Now let's discuss the threats posed by the digital world.
Nowadays, anyone can appropriate a work online without too much trouble. Every single day, we see people breaking copyright rules, whether for commercial or educational use. Here are some examples.
Day in and day out, teachers and educational institutions across Canada take advantage of the fair dealing exception for the purposes of education or training, set out in the 2012 Copyright Act, to avoid paying royalties for using and copying works. Creators earn that much less.
Worldwide Facebook groups facilitate the sharing of digital books, similar to a member-based service. Creators earn that much less.
A website in France provides access to book summaries for those who don't have time to read the book. The site does not pay a single royalty to the author of the actual book, claiming that its service encourages readers to discover new writers. Creators earn that much less.
YouTube tutorials on how to download books for free in 2018 show viewers the process step by step. Creators earn that much less.
We also want to tell you about a phenomenon called controlled digital lending.
California company Internet Archive, which manages the website openlibrary.org, is trying to show public libraries and Canadian university libraries that they can legally engage in the widespread public lending of works without having to pay a single royalty. The practice is known as controlled digital lending.
On May 31, at the ABC Copyright Conference, held in Vancouver and organized by a number of British Columbia colleges and universities and sponsored by the University of Alberta and the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Internet Archive representatives and universities promoted the practice of controlled digital lending. Under the guise of a digital library, these platforms provide universal access to books, whether or not they are in the public domain, without regard for the basic principles of moral rights or fair compensation for the use of works.
Ariel Katz, associate professor in the faculty of law at the University of Toronto, gave a presentation shockingly titled “Make Canadian Libraries Great Again”. In it, he maintained that the fair dealing exception in the Copyright Act was vague enough to allow controlled digital lending. He reassured the audience that the exceptions in the act opened the door to numerous possibilities without any legal risk:
We can do anything we want with regards to works unless the Copyright Act says otherwise…. Copyright owners always have the choice to speak to Parliament, who will listen and make amendments as appropriate…. Until then, [controlled digital lending] is permissible.
Will the government allow these kinds of abusive practices to take hold in defiance of copyright? Will the government tolerate Canadian universities partnering with commercial organizations to take maximum advantage of the exceptions set out in the act? Will the government stand idly by as companies impoverish creators by depriving them of the income they are owed?
This situation illustrates the bad faith of some in the educational sector and their desire to trample upon creators' rights in the name of open access. We find that shameful. It's hard to believe not only that private companies are basing their business models on the weaknesses in Canada's Copyright Act, but also that they have found a receptive audience in our very own universities.