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Canadian Privacy Commissioner: Copyright reform a threat to privacy |
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Written by Felix Da Silva (fdasilva@bitnip.com)
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Tuesday, 22 January 2008 |
Jennifer Stoddart, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada wrote a public letter to Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Canadian Heritage
Minister Josée Verner, Stoddart cautioned against using forthcoming copyright
legislation to undermine privacy.
In her public letter here, she is Stoddart is concerned about intrusive DRM that is allowed by the proposed bill.
Stoddart is not concerned with DRM if it "only controlled copying and use of content." However, DRM can also collect personal
information and send it back to the "copyright owner or content provider,
without the consent or knowledge of the user."
Even if users do find out (and
object), they wouldn't be able to strip the DRM or circumvent it because
Prentice's bill will reportedly contain US-style anti-circumvention provisions.
In fact, even if they insert an exception for privacy protection into the bill,
the tools to strip or circumvent DRM could still be banned, leaving Canadians with the legal right to
protect their privacy but without the means to do so.
Stoddart used the BMG rootkit fiasco as a real-world example of the
problem. The fiasco concerns protection software included on selected CDs cloaked its presence, collected
information about what discs were played, and sent the data (and a user's IP
number) to Sony BMG. The rootkit is no longer a DRM matter but a privacy issue.
Stoddart's letter is not only concerned about the proposed copyright reforms on DRM. She also talks about the provisions that require Internet service providers (ISPs) to retain customer information for up to one year based solely on the request of a private company alleging copyright infringement.
Stoddart wrote, "allowing a private sector organization to require
an ISP to retain personal information is a precedent-setting provision that
would seriously weaken privacy protections".
There has been a lot of strong opposition against this copyright reform. A large part is because of it is highly influenced by the U.S. and the reform is dubbed the 'Canadian DMCA'. It is certainly refreshing to see Stoddart concerned about Canadian issues and privacy rather than pleasing corporate America.
Kudos Jennifer Stoddart. You have my support.
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