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Canada May Ratify WIPO Copyright Treaty
rocjoe71 writes "It appears the Government of Canada might be ratifying the WIPO copyright treaty, which will surely bring an end to our P2P downloading heydays. Among the measures that could be enforced by ratifying WIPO would force ISPs to comply with a 'notice and takedown' system against subscribers who violate copyright laws... As we speak RIAA lawyers are amassing on the Canada-U.S. border, ready for an all-out invasion."
Canada currently has a minority government, and they have far bigger problems to deal with than copyright law extensions.
John titor's prophesy. Bring down ALL establishment and rebuild everything from scratch.
would have to pass the House, head to committee pass third reading and then to the Senate. If it even makes it to committee I would be surprised.
Also, notice no mention was made of outlawing technologies that could disable digital rights systems, something a previous Commons committee report on copyright strongly advised against.
As a Canadian I can see that our two cultures are too intertwined for this not to happen, we usually pride ourselves on not being American, but we are always only a few years behind.
I suppose its truly time to move to Europe...
Here we go again. If the Gov't wants to make ISPs responsible for the actions of their users, I certainly hope they're planning on providing some payment for the time it will take.
Effectively, the action suggested in the article would make an ISP a branch of law enforcement - requiring them to comply with orders to disable user accounts and, probably, pay penalties for non-compliance with such orders.
I now question, quite strongly, the reason there are taxes on blank CDs, DVDs, Video Tapes, and other storage media. I had believed that this tax was to go directly to SOCAN (the Canadian RIAA equivalent) to ensure that artists were compensated for copies of their materials. If they now believe that any person downloading a song that they already own is a target for prosecution, I don't think I'll be too keen on paying those taxes. Time to talk to the MP in these parts, I guess.
When this came up last spring I contacted ministers responsible with a short message detailing my distaste for WIPO and attempted to explain in layman's terms just why it's a very bad idea. Their response came down to "this is what the CRIA wants" padded in beuracratic bull shit. I thought this might have disappeared with Hélène Scherrer being voted out, but I see now this was wishful thinking.
x ?CommitteeId=8974&Lang=1&ParlSession=381&SelectedE lementId=e17_
b /house/members /CurrentMemberList.asp?Language=E&Parl=37&Ses=1&Se ct=Hoccur&Order=OrganizationName
Still, we can make a difference if we contact them and explain in simple yet clear terms why it's bad. By Canadian law they must respond to your email, so at the very least you know someone is reviewing it, and if enough people write in we can probably enact some change.
So, here's the important info:
The email address for the Heritage Committee: HERI@parl.gc.ca
The email address for Heritage Minister Liza Frulla (head of the committee): Frulla.L@parl.gc.ca
The web site for the Heritage Committee (Gee, seems like all they care about is copyright. Nice doublespeak): http://www.parl.gc.ca/committee/CommitteeHome.asp
And for future reference, in case you're wondering where I get all this
information from:
The list of members of the House of Commons, with contact information:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/senmem
It will only take 5 minutes, go write them!
Even if you're not Canadian, the message will still be read, so go write them!
For the lazy:
The email address for the Heritage Committee.
The email address for Heritage Minister Liza Frulla (head of the committee).
The web site for the Heritage Committee.
The lists of members of the House of Commons.
Posting AC so feel free to increase visibility.
Take that Canada, with your Universal Health Care, liberal government, and Civil Rights! You're becoming just as fucked up as us (USA).
You know, that didn't make me feel better. The "you suck too" argument worked so much better when I was 6, now it's just depressing. Oh well, back to looking for a job.
Canada is an immigration country.
A lot of residents are not comfortable writing to their representatives due to either limited proficiency in English (and/or French) or not knowing what phrasing is "socially acceptable" in Canada.
Some example letters could be very helpful for these people.
I thought this might be taking place in a real country. Hell Canada could be renamed "USA Part Deux" without detracting from it a bit.
It seems to me that the rest of North America should just give in and accept that it's all really the US anyway.
Is this bit:
"The committee also recommended allowing for extended licensing of Internet material for educational purposes, meaning that a fee cannot be collected for publicly available material.
That publicly available material would be defined as material that available on public Internet sites that do not require subscriptions or passwords and for which there is no associated fee."
Is it just me, or does that seem extremely abusable?
The educational exemption for use of copyrighted materials already exists. For example, if an instructor wished to discuss an article that appeared in a newspaper or magazine, the instructor could make as many copies as needed for the class without violating the copyright. The recommended changes would simply extend this exemption to cover material pubically available on the Internet, if I read this correctly.
It is a necessary and appropriate addition, in my opinion.
I'm sure you've revieved many emails about this so I'll keep it short.
I am against the WIPO. It will raise the cost of doing business for IT
companys.
It will curtial free speach; If I were to send an anonymous takedown
letter to an isp claiming that a site is violating my copyright, they
would take it down without a question. The ISP would have no other
econimically viable choice. This tatic has been abused in countrys
with simular laws.
This law only placets the CIRA. We have given them enough concessions
already, in the form of recordable media leavys. These leavys hurt
independant artists, like myself, who want to distrubute their works
on CD. The CDs cost less then the leavy they are stuck with.