[kwlug-disc] Copyright consultations: Town Halls and submissions

[Denver Gingerich]

Here are some details on Canada's copyright consultations, which are
taking place until September 13 and will help guide the government's
creation of a new copyright bill.  First of all, since it's
time-sensitive, you can sign up to watch today's Montreal Town Hall
meeting (happening at 1pm) via streaming video at the following URL:

http://copyright.econsultation.ca/topics-sujets/show-montrer/24

There will also be a Toronto Town Hall meeting on August 27 at 7pm.
Unfortunately, it is already full, but you can still register for the
streaming video at:

http://copyright.econsultation.ca/topics-sujets/show-montrer/27

Round Table meetings have already occurred in Vancouver and Calgary.
You can listen to the audio or read the transcripts here:

http://copyright.econsultation.ca/topics-sujets/show-montrer/17

The government is accepting written submissions describing your
thoughts on copyright.  I strongly encourage you to submit one.  See
the following links (for submitting and viewing existing submissions):

http://copyright.econsultation.ca/topics-sujets/show-montrer/18
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/008.nsf/eng/h_00001.html

If you want to specifically refer to parts of Bill C-61 that concern
you, there is a summary of C-61 and petition available, complete with
section numbers:

http://wsic.uwaterloo.ca/wiki/Bill_C-61_summary
http://wsic.uwaterloo.ca/wiki/Bill_C-61_petition

You can follow what's happening with the consultations by subscribing
to @copyrightcanada's Twitter feed or watching the #copycon hashtag:

http://twitter.com/copyrightcanada
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23copycon
http://identi.ca/tag/copycon

As you might have guessed, the official web site is
http://copyright.econsultation.ca/ , which provides full details on
the copyright consultations.  You can find additional information on
Michael Geist's http://speakoutoncopyright.ca/ .  If you're wondering
why you should care about copyright or want to know which issues are
at hand, I suggest reading Geist's "Responding to the Copyright
Consultation: My Short Answer":

http://speakoutoncopyright.ca/responding-copyright-consultation-my-short-answer

It is important that we use these copyright consultations to make our
voices heard.  We get this chance very infrequently so we have to take
advantage of it.  The last full consultation was in 2001 and two
copyright bills have been tabled since then, both without further
consultation.

Let me know if you have any questions.  I tend to follow these events
fairly closely so it's likely that I can help you out.

Denver
http://ossguy.com/