Social Networking and Political Activism: The Great Canadian Copyright Fight - Over or Not?

Abstract

In 2007 and 2008 there was a hard fought campaign against proposed changes to the Canadian Copyright Act, changes which would have privileged producers and owners of copyright over users. Particularly notable about the campaign was the following: 1) It was organized primarily by means of Web 2.0 tools, in particular, Facebook; 2) It was about copyright normally a subject of little interest to the public. Why the uproar over copyright? Why were Web 2.0 tools the preferred means of political activism? How were these tools used? With what success? What are the limitations of Web 2.0 tools in online campaigns? The fall 2008 federal election prevented passage of the legislation but the Harper government has promised to revive it this spring. Will it? This presentation examines these questions