Canadian public-interest organizations and privacy and civil liberties experts have released an open letter to the ministers of Canadian heritage and industry detailing concerns over proposed changes to Canadian copyright law.

The changes would affect privacy, freedom of expression and civil liberties, they say, focusing on dangers to privacy posed by the extension of legal protection to “digital rights management” (DRM) technology.

"The Canadian government has not publicly consulted on the privacy implications of possible opyright reforms," says CIPPIC (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic) staff counsel David Fewer.

"The signatories to the open letter argue that the infamous Sony BMG 'rootkit' DRM demonstrates that their privacy concerns are well-founded, and that the time has come for the Canadian government to consider 'copyright law reforms that would protect Canadians from the use of DRM', and not 'reforms that would provide protection for DRM'."

Separately, Canadian privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart, the information and privacy commissioner for British Columbia, David Loukidelis, and Dr Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's information and privacy commissioner, each wrote to minister of Canadian heritage Bev Oda and industry minister Maxime Bernier to express their concern with the privacy implications of DRM technology.

The open letter calls for government assurances from that:

• Any proposed copyright reforms will prioritize privacy protection by including a full privacy
  
• Any proposed anti-circumvention provisions will create no negative privacy impact; and
  
• Any proposed copyright reforms will include pro-active privacy protections that, for example, enshrine the rights of Canadians to access and enjoy copyright works anonymously and in private.
  

The open letter and Background Paper have been posted at the group's web site.

Signatories include some of Canada’s best known public-interest organizations and leading academic privacy experts:

• Association for Media and Technology in Education in Canada
  
• Atlantic Provinces Library Association
  
• BC Civil Liberties Association
  
• BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
  
• BC Library Association
  
• Colin Bennett, professor of political science, University of Victoria
  
• Canadian Association of University Teachers
  
• Canadian Federation of Students
  
• Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic
  
• Canadian Library Association
  
• CLUE : The Canadian Association for Open Source
  
• Consumers Association of Canada
  
• Electronic Frontier Canada
  
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
  
• FLORA.org
  
• Michael Geist, Canada research chair of internet and e-commerce law, University of Ottawa
  
• Marsha Hanen, adjunct professor of philosophy, University of Victoria
  
• Ian Kerr, Canada research chair in ethics, law & technology at the University of Ottawa
  
• Library Association of Alberta
  
• Online Rights Canada
  
• Ontario Library Association
  
• Bruce Phillips, former privacy commissioner of Canada
  
• Privaterra
  
• Pubic Interest Advocacy Centre
  
• Teresa Scassa, director of the Law and Technology Institute and associate professor at Dalhousie Law School
  
• Val Steeves, professor, faculty of criminology, University of Ottawa
  
• Paul Van Oorschot, Canada research chair in network and software security, at Carleton University