Canadian Universities Agree To Ridiculous Copyright Agreement That Says Emailing Hyperlinks Is Equal To Photocopying

from the poor-decision-making dept

Tue, Feb 21st 2012 6:00am — Mike Masnick

In the past, we've written a few times about how Access Copyright, the Canadian collection society that gets revenue from universities for professors photocopying copyrighted works, and how it's been trying to increase rates by 1,300% by claiming that simply "posting a link" counted the same as making a copy. As we noted back in 2010, that's a crazy claim. Lots of universities decided to drop out of Access Copyright's system to avoid such crazy fees. However, not everyone decided to support this move. As a ton of you sent over, the universities of Western Ontario and Toronto have both signed agreements along those lines:

The agreement reached last month with the licensing agency includes provisions defining e-mailing hyperlinks as equivalent to photocopying a document, an annual $27.50 fee for every full-time equivalent student and surveillance of academic staff email.

As the article notes, it seems incredibly premature for anyone to sign such an agreement, since the Supreme Court is expected to weigh in shortly about Access Copyright's mandate and limits, so there's simply no reason to rush into such a ridiculous deal. But, even worse is the message this kind of agreement sends to students. Accepting the idea that emailing hyperlinks is like making a photocopy is a ridiculous message that only serves to make more young people mock copyright as being a law that makes no sense at all.

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Filed Under: copying, copyright, links, universities, university of toronto, university of western ontario
Companies: access copyright

48 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:05am

Emailing Hyperlinks Is Equal To Photocopying
And Photocopying is equal to magic. Whooooosh
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- gorehound (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 9:50am
  
  Re: Emailing Hyperlinks Is Equal To Photocopying
  As far as I can see this is just another reason why we should all be Boycotting Big Content !!!
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:06am

and i assume that because more money will be spent on this ridiculous agreement, less students will have funding from the universities concerned? if so, that really makes sense! (sarc)
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- Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:19am
  
  Re:
  if it wasn't for pirating books, I wouldn't have had the money to go to college. The links to those pirate books and other material came from my professors.
  
  3rd world countries FTW.
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- Wes, 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:47am
  
  Re:
  No, but the yearly "Technology Fee" that students pay just went up by $27.50.
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- Berenerd (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:52am
  
  Re:
  No..tuition will just need to go up 2600% now to cover the cost...
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:08am

In other news, former Canadian university presidents hired by Access Copyright...
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Cowardly Anon, 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:19am

Friends don't let friends go to Western. This is just another reason why.
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Chris-Mouse (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:22am

The agreement isn't a signed deal, yet. At least not at the University of Toronto. Some of the faculty are raising the point that the way in which the agreement was reached may have violated the university's governance procedures.

UofT Faculty Blog
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- Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:21am
  
  Re:
  'the way in which the agreement was reached may have violated the university's governance procedures'
  
  you're not saying that a deal was done behind closed doors, are you? who would do such a thing?
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:24am

Gee, I wonder why the University of Canada is going to have to raise their tuition rates next year... It's a mystery really.

It couldn't possibly be having to pay out $27.50 per hyperlink sent out in emails.

We must be paying those damn unionized builders too much to build closet sized dorm rooms for students! And our college students must also be eating too much at the cafeteria, put them on a diet! Oh and we're probably overpaying our teachers to, lets cut their salaries in half and pretend none of them will look for better paying jobs in response to the salary cuts!
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- WDS (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:11am
  
  Re:
  It wasn't $27.50 per hyperlink, it was 27.50 per student. Don't know if that is per year or per semester.
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  - :Lobo Santo (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:22am
    
    Re: Re: tick tick tick
    or per month, week, day, hour, minute, or even per second?
    
    Perhaps it's $27.50 per student per day...
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- TtfnJohn (profile), 25 Feb 2012 @ 1:49pm
  
  Re:
  Much as they'd like to be the University of Canada the University of Toronto isn't. The other school mentioned is the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. A school specializing in business of all things given this silly thing.
  
  FYI there IS no University of Canada. ;-)
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explicit coward (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:35am

What if?
What if you post a link in a forum and then send a link to the forum in an e-mail?

