Thank you. I'm in the comfort of my own office.
I'd just like to speak on behalf of libraries. I don't think we're getting exactly our point across by saying that we just want to repair the services and the technologies that we provide access to, be they ebooks, computers or Wi-Fi. That's a very important part of what libraries need for access to right to repair.
We are also the grassroots, the foundation, of so much innovation that goes on. So, many times I'm sitting as the copyright officer back here, and a keen student comes up and says, “I have this great idea. I need to do X, Y and Z.” We are conservative, a risk-averse institution. I have to provide the information about copyright owners as both users and owners of copyright content. I don't like being that pail of cold water on innovation.
That's a lot of what this bill has been doing. We have a decade of examples of squashing so much innovation or burying it in the YouTube videos, or wherever it is that people are finding it. We would like to give a framework for research, education—not just commercial or non-commercial, but outside that prescriptive regulatory process. We need something broader for our education.
I'm quite sure Alex Kohn from McGill has lots to offer here as well.
Thank you for the opportunity.