Ottawa Citizen: Corporate giants form alliance…

Ottawa Citizen: Corporate giants form alliance for copyright compromise
Michael Geist

Under most circumstances, Telus and Rogers Communications fiercely compete in the marketplace. The same can be said for Google and Yahoo, the world’s two leading rival Internet search companies. Yet last week, these companies joined forces with a who’s who of the telecom, Internet, retail, and broadcast communities in a single cause — the call for fair and balanced copyright reform.
Following months of Industry Minister Jim Prentice citing business demands as a critical factor behind his commitment to copyright reform, a powerhouse group of companies and business associations formed the Business Coalition for Balanced Copyright (BCBC) to speak for themselves.
The coalition, which also includes the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the Canadian Wireless and Telecommunications Association, the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, the Computer and Communications Industry Association, and the Retail Council of Canada, publicly released a seven-point plan for balanced copyright reform that responds to business concerns that “the government would err too much on the side of the copyright holders.”