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Canadian Recording Industry Wants CD Levy Raised
CTI Colt writes: "Well, they're at it again. This article reports that the recording industry in Canada has applied to the Canadian Copyright Board for a hearing on increasing the CD levy (which was set at 5.2 cents originally). They want it raised to 50 cents for every CD and CD/RW (audio use or not), as well as applying for a levy increase on blank cassette tapes. The board will hear their motion on Oct. 24 of this year. Start the campaign against this insanity now!" I like to run articles like this because it helps raise awareness that you are already being taxed (in the U.S. too) for "piracy", money that goes straight to the music industry. It's a cunning tax that mostly falls into the out-of-sight, out-of-mind category.
Basically the record companies are slandering or libeling (IANAL) anyone who buys blank media by calling them criminals. Shouldn't we be able to fight back?
Under the doctrine of "innocent until proven guily", shouldn't the burden be on them to prove, without violating any of my constitutionally protected rights, that I'm not using blank tape or whatever to archive my airchecks and commercial production from my radio days but instead that I'm bootlegging whatever that unlistenable stuff they're getting rich from this days is?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
A couple copies of Debian or Red Hat?! So what!!
Think about how much it grates to pay money to your competitors! (Unless you sell discs by the many-thousands, it's more cost effective to use CD-R media.) IIRC, the US (today) does not impose a "tax" to compensate for software piracy, but you can imagine how I will feel about paying Microsoft pennies per disc for something *I* give away for free - just because they're worried that I *could* use the same media to produce illicit copies of their bug-ridden bloatware!
Think about the sites that use CD-R as their primary back-up media - that's typically 200 disks/year/backup system. With a $0.50/disc tax, that's $100 pissed away while you're doing nothing that comes remotely close to being illegal.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
Why should I feel guilty about pirating music now, if artists are getting their fill? I would not that this only protects certain artists, and not the ones that need it most.
Write your MLA and get vocal on this. I can stomach the 5.2 cents, but as we all know in Canada, once a tax gets started it takes on a life of it's own. This is sick. Oh wait, this isn't a tax.
Make sure to mention that this "tax" assumes that anyone buying CDRs is guilty of a federal crime, and then ask the MLA if their children have PC's and if they have bought them any CDRs recently. Make sure you'd love to know in a public forum how they feel about being pirates, as they must be, because they're happily paying the pirate tax.
You can find out who your MLA is and their email/contact information right here. A phone call or a written letter is a lot more powerful than an email; Last time I at least got a written reply back explaining why the spineless bastard was voting with the party line.
If you're sick of partisan politics, vote for the Canadian Alliance next time. Their members must vote on issues as their consistuants feel; Not the party line.
..don't panic
You'll just get popped when the package clears the border and a bill in the mail.
..don't panic
I thought the recexecs already hit the rock bottom, I don't know whether I should laugh or cry!
I think it's clear to anyone who has been following the recent developments on the music scene that we are going to bury the "industry" and finally return music to an artform.
MPAA can sue Napster, MyMP3, Gnutella, or whatever, but that's just fighting the symptoms while ignoring the cause. We've been victims to a cartel, an extortion practice the big recording companies have unleashed upon us the consumers as well as the contemporary "artists" (have to put it under quotes because vast majority of vocal and instrumental entertainers don't deserve to be called artists).
Once we're back to basics I foresee a rennaisance of music. People will create music as a form of expression and not because they answered an ad in a tabloid.
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And what about crowbars? I mean, not everyone uses crowbars to pry open their *own* doors. Since it's a tool that could be used for theft, we need to tax the sale of crowbars, so that the victims of B&Es can get compensation.
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www.kitchengeek.com -- Nosh for
I don't get this. If you are paying a "piracy tax" then technically, wouldn't you be allowed to copy the software? I was under the assumption that the fundamental reason why piracy is illegal is becaust you are copying data without paying for it. Once you are paying for piracy, wouldn't that be like buying a right to pirate? The music companies thinks that piracy is inevitable and they just want to be reimbursed.
Being with you, it's just one epiphany after another