Michael Geist, professor at the University of Toronto, and Canada’s equivalent to Lawrence Lessig, started a Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook Group on December 1, 2007, in response to several potential threats to the freedom of music lovers in Canada (the introduction of a Canadian DMCA). As he put it on the website, he had limited expectations of how it would go, but after nearly 38,000 people signed up in support, he realized there was a real need for this discussion.
The result? The number of members and the passionate discussion within actually succeeded in delaying the introduction of a Canadian DMCA. There is still a threat, but the group has turned into a bevy of local chapters and a central site for information and action. This is pretty powerful stuff…the use of the social networking tools for influence over policy decisions…that seems to have an impact.
We encourage everyone to go check it out and contribute in any way possible.
One Comment
It’s a great story. Note that Geist is at the University of Ottawa, not Toronto.