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Anti-DMCA Petition in Canadian Parliament
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."
Excepting for the political thieves involved in the Sponsorship scandal, sometimes we get things right. Canada has great fair-use laws and politicians seem to know we the voters like it that way.
I honestly don't think the MP in questions gives a damn about the rights of the listeneres. But at least he is doing something for whihc people would remember him, in a positive light.
British style Parliaments have their own problems, but I think Canada has quite successfully implemented that by using the PR system.
Nothing to see here
Isn't it about time that Slashdot gets a 'Canada' Topic Icon? We have a USA one.
I mean, how many YRO stories involve Canada doing something we wish was happening here? Don't we get more 'Canada' stories than, say, 'Transmeta' stories or 'Geeks in Space' stories?
In any case, no matter what Liz Frulla is saying to appease the lobby groups, if the legislation sticks to the proposed plan there should be no problem.
And what the article summary appears to have missed is that one of the things in the plan is to close the loophole that probably makes unauthorized downloading of copyrighted music legal in Canada.
This should go hand-in-hand with repealing the blank media levy, since it is supposed to be linked to the legalization of 'private copying', but no word on that yet.
Not that I'd expect it, though, the government has never met a tax dollar it didn't like.
If you replace 'passive' with 'not antagonistic' then you have it right.
Oh, and I think the Republican attempt to have the *federal* executive and legislative branches overturn a *state* *judicial* matter gives lie to that other bit.
Man, a hundred years ago, an attempt like that would have seen armed citizens in the streets.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Yep. We have the same thing and IIRC the official line is that it doesn't entitle us to copy copyrighted material except for our own private use. It's not an excuse to burn copies of an audio CD to your friends outside the immediate family, for instance. That's copyright infringement.
Interestingly, our taxi companies also have to pay for the music if the drivers want to have a radio on while driving around with a customer. It's deemed as public performance. More recently, churches and kindergartens have also been asked to pay if they wish "to perform" (ie. sing) copyrighted hymns and songs for children. No, that's not a joke. They tried this already a few years ago but that caused a public uproar. This time they might be able to pull it off, though.
The owls are not what they seem
So, they still have the language-nazi problem? For all of the US problems with the Spanish language, I have yet to see a proposal as extreme as having the government punishing individuals for writing in the "wrong" language. Not even Pat Buchanan.
"Speak the language ... French!"
Why not let them speak what they want? There is no good reason at all that the "French language protection" needs to go beyond making sure French is used in government operations (inciuding government road signs). It really crosses the line to censor private individuals.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
hmm. i was fairly sure (and my history teacher agrees) that it was actually a canadian milita that actually set the blaze, who then hightailed it back to canada. they lit it up as a reminder. "don't try that again".
and for the record, most US history books don't even mention that the war of 1812 ever happened.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
Here here. I've lived in various parts of the US for months at a time for work projects, and I meet people all the time who don't even know where Canada is, let alone ANYTHING about its culture or people.
Meanwhile, there is a real trend in Canada to label anyone who criticizes American policies or actions as "anti-American" and it sickens me. American political decisions often have far reaching effects in Canada, but the US government never considers this when they make them (as is their right), but when Canada makes decisions that may affect the USA (such as legalizing marijuana, not supporting missile defence, etc) it is attacked by the Conservative elite as being "anti-American". It seems almost as if the millionaires who run our government really dont think Canada should be allowed to make its own decisions.
They can pass all the laws they want about copyrights for digital media. They will be largely inneffective as a deterrent.
Until someone breaking such a law shows up in court, this will all mean nothing anyway. I would prefer the petition succeeds, but sooner or later, the entire damn thing will come crashing down simply because the law that the petition is against is essentially unenforcible anyway.
Trying to pass laws preventing computers from copying information and using the internet from sharing that information is like trying to pass a law saying you can buy scissors, but cannot use scissors to cut things.
It makes no sense to pass a law preventing you from using an item that you are permitted to own in a manner it is designed to be used.
END COMMUNICATION
Is it possible to get a refund of the levy? It's supposed to be compensation for me storing bootleg copies of music on these media. What if I could prove that I did not and never will store any unauthorized copyright material on these discs?
If I burn my tax records for the last decade onto CDR, my accountant or a lawyer can certainly testify under oath to what's on the disc without disclosing the details. Further, it's a CDR, so assuming it's not multisession, I can't exactly add an MP3 to the disc later -- for kicks.
Assuming the levy is in place for the purposes it's alleged to be, then it should be possible to obtain a refund. Admittedly, it likely wouldn't be worth the effort, but I'd imagine a few people a year would actually apply for the refund on principle if it were possible.
Actually, nearly 300 names on the NEXT batch of petitions that are about to be presented in the House WERE collected by, not quite a child, but a 15 year old, namely, my daughter. As part of her high school civics course, she got involved with Digital Copyright Canada and circulated the petition, singly collecting the most signatures of anyone in the campaign.
At a recent conference on copyright at University of Toronto's Faculty of Law, she buttonholed the former chair of the standing committee, Sarmite Bulte, and put the hard questions to her about ISP notice and takedown (now notice and notice), the extra levy to educational institutions, and the threat to innovation.
So the issue is not "please think of the children," but rather, "Please, the children are thinking!"
1000 signatures! Wow! We're at .003 percent of the population! Unfortunately, I believe the various pro-DMCA lobbies have a lot more weight in the form of dollars...a few million Canadian dollars still is a lot of money.
Something you should know about political contributions in Canada. There are strict limits on how much a company (or an individual) can contribute to politicians. Last I checked, it was something like $10,000 per party.
In theory, this is supposed to prevent politicians from being bought. It has flaws, but it does mean we don't end up with people like Senator Orrin Hatch in charge.