Data sheet (Event):
| Conference: Musical Myopia, Digital Dystopia: New Media and Copyright Reform (Montreal, Canada, March 23 2007) | |
| Title of event Musical Myopia, Digital Dystopia: New Media and Copyright Reform | |
| Start date 2007-03-23 |
End date 2007-03-23 |
| Event location McGill Schulich School of Music | |
| Type of event Colloque |
Participation method Commentaire |
| Theme 2- Documentation of media art | |
Observer: Corina MacDonald |
|
Panel 2: Policy Responses and Reactions Charlie Angus (NDP) Charles Morgan (McCarthy Tetrault) Sandy Pearlman (Visiting McGill Scholar & Producer, Schulich School of Music) Sunny Handa (Blakes, moderator) This panel focused on issues of digital copyright policy in Canada, particularly pertaining to the downloading of copyrighted materials through unauthorized channels. Issues agreed upon by the panelists were the need for an adequate framework in Canada to address protection and rights management, and the need for a new model to monetize currently “illegal” markets. Otherwise, there was little agreement upon the best strategies for achieving these goals. Some themes and ideas that emerged are mentioned below. Access vs. Protection - The problem of “digital lock-up”: The lack of a legislative framework for digital copyright prevents the move of some cultural heritage material into new digital forms. For example, the CBC cannot make any of its archived television programming available through online channels because at the moment there are no laws to allow them to do so in a safe manner. So for now the content remains in storage: the ultimate protection. This was contrasted with the BBC, who have made their content available via YouTube. TPM and DRM - Technical Protection Measures & Digital Rights Management: There was debate as to whether investment in this direction is really a solution to digital copyright issues. Obviously people who create digital content and wish to protect it should be allowed to do so using these means if they choose, but other than enabling prosecution for circumvention it does not address the issue in any comprehensive way. The perception of “free” content: The perception of music and other digital content as “free” is a dangerous one. While free access to an artist’s work can open new markets and potentially provide different sources of income from the work, it does not happen sufficiently to support most artists. The 5 cent download: This is an idea espoused by Pearlman and currently the focus of his work at McGill. He believes the only way to solve this problem for all parties concerned is to make the difference between legal and illegal download of content irrelevant. Essentially this means making legally paid access to content so affordable, reliable and ubiquitous that it would require more effort to find the same quality of content for free. | |
Links: Video of the Conference [Online] (Page consulted on March 26, 2007) Sandy Pearlman’s 5 Cent Plan [Online] (Page consulted on March 26, 2007) World Intellectual Property Organization [Online] (Page consulted on March 26, 2007) Bill C-60 [Online] (Page consulted on March 26, 2007) | |
