Concern groups from internet generation say lawmakers' limited knowledge of cyberworld culture makes it difficult to get points across
VIVIENNE CHOW AND STUART LAU
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 09 December, 2015, 11:33pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 09 December, 2015, 11:33pm
A person walks by a banner protesting against Internet Article 23 outside the Legco complex. Photo: EPA
Copyright law concern groups will step up their online and offline campaigns to lobby pro-establishment legislators and the public to support three new amendments proposed by pan-democrats before Wednesday's second reading of the bill.
But they said overcoming the gap between the younger generation and lawmakers is the biggest hurdle, as legislators' average age is as high as 57 and their understanding of today's cyberworld culture is very limited.
"There is indeed a generation gap between us and the young people," admitted Liberal Party lawmaker Vincent Fang Kang, of the wholesale and retail functional constituency.
Keyboard Frontline, the group leading the movement against the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014, joined forces with Frontline Tech Workers Group and Youngspiration to stage the first round of lobbying at a meeting with the Liberal Party yesterday afternoon after the Legco proceedings were adjourned.
"We discussed the legal grounds of the new amendments and the reality," said Kafka Luk, of Keyboard Frontline. "They were open to ideas [...] but their limited knowledge about the internet world can be a hurdle."
Fang acknowledged the meeting went well. "They need to enlighten us and we should learn from them," he said. "We encourage young people to be creative, but we also need to protect interests of copyright owners."
Keyboard Frontline called off a protest set for last night outside the Legco building and planned to reschedule it for Wednesday.
The new copyright law aims to tackle online piracy via streaming, which is not covered by the current law. In the 2014 amendment, the government proposed new exemptions for derivative works such as adaptation of videos, pictures and songs created for the purposes of parody, satire, caricature, pastiche or commentary on current events.
But the law has been dubbed "Internet Article 23", after the section of the Basic Law that deals with national security legislation, and is seen as a measure to clamp down on freedom of speech and creativity.
The amendments by People Power lawmaker Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, the Labour Party's Cyd Ho Sau-lan and legal sector legislator Dennis Kwok borrow from overseas jurisdictions.
Chan wants the government to adopt the US legal principle of "fair use" instead of "fair dealing", while Ho wants exemptions for online dissemination of user-generated content. Kwok has called for a provision to prevent contractual terms from overriding or limiting exemptions.
Luk said that as well as garnering online support, the groups planned "offline" campaigns to explain to people on the street who might not be internet users the details of the copyright law and their views on how it will impact on freedom of expression.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1889054/generation-gap-hurdle-debate-over-hong-kongs-copyright-law
