Piracy And Intermediary Liability Concerns In Canada: CRTC FairPlay Proposal Update

In March of this year, i2Coalition submitted comments to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on FairPlay Canada’s proposal to the agency that would have resulted in the public blocking of sites allegedly distributing pirated materials. At the time, i2Coalition Policy Chair David Snead issued the following statement:

“The i2Coalition reaffirms its strong opposition to procedures, however well-intentioned, that have the real possibility of damaging the technical infrastructure of the Internet and undermining the role of the judiciary in interpreting laws that apply to content. We look forward to working with the CRTC to protecting Canada’s leading role in the Internet economy.”

“Processes like those put forward by FairPlay Canada seek to solve issues that deserve thoughtful solutions. Undermining the Internet’s open environment by allowing an agency to censor potential offenders without proper judicial redress is not such a solution,” added Graeme Bunton, i2Coalition Member, Director of Analytics and Policy at Tucows.

On October 2nd, the CRTC denied FairPlay Canada’s application, determining that the CRTC itself did not have the jurisdictional authority to implement the proposal, which was not otherwise judged on its merits. Further details on this development can be found here.