Michael Geist is the Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law, and law professor at the University of Ottawa. His name has become synonymous with Canadian copyright law; his blog is by far the most thorough, up to the second, and connected media resource on copyright in the country. Dr. Geist has also many academic contributions, government reports and newspaper articles to his name. He is implicated in various forms of activism, from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada's Expert Advisory Board to Facebook Group, Fair Copyright for Canada. Dr. Geist's popularity and his ability to transmit copyright information to the masses using popular social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube speak directly to the debates around online advocacy and the future of the net.

This podcast features Dr. Geist's public talk, "Why Copyright?" which took place between 6:30 and 8:30 at Concordia University (Montréal, Québec) on September 15, 2008. The talk was held in the Hexagram space, on the 11th floor of one of the university's newer edifices, with Montréal's city lights in full view. The event was sponsored by the Canadian Journal of Communication, the Communication Studies Department, Mobile Media Lab, CINERG (Concordia Interactive Narrative Experimentation and Research Group), and Hexagram. This podcast is brought to you by the Canadian Journal of Communication, and was recorded by Samuel Thulin.

While the talk was originally scheduled to discuss Bill C-61, the Conservative government's bill to bring the Canadian Copyright Act into the digital age (which has not been reviewed in over ten years), the dissolution of Parliament terminated, or rather, paused, engagements with issues of copyright reform. However, given the momentum garnered from the bill, and more notably perhaps, resistance to it, Bill C-61 will continue to feature prominently with the new government elected October 14, 2008.

"Why Copyright?" is the central question in locating the importance of copyright within larger political debates — what are the impacts of copyright reform on art, creativity and culture? What are the impacts of copyright regulation on the future of the internet and other mobile technologies? What are the larger issues of digital advocacy inspired by current copyright debates? And finally, what are possible repercussions on online public forums and governance?

Answered in four parts by Dr. Geist, the fate of creativity and cultural preservation, and a more general address of how Canadians can access, use and share knowledge serves to counter common arguments in the media couched in issues of illegal downloading through peer-to-peer networks, digital locks, and software piracy.

Mélanie Hogan, Concordia University
Montréal, Quebec