and societies we’d be well served to focus on how we incentivize the production and use of creative works not curtail them. We’d be better off looking at how we maximize access and use not limit it.
Filed under: Digital Economy | Tags: digital economy, digital film & animation, e-learning, interactive design, interactive entertainment, Ministry of Digital Technology, mobile, music
This post summarizes input I submitted to Canada’s federal government Digital Economy Consultation.
June 29, 2010
The Honourable Tony Clement
Minister of Industry
Government of Canada
Re: Digital Economy Consultation
In 2008 I was part of a digital media visioning and working group formed by the Cultural Human Resources Council. This group met throughout 2008 and published a Digital Media Content Creation Technology Roadmap in January 2009.
The Digital Media Content Creation Technology Roadmap report identifies six major technology projects and corresponding skills development initiatives, which need to happen over the next five years for Canada’s multi-billion dollar digital technology industry to be competitive in the global market.
The six technology projects are:
1. Open, fast, and affordable networks/access with quality of service
2. Tools for compression to optimize bandwidth use
3. Collaborative creation network environments and tools
4. Mobile network and device technologies to distribute, create and present content/services (Open network)
5. Digital media usability research network
6. Centralized interoperable mechanism for micro-transactions
I encourage the government to implement the technology steps, support the collaborations suggested, and take the skills development steps recommended in the Digital Media Content Creation Technology Roadmap report.
This project brought together leaders in the Digital Media industry from across the country representing:
- Mobile Content
- Digital Film and Animation
- E-Learning (this is the sector I was representing)
- Interactive Entertainment
- Interactive Design & Web 2.0
A research report “New Media Content Creation in Canada – An Overview Report” prepared by Steve Bocska for Industry Canada provided some essential structure and guidance. However, the diversity of sectors and rich range of perspectives and suggestions quickly created complexity. After sitting through a visioning session and some follow-on discussions I created a big picture visual representation of the key areas that need to be bolstered to enhance Canada’s digital economy. (click on image to enlarge)
This diagram identifies policy, research, business, technology, people and markets as main inter-related arteries of Canada’s digital economy. Both digital technology content creation and digital technology delivery are essential components of the industry with creation feeding delivery. A “destination” or overarching national goal for how digital technology will benefit Canada is required. This destination goal ensures that all Canadians benefit from the digital economy not just economically but socially and culturally too.
To advance Canada’s digital economy we need a comprehensive strategy and approach that utilizes policy, research, business, technology, people and markets. Here’s a quick summary of my recommendations:
Recommendation #1 Establish National Goals for Canada’s Digital Economy
- make Canada the best place to live for digital technology creators
- establish a public digital green space supporting innovation, linking digital creators & users, and ensuring universal benefits from digital capabilities
- promote the link between digital media literacy with happiness and prosperity
- develop a nationally pervasive digital innovation culture
- broaden perspective of digital economy beyond culture to include all sectors
- support and facilitate digital businesses domestically and internationally
Recommendation #2 – Federal digital economy research, policy, support and initiatives are spread across multiple ministries. This creates a fractured front for industry groups to deal with resulting in a lack of cohesion, coordination and impact. Establish a Ministry of Digital Technology.
Recommendation #3: While its important to protect intellectual property and generate economic worth from digital development there is a significant and growing movement around open public sharing, distribution, and reuse. Canada needs to have a balanced approach to copyright and openness. Ensure all publicly funded research and resources developed for education are licensed for open sharing and reuse.
Recommendation #4: Consider tax credits for the digital economy.
Recommendation #5: Establish policy and regulations around digital economy foreign ownership.
Recommendation #6: Support infrastructure for digital technology distribution that makes bandwidth equally available in rural and urban areas
Recommendation #7: Develop a policy strategy to support businesses in moving digital technology developments from development to commercialization.
Recommendation #8: Provide federal support for international market penetration.
Recommendation #9: Telco control has resulted in expensive wireless and a loss of national control of bandwidth. Establish policy and regulations that ensure bandwidth is a national public good and reduce the cost of wireless.
Recommendation #9: Research on the digital economy needs to substantially increase. Major ongoing research is needed on market trends and business models. Research should be done through academic and industry collaborations. Digital technology centres of excellence should be created. A research knowledge base needs to be built and benchmarks on the industry established.
Recommendation #10: Support digital economy businesses with market opportunity definition and investment & funding. Work with broadcasters, carriers, and providers to establish local and international sales support and systems for e-commerce micropayments.
Rcommendation #11: Develop a technology view and inventory of Canada’s digital economy. Include software, hardware, middleware and infrastructure. Define distribute channels, devices and methods of distribution including streamed and interactive.
Recommendation #12: Develop a human resource strategy to support growth and development of the digital economy. Define digital economy end users including demographics and individual vs. shared or mass digital media users.
Recommendation #13: Define and analyze local, national and international digital economy markets.
Recommendation #14: Define segments of Canada’s digital economy including e-learning, mobile, interactive design, digital film & animation, interactive entertainment, music, and other emerging technologies.
Paul Stacey
