Having had the opportunity to hear Warren's fact situation, I would absolutely say that I deal with those situations all the time. They happen every day. There are a lot of situations in which artists find themselves, where they are not in a position to litigate. They can barely access legal advice.
There are now six clinics across the country. All of us are struggling. We are all operated by volunteers.
I would encourage you all to think carefully about what will happen after this piece of legislation is passed, in whatever form it is, and to fully fund in whatever ways are possible those of us who are actively engaged in making sure that everybody understands the implications of this bill, not just the creators and not just users, but all of us, all the public, everyone—creators or users.
Every single one of us in this room has a stake in what comes out of this room. This week is Open Education Week, a celebration of our access and willingness to share our collective knowledge—knowledge that has been nurtured and sustained by creators. Artists are creators, all of us.
This growing sector has adopted innovative licensing models for the development of educational resources. Licences allow creators to decide how their work can be used. It is a system that creates alternative distribution models, and at the same time recognizes the need to remunerate creators. The widespread adoption of creative commons licences in this area, though limited in others, suggests that people are looking for different ways to interact with copyright.
There are new communities of folks seeking to make it possible for widespread sharing of resources across many platforms and legislative environments. My concern is that our emphasis on enforcement, on behalf of certain industrial models and practices, distracts us from what we should actually be doing, which is ensuring that each of the new models provides direct remuneration to the very creators who are so often left out of the equation, as they are in this bill.
Those in the open education sector, including technologists, librarians, archivists, and educators, have said to me time and again that they want to do this, but the existing models are preventing them from doing so. I can't ignore what they tell me, particularly since so many young and emerging artists and designers tell me the same thing.
Enforcement is not the answer to the challenges that digital technology brings. I am not exactly sure what is. Based on what I've heard and read, it appears to me that many creators and creators' groups, like the CCA's submission before this committee, are indicating that the level and support for TPM and anti-circumvention provisions may be limited. At a minimum, it appears we agree they need to take into account the existing exceptions in the act before you pass this bill.
Creators, as users, should not have to litigate to have access to what they need to create new work. Whether you're a documentary filmmaker, musician, painter, photographer, or anything else, you shouldn't have to litigate to enable access.