What if you post a link in a forum and link to that forum in another forum and then tell someone about that forum?

What if I paint a link on the backside of my car?

And what about sms?

What if I write down a link and then post the paper on a board?
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- Planespotter (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:38am
  
  Re: What if?
  You forgot about skywriting it in smoke from a small plane... or getting the ISS astronauts to burn the link into the Northern Lights with a laser!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Spaceboy (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:01am
  
  Re: What if?
  "What if you post a link in a forum and then send a link to the forum in an e-mail?"
  
  LINKCEPTION!
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- william (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 10:57am
  
  Re: What if?
  Oh Noes!
  
  I have one of those sticker with my university name and the website address on it!
  
  Am I going to be dinged for $27.50?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:41am

A links real world equivalent is directions.

If I wrote a book that contained directions to libraries, I could be done for copyright infringement for every copyrighted book/cd/dvd in that library. Does that sound correct?
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Titania Bonham-Smythe (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:45am

Two questions:

Surveillance of academic staff email?

And where does all the money go?
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- surfer (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:02am
  
  Where does the money go?
  into the MAFIAA 'think-tank' to devise new and improved ways of screwing the customer, er, I mean support the artists.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- WysiWyg (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 8:03am
  
  Re:
  The surveillance part was my first thought as well. I mean, WTF?
  
  Only goes to show; make sure you are the only one with access to your e-mail I suppose.
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  - DH's Love Child (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 8:48am
    
    Re: Re:
    Or don't use your university account.. ever
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 6:58am

Profit Bomb
Hey, if the status quo is upset the textbook manufacturers won't be able to keep selling books at a 10,000% markup!!

(They may have to settle for a silver plated toiler, rather than a gold plated toilet...)
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Logan2057 (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:00am

Emailing Hyperlinks
It looks as if we're gonna have the same thing all over again as Jon Newton did with Wayne Crooks and his "hyperlinking is the same as publishing" crap. That one worked out well for him didn't it, he lost three times in court, the first two in the Supreme Court of BC, then the appeals court and finally the Supreme Court of Canada and he still don't get it. Sounds like these clowns in Access Copyright need to be hauled up before a very angry crowd of students, bent over and have their hind ends pounded with cricket bats and the officials in the schools as well. When are people gonna stand up to these crooks and give them the old one finger salute to their demands and when they whine and cry that they've been insulted, have someone turn around and let them know that they and their ilk are the biggest insults to ALL Canadian students. They've got their heads buried in the sand, I mean, C'mon charging to email a hyperlink?! What's next charging for email to home or to another friend. It seems to me that these two universities don't give a rats ass about the students and their rights only the rights of some half assed group of moronic copy right lovers. Here's hoping the court declares their demands and actions to be illegal and makes them shut down.
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The Devil's Coachman (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:02am

The only thing that can be said to them is "Take off, you hosers!".
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Rapnel (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:09am

threesome!
A new definition inclusive of a new twist on physics!

A fee - for existing!

Surveillance - of everything!

All for the cheap low price of an education - or, more apt - a refresher on where not to go to learn.

For what again?
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Norbert Klein, 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:09am

from the poor-decision-making dept
"...claiming that simply 'posting a link' counted the same as making a copy..." - what do they thnk if I write the URL/link onto a postcard and send the postcard to a friend? Is this also the same as making a copy???

Norbert
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- Mr. LemurBoy (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:37am
  
  Re: from the poor-decision-making dept
  Of course it's exactly the same as making a copy, for reasons that will seem perfectly clear if you bash your head into a brick wall several times.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jeremy Lyman (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:25am

Serving the populace...
Also writing down a book's Dewey Decimal number counts as copying the entire book so any Luddite universities out there that don't allow the use of computers are still culpable if they grant their students access to pen and paper.

Copyright: Increasing ease of access to educational information since 1662.
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Dick, 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:47am

Moronic copyright deals.
It's pretty simple. Don't be Canadian, and if you are, stay the fuck in Canada, and don't come to the US. Ever.
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- kamjam (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 8:04am
  
  Re: Moronic copyright deals.
  It's pretty simple. Don't be Canadian, and if you are, stay the fuck in Canada, and don't come to the US. Ever.
  
