|
If Left to Their Own Devices... |
|
|
|
|
This chapter examines the anti-circumvention laws set out
in Bill C-60 (Canada’s first legislative attempt in response to the 1996 WIPO
treaties), provisions that aim to protect the copyright industries from
individuals using devices to circumvent technological protection measures
(TPMs) and digital rights management systems (DRM). I argue that the proposed
anti-circumvention laws fail to address any aspects of the privacy implications
of DRM, despite the obvious privacy threats that automation, cryptographic
techniques, and other DRM technologies impose. I start by distinguishing
between TPMs and DRMs. Then I examine how these technologies are used to
enforce corporate copyright policies and express copyright permissions imposed
by a DRM through a registration process that requires purchasers to hand over
personal information. After illustrating DRM’s extraordinary surveillance
capabilities, I suggest that such privacy considerations are especially
important in light of legislative reforms that use the law to further enable
DRM and facilitate its implementation as a primary means of enforcing digital
copyright. I investigate three public policy considerations in determining an
“appropriate balance” for DRM and privacy: (i) the anonymity principle; (ii)
individual access; and (iii) DRM licenses. These lead me to offer three
recommendations that would provide counter-measures necessary to offset the new
powers and protections afforded to TPM and DRM if anti-circumvention laws are
implemented.
A preprint of this chapter is available for download here 394.44 Kb © 2005.
|
CITE AS:
|
|
"If Left to Their Own Devices…How DRM and Anti-Circumvention Laws Can Be Used to Hack Privacy” in Michael Geist, ed. In the Public Interest: The Future of Canadian Copyright Law (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2005) |
|