Bill C-61, federal government legislation aimed at updating Canada’s copyright rules, has created quite a stir since it was first introduced last month.

More than 87,000 people have joined one of the most prominent Facebook groups protesting the bill, Fair Copyright For Canada, which is run by Michael Geist, a professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in Internet law and has been one of the foremost critics of the bill.

Various other groups have expressed concerns about the bill’s provisions, including the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, the Canadian Music Creators Coalition and the Film Studies Association of Canada. Yet other organizations, such as the Entertainment Software Association of Canada and the Canadian Recording Industry Association, have come out in support of the bill, which has turned into one of the political issues of the summer. In fact, NDP candidate Tom King, a long-time artist and writer, has already pledged to make the copyright bill a key election issue in the hotly-contested Guelph by-election.

One local businessman is concerned about what the bill could mean for the independent music industry. Scott Cave is the CEO of Langley’s Rook Interactive, a business that provides its Red Velvet e-commerce software to independent labels and bands among other users.

Cave, who has been writing about the bill on his blog (http://blog.redvelvet.com), said in an interview that he’s particularly worried about the bill’s provisions on Digital Rights Management (DRM) software, which can be used by record companies to prevent consumers from copying CDs or transferring digital music files to iPods, activities that the bill would allow consumers to carry out for their own use under a “format-shifting” rule if they didn’t violate DRM software to do so.

“My biggest concern is the DRM issue,” Cave said. “The bill does present some new rights to the consumer, but if companies put DRM on their products, those rights are taken away. You can buy a CD, but if they’ve put some flimsy protection on it, you can’t copy it to your iPod.”

Cave said he thinks the bill is somewhat hypocritical, as it seems to allow consumers fair use of the music products they buy, but only if big companies decide to let them.

“It’s giving rights of format-shifting and time-shifting, but if producers put DRM on there, it takes them away,” he said.

Cave said the bill’s complicated language would scare consumers away from downloading or sharing any music, which he said would harm independent music companies, who often offer free DRM-free downloads of their bands’ music to promote them to a wider audience.

“[The bill] would create a lot of confusion,” he said. “Even the politicians don’t understand what’s in the bill.”

Cave said he perceives the bill as the government catering to big record and movie companies instead of artists or consumers.

“If the majors are able to continue to monopolize the distribution, that hurts independent producers,” he said.

Cave said the bill isn’t the step forward the government is marketing at.

“There’s nothing that I see as really innovative about the bill,” he said. “It sort of perpetuates the way things have been going for the last 50 years.”

Cave said changes to the Copyright Act, which was last updated in 1997, were certainly necessary, but he isn’t happy with the changes that have been proposed.

“Revisions to a bill should have a positive impact,” he said. “As it stands, I just think it’s going to have a negative impact.”

Cave said he contacted Langley MP Mark Warawa with his concerns, but he wasn’t happy with the letter he received in response: he posted it on his blog along with critical comments about Warawa’s stance on the issue, and called it a “canned message.”

“It was a very impersonal response,” Cave told The Times.

“It was obviously what the party had decided to give as the standard canned response on the issue.”

Warawa said he has heard from some constituents on the issue and he responds to each one individually.

Warawa said the bill is a tricky issue, as the positions taken by consumers and many record companies are so far apart.

“We have to strike a balance between consumer rights and copyright,” he said. “We want to protect consumer rights and make the regulations updated.”

Warawa said the government has consulted numerous groups to try and make a fair piece of legislation.

“We’ve tried to reach a balance, and we’ve done that over the last year and a half by meeting with all the stakeholders,” he said.

Warawa said DRM-free music is available for those concerned by the DRM provisions of the bill.

“Most CDs and DVDs do not have a digital lock on them,” he said.

Newton-North Delta Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwahl has announced plans to hold a town hall meeting on the bill July 30 at George Mackie Library in Delta.

Warawa said he will do the same if he gets enough responses from constituents. He held a town hall meeting in May on the Food and Drug Act amendment bill (C-51), but he received far more comments on that issue than he has so far on the copyright bill.

“On C-61, we have not had that much response,” he said. “We have heard from some people, and I’m hoping to hear from a lot more people on how they would like to see C-61 amended.”

Warawa said he’s planning to meet with some constituents on the issue next week, but he’s eager to receive more feedback on the bill.

“I really appreciate hearing from constituents,” he said. “I’ve already heard from a number of people, and I’m hoping to hear from a lot more.”

Langley MP Mark Warawa can be contacted at warawm@parl.gc.ca or through his office at 604-534-5955.