Wither Copyright? Micheal Geist speaks at VPL Thursday night

In conjunction with the BC Library Association's Information Policy Conference, Canadian Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, Micheal Geist is speaking tonight (Thursday, Oct. 23rd) at Vancouver Public Library at 7PM.

Mr. Geist is also an EFF Pioneer award recipient, serves on the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s Expert Advisory Board and maintains privacyinfo.ca, a leading privacy law resource.

The topic: "Why Copyright? The Fight for Canada's Digital Future".The event is free but requires registration unless you are registered for the full conference.

The (super groovy IMO) Vancouver Library is at: 350 W. Georgia St., (Stadium Skytrain) and the speech is in the Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level.

Here's a synopsis of Mr. Geist's remarks:

In June 2008, the Canadian government introduced Bill C-61, new copyright legislation that closely followed the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The public response to the bill was both immediate and angry - tens of thousands of Canadians wrote to the Minister and their local Members of Parliament, leading to town hall meetings, negative press coverage, and the growing realization that copyright was fast becoming a mainstream political and policy issue.

The "Canadian copy-fight", which includes many new advocacy groups and the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group that has over 90,000 members, has attracted considerable attention from the mainstream media, with many wondering how copyright had emerged as a contentious policy issue. This talk will assess both the legislative proposals and the Canadian copyfight experience in an effort to answer the oft-asked question "why copyright?”