  Yeah, and every other country in the world is (and has been) saying the same about the US - Vietnam, Iraq, Afganistan, Libya, Iran... to name a few.
  
  Dumbass.
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- Niall (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 8:11am
  
  Re: Moronic copyright deals.
  You have to admit, it's a rare novelty for it to be worse to be a Canadian than a Statesian...
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- Raven Morris, 22 Feb 2012 @ 12:39am
  
  Re: Moronic copyright deals.
  Canada currently has drastically better Copyright laws than the USA. However, the current Prime Minster Stephen Harper is in the process of passing endless laws which the vast majority of Canadians are against... it is interesting times, I see Canada rising up and casting Harper and his cronies the F out of government.
  
  In the USA you have the DMCA, software patents up the wazoo, The USA PATRIOT Act, and a ton of other insane laws and Presidential Executive Orders that give ultimate power to corporations while stripping Constitutional rights and freedoms from the masses.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Yea ME, 21 Feb 2012 @ 7:55am

Did I just break the law?
Got to read this article, it shows how stupid people are now days. Good job Mike.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120220/03190917805/canadian-universities-agree-to-ridicu lous-copyright-agreement-that-says-emailing-hyperlinks-is-equal-to-photocopying.shtml

Copyright
by Mike Masnick
Tue, Feb 21st 2012 6:00am
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- WysiWyg (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 8:01am
  
  Re: Did I just break the law?
  It's called a category. Didn't cross your mind to actually click the link?
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  - Niall (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 8:14am
    
    Re: Re: Did I just break the law?
    I think you missed the part where he parodied the assertion 'link == content'. Check your sarcmeter...
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2012 @ 8:17am

The quote that comes to mind is...

'Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber...you do something like this...and totally redeem yourself'
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Miko, 21 Feb 2012 @ 8:23am

Copyright is a law that makes no sense at all. How is helping more people to realize this a bad thing?
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Shaun Wilson (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 8:42am

Sense to laws
If someone has read much of this site and hasn't already come to the conclusion that copyright is "a law that makes no sense at all" then I seriously question their reading comprehension.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2012 @ 9:17am

Why should the schools care, they're just adding this "$27.50" to the student's tuition bill. What concerns me more is the "surveillance of academic staff email" clause. When you start monitoring emails of professors, it seems like you are setting up a pretty serious prior constraint on speech.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2012 @ 10:34am

Plain text emails, FTW!
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Geoff Dixon, 21 Feb 2012 @ 12:46pm

A Lost Link
I've forgotten the link to my favourite site, facebook. Would someone mind photocopying me a link? Thanks. I'll spot you the 10 cents next time I see you in person.
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Geoff Dixon, 21 Feb 2012 @ 12:47pm

A Lost Link
I've forgotten the link to my favourite site, facebook. Would someone mind photocopying me a link? Thanks. I'll spot you the 10 cents next time I see you in person.
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Ian (profile), 21 Feb 2012 @ 1:18pm

MBA
One has to wonder about the effect this move will have on the business programs at the university.

"Come learn shrewd bargaining techniques, like 'the roll-over', 'the complete surrender', 'the French gambit', 'capitulation', and 'the ankle-grab'.

Use these skills to trade the interests of your current employer in for future employment with the RIAA!

Act now, enrollment in our on-line course is extremely limited due to the cost of linking to the course materials."
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2012 @ 2:42pm

Fire The Vice Chancellor
Any vice chancellor of any university who fails to defend academic freedom is not a fit person to be a vice chancellor. So why are the vice chancellors who are in charge of these universities still in their jobs?
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AW, 21 Feb 2012 @ 3:16pm

What no trolls?
Is there actually a line that they won't defend? Maybe I just read the post too quickly.
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Overcast (profile), 22 Feb 2012 @ 9:35am

Someone needs to trademark the phrase "Copyright Law" and sue every time it's used...
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