Canadian Heritage committee  Great. Thank you, Chair. Good morning. As you heard, my name's Michael Geist. I'm a law professor at the University of Ottawa, where I hold the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law. I'm also a columnist on law and technology issues for the Toronto Star and the Ot

Canadian Heritage committee  That's a simple question?

Canadian Heritage committee  I read with interest, as I'm sure everybody did, the CRTC findings as well as the report to the government this past week. I think the truth is that nobody knows for certain what it looks like. I think what we do know is that we can't create policies that largely ignore the rea

Canadian Heritage committee  Last year was obviously a very busy one for the commission, where they were looking at broadcast as well as some of the telecommunications issues. What I thought became readily apparent, particularly as part of the telecom discussions when we were talking specifically around thin

Canadian Heritage committee  We're in absolute agreement that there is a desperate need for a national digital strategy. I would note that the five areas that I highlighted aren't designed to be comprehensive. When we talk about a digital strategy, I think digital strategy involves a number of other areas as

Canadian Heritage committee  We hear much the same kinds of things. I actually do think that the consultation, just to close on that, was open. It's true they had these round tables, but anybody who wanted to submit something could. I received so many e-mails from, especially, younger Canadians who indicated

Canadian Heritage committee  As I mentioned off the top, I think it's a good thing to be doing. It's a great thing. It's an important area, and the extent to which the committee can help feed into a broader digital strategy I think is very useful. I guess if I take a look at the last five years or more of d

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, I just mentioned a couple, and I'm happy later, certainly, to provide the chair or members of the committee with the names of the kinds of businesses we're seeing. It is, of course, a fast-moving space. If there's one other kind of Canadian success story that perhaps you

Canadian Heritage committee  I actually think we have a better-news situation than perhaps we had, let's say, a year ago. I thought the CRTC hearings on net neutrality were quite good. I thought the guidelines the CRTC came up with were, in the main, pretty good as well. The fights you see taking place in th

Canadian Heritage committee  It's a terrific question and a very important one. It's one that people have been grappling with for some time. In some ways, I'd divide my answer in two. One of the ways that creators are compensated in the online environment is within the market. We have to recognize that new

Canadian Heritage committee  The issue is obviously quite politically charged in terms of the motion that came through this committee, as well as the private member's bill that we've seen. I think there's value in a private copying levy. I have some concerns with the proposals that have been put forward. F

Canadian Heritage committee  In fact, I think you've put two issues on the table. You're talking both about anti-circumvention and about fair dealing, and both are, as I've said, critical issues that we have to deal with. On the issue of anti-circumvention, I say again that we need to implement, if only bec

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, I think it should be. The CCH case was a case that sounded a very strong signal that copyright is a balance, one of both creator rights and user rights, and it sought implementation and interpretation of copyright in that balanced fashion. I think that was the right thing

Canadian Heritage committee  In my view, Bill C-61 went wrong in a number of places. That's one area where I think it went wrong. For example, it legalized the recording of a television show, but it came with 12 conditions. The conditions included things like only being able to keep it for a limited period o