Revisions to Canada's copyright laws, which were due to be announced by the country's Industry Minister yesterday, have been put on hold, seemingly because of growing opposition from consumer rights groups who argue the proposed revisions discussed so far go too far in the favour of content owners.
Canada's copyright laws haven't been overly kind to the record companies who had tried to limit the illegal distribution of music online through the courts, with some judges saying current Canadian rules do not specifically outlaw the distribution of content via P2P without a content owner's permission. Rulings like that has led to the Canadian record industry focussing their anti-P2P efforts on lobbying for a change in the country's copyright laws, and the proposals due to be put forward by Industry Minister Jim Prentice this week were part of that.
However, a spokeswoman for his department yesterday confirmed the release of those proposals had now been delayed, observing: "Minister Prentice will introduce legislation when he is satisfied the bill strikes the right balance between creators' rights and consumers' rights".
Opposition to the proposals has gained quite a bit of momentum, partly through an online campaign launched by a University Of Ottawa professor called Michael Geist and a Facebook group set up to oppose the proposals, which boasts 16,000 members. Geist welcomed Pretince's decision on his blog yesterday, but added that the campaign against the proposals should continue, writing: "The decision to delay the bill is the right one, but it could still reappear within the next few days".
Graham Henderson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association, said he thought campaigners had been premature in putting pressure on Prentice, telling reporters: "I find it incomprehensible that people can get worked up over a bill that they have never even seen. I'm amazed at the ability of those opposed to this to divine the contents of a bill that was supposed to be kept within cabinet".