[Ayes]

Basically:

What if it was a Pirate Party platform

to give Canada Library And Archives (Or provincial library associations) the resources to start a private torrent tracker for library card holders?

The future is now, folks!

We should discuss this because I think it is an interesting development.

[Mikkel Paulson]

The government has more than enough resources to make this stuff available for direct download without relying on BitTorrent distribution.

I believe that Canadian crown copyright should be repealed. We have paid for every photograph, video, and drawing produced by the Canadian government. Why do they "own" it? This is one way in which American copyright laws are considerably ahead of our own. If you look up Canadian military hardware on Wikipedia, 95% of the time the photos are images produced by the American military during joint operations.

And yes, the Archives should be opened.

[Yehoshua]

Rather than seeking to have the Crown renounce its ownership (never going to happen), we would be wiser to approach it as a "freely licensed" copyright situation - where Crown Copyright allows free reproduction, etc.

[Mikkel Paulson]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_work_by_the_U.S._government

This is where we should be.

At the very least, we can look at shortening the 50-year term of crown copyright to 5 or 10 years.

[Sean Hunt]

I believe that Canadian crown copyright should be repealed. We have paid for every photograph, video, and drawing produced by the Canadian government. Why do they "own" it? This is one way in which American copyright laws are considerably ahead of our own. If you look up Canadian military hardware on Wikipedia, 95% of the time the photos are images produced by the American military during joint operations.

I do not think that abolishment of Crown copyright entirely is the correct thing to do. There are a few cases where having copyright is convenient; it means that the government does not have to invent special procedures to prevent people from copying things (the Alberta diploma examinations are always the first thing that come to mind). Rather, I think that it would be better to say that the Crown does not get copyright in its works except where described by law.

[Ayes]

The government has more than enough resources to make this stuff available for direct download without relying on BitTorrent distribution.

I think that bittorrent distribution just happens to be convenient, easy and effective. I'd be completely open to an alternative system as long as it works as well.

Method of download aside, an effective internet library for Canadian citizens is a pretty plausible compromise between C-32 and the Pirate Party platform.

[Mikkel Paulson]

If your primary concerns are openness and accessibility, direct downloading is the way to go. Most people don't understand BitTorrent.

[Mike Bleskie]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/825264--access-to-information-not-a-constitutional-right-supreme-court-rules