And so without  further ado, here is the Minister’s response, as annotated by yours truly:

Thank you for writing to me about copyright policy. I appreciate you taking the time to share your views with me on this important issue.

No, you don’t.

My colleague, the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, and I are pleased to inform you that our Government has introduced legislation to modernize the Copyright Act, bringing it up to date with the advances of the digital age.

Yes, three months ago. If I wasn’t aware that you had done such a thing, I probably wouldn’t have written you two different letters about said legislation.

This legislation will bring Canada in line with international standards and promote home grown innovation and creativity. It is a fair, balanced and common-sense approach, respecting both the rights of creators and the interests of consumers in a modern marketplace. We are working to secure Canada’s place in the digital economy and to promote a more prosperous and competitive country.

On this note, we disagree. Perhaps you should take some time to review the aforementioned letters instead of sending me back a useless form letter response.

The popularity of Web 2.0, social media and new technologies such as MP3 players and digital books have changed the way Canadians create and make use of copyrighted material. This bill recognizes the many new ways in which teachers, students, artists, software companies, consumers, families, copyright owners and many others use technology. It gives creators and copyright owners the tools to protect their work and grow their business models. It also provides clearer rules that will enable all Canadians to fully participate in the digital economy, now and in the future.

And with the anti-circumvention clauses that are built into the bill, it does all of this at the cost of consumer rights, and applies a Made in the USA approach to Canadian copyright law. Digital rights management schemes do not protect against wide scale piracy, and anti-circumvention laws that give them legal protection serve only to limit the ability of everyday Canadians to use their lawfully purchased media in a fair and open manner.

Detailed information about the bill is available on-line at http://www.balancedcopyright.gc.ca.

Please accept my best wishes.

Sincerely,

The Honourable James Moore, P.C., M.P.

Hopefully his best wishes are better than his best efforts to acknowledge the concerns of people who disagree with his proposed legislation.

It’s probably silly of me to expect anything more than a poorly written form letter in response to my concerns. In truth, I didn’t expect anything at all, and was surprised when Moore’s ridiculously overdue response hit my inbox tonight. After all, Moore isn’t even my Member of Parliament. But as far as I’m concerned, nothing at all would have been better than this thoughtlessly canned response.