Sure. What you're referring to is the system that was established in 2012, which actually had been in place in Canada for quite a number of years on an informal basis, that when there is an allegation of infringement, rights holders have the ability to send a notification to an Internet provider, who is then obligated to forward that notification to their subscriber. They don't disclose their personal information, so their privacy is protected.
At least in concept it was seen as an excellent way both to educate the public on copyright and when infringements take place and to preserve their privacy, as well as to encourage new business models to emerge.
The U.S. has adopted a different approach known as “notice and take down”. The problem with it is that it creates a system whereby millions of pieces of works may be taken down with no judicial oversight whatsoever. It's sometimes described as a “shoot first and aim later” approach whereby there are many allegations of infringement, content comes down, and nobody does any sort of oversight at all. The incentive is simply to remove it without any of that oversight.
The U.S. has pressured us in the past to adopt this. As part of the TPP, the Canadian government was anxious to ensure that notice and notice was preserved. We haven't seen the government make the same point of emphasis yet, although we're hopeful that they will continue with the notice and notice approach.
I should note, however, that notice and notice itself has been subject to some real problems, as it has been subject to widespread abuse. You may have heard from some of your own constituents who received these notifications, because rights holders have been using them to send along demands to settle. That was never envisioned as part of the system.
In fact, I did a piece just last week that noted that Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains was notified in a memo as much as a year ago that this was not the intent and that this widespread abuse is taking place.
There is an easy fix for it. I would argue that the sooner we can get this fixed in Canada through regulations so that there is not that kind of misuse, the sooner we're in a position not only to preserve a good system but to make the case to the United States that, if anything, they ought to think about adopting notice and notice as a more effective and balanced approach to dealing with allegations of infringement.