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Anti-DMCA Petition in Canadian Parliament

Posted by Zonk on from the they're-a-different-country,-see? dept.

Matthew Skala writes "Last month we heard that the Canadian government is rejecting some of the worst features of the DMCA (more analysis here), but with Heritage Minister Liza Frulla parroting the media-cartel lobby with a promise to "give the tools to companies and authors to sue" and persuade children that downloading music for free is morally wrong even though it's presently legal in Canada, the battle is far from won. Yesterday, Member of Parliament Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster, NDP) introduced the first batch of signatures on Digital Copyright Canada's Petition for Users' Rights. This isn't just a Web click-through petition that politicians can freely ignore; more than a thousand real hardcopy signatures have already been collected from Canadian residents opposed to further expansion of copyright privileges, and the campaign is hoping for many more. Additional coverage on p2pnet.net."

6 of 409 comments (clear)

  1. Legal vs. moral by October_30th · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Uh, what kind of an argument is that?

    If something's legal, it doesn't mean it's also moral and conversely, doing the morally right thing might not be legal at the time.

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    The owls are not what they seem
    1. Re:Legal vs. moral by satherto · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually it is moral to burn music for free in Canada, as we pay a surcharge on every blank CD, Cassette tape, and VCR tape to give to the artists. The reason it is legal and moral, is that the work has been paid for MANY times over due to the levy.

      As has been stated many times, the levy goes to the copywrite holders (in Canada) not to the government.

      It is (IMHO) that it is immoral to take our money and then try to convince us that we can't use what we have purchased.

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    2. Re:Legal vs. moral by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If it really was thievery, that is.

      To me, it's the equivalent of someone photocopying Dilbert from the news paper, and passing it out during business meetings, etc.

      or someone taking the newspaper from the breakroom, photocopying Dilbert, and adding it to his Dilbert collection, perhaps even scanning it and leaving it on an obscure page in his website, for people he wants to have. Why is not important in this case.

      I mention this because the issue of photocopied comic strips getting distributed in offices has come before the courts in the past, as has the RIAA/ASCAP/BMI suing companies where an employee has had a radio playing at a loud enough level for employees to hear, perhaps because the Muzak salesman was rebuffed...

      If I take your CD collection, *THAT* is thievery.
      If I reattribute my CD music collection as being of my own creation (music, lyrics, recording, etc.), *THAT* is thievery.

      While the artists tend to have "copyright" for the music and lyrics of their works, the fact is that the recording distributor has been assigned copyright for the recordings. The artists do not have copyright possession on their recordings.

      It's like people essentially advocating felony-level punishment for a mere +5MPH speeding violation. Yes, it's a "crime", but it's not a Crime. Too many people have lost sight of that.

      Next time you're in a restaraunt for a birthday celebration, especially if it's a national chain, get the waitstaff to also sing "Happy Birthday" with you, in addition to whatever they have for a birthday act. Blammo, commercial performance of someone's copyrighted song.

  2. I'm downloading the petition now. by ahsile · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And plan to sign it, and have everyone I know sign it. I won't have my rights stepped on without a fight. Who knows, maybe parliment will even reject the WIPO changes.

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    1. Re:I'm downloading the petition now. by Kwil · · Score: 4, Insightful

      By that argument, it was also the British who fought for independance.

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      That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze

  3. Off-topic but needs to be said by PChemGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I am a Canadian living in the US. I'm really tired of seeing comments like this from people on both sides of the border. For Americans, Canada is not the simple nation that some of you view it to be. It is also not the crime-free utopia that I hear about all the time. For most Canadians, you don't know half as much about the US as you think you do. The US is a much better country than prevailing attitudes would have you believe.

    We could all learn a lot more about each other if we got rid of these attitudes and spent a little time getting to know one another's countries.