Slashdot Mirror
Canada Introduces DMCA-Style Copyright Law
P Starrson writes "The Canadian government this afternoon kept one promise many could live
without. It introduced new copyright legislation that will bring
DMCA-style legislation to Canada (backgrounder
and FAQ
here but bill still not online). Professor Michael Geist has
apparently seen a copy and points out on his blog
that while the bill does not go as far as the United States, the
proposal is full of new rights for the music industry with precious
little for users."
Here is the Slashdot story with links changed to mirrors:
P Starrson writes "The Canadian government this afternoon kept one promise many could live without. It introduced new copyright legislation that will bring DMCA-style legislation to Canada (backgrounder and FAQ here but bill still not online). Professor Michael Geist has apparently seen a copy and points out on his blog that while the bill does not go as far as the United States, the proposal is full of new rights for the music industry with precious little for users."
Dashboard Widgets
They didn't introduce a new law, they introduced a new bill. It's not a law yet, and hopefully won't be.
Please don't make such misleading headlines.
FTA (emphasis mine) This does not alter the right to make a personal copy (including a P2P download) but does set some tough limits on what users are entitled to do with those copies.
That will be next on the entertainment cartel's radar.
Trolling is a art,
Here in canada, like the states, the major parties are very capitalist (Liberals and Conservatives) in nature and support the corporations fully, so you should not be shocked when the gov. lets corporations get their way. Of course, here in canada, the NDP (new democratic party) is the 3rd party (with 19%) of the popular vote, and since it's left-leaning, would be the only party likely to support any sort of consumer rights. If your in the US, both the Dems and Reps are more towards the right (say, compaired to canada), so you have got to expect more right-wing thought...alos, in the US, there is way more relgion in the mix too.
To that end, one should look to Boycott-RIAA.com. Also, for general use, googling the artist name and "RIAA" tends to find out the information you're looking for . . .
I for one do not buy RIAA music. Though I did buy two other CDs this year, and go to a concert.
I hope more people start doing the same.
I agree with you totally, and I'm going to take your logic a step further.
In addition to the fact the young people in the US don't vote, the flip side is the music industry putting money behind politicians. In a bipartisan system, it isn't a big issue to put money behind BOTH candidates. Analysis of party lines will notice that there is less of a difference between democrats and republicans than ever and both cater to special interests.
Young people don't vote in presidential elections, but more importantly, they don't vote in local elections for the house and the senate. They don't vote for local councilpeople and for mayors. So it's pretty safe to ignore us.
I wanted to start reversing the trend. I went to an election a year or so ago for local councilmen (I'm in New York). The district had over 500,000 people in it. The guy who won had 580 some-odd votes. I got there and it felt like visitng my grandmother's house. I swear no one under 65 was there... except me.
The fact that we don't vote is teh sux, but the fact that we don't really have a choice in a bipartisan system that harbors the illusion of difference is even worse. I have no answers, but voting democrat/republican is pretty much voting for the same thing.
un burrito me trampeó.
Here's what we do:
First, don't panic.
Once a bill is introduced, the following must happen. You should know this if you're a Canadian.
1. It is read for the first time in the House of Commons (which has apparently been done.)
2. The bill goes to the Senate, which will set up a committee to go over the bill and modify / approve it.
3. The modified bill will go to the HoC again for a second reading. If passed again, it returns to the Senate for further editing.
4. After the Senate looks over it again, it goes back to the HoC for a third reading and announcement. Once the law has been announced, then it goes into the Copyright Act.
Note that many laws have been passed but never announced, making them unenforceable.
To prevent this bill from being passed, do this:
1. Call and write and email your MP. It's free to do so in Canada. Go to their office and tell them that you want to talk about the bill. (Know the number before you go down.) Don't expect to meet with them. You just want the staff to know that someone was there about Bill C-X and who doesn't support it. Remember that they have their faxes full with US fundie groups complaining about gay marriage.
2. Tell them that you vote and your friends vote. This shouldn't be a lie. (I think that if someone says they don't vote, it's okay to hit them since it's self-defence.)
3. Tell them that if this passes, it's enough to get you to vote for a party that doesn't support it.
4. Remind them that free distribution of Canadian content keeps Canadian culture alive. (Hint: Tragically Hip >> Nickelback.)
5. Talk about the levy placed on blank media that compensates the recording industry.
Two other things of vital note:
1. In Canada, the loser pays the court costs. It's not like in the US where you can bankrupt someone by suing them. If you get in trouble, lawyer up. If your ISP calls, get them to forward all communication to your lawyer.
2. The ISP can charge for providing the information to the industry. I use Shaw, and I can't possibly see them passing up free money. I mean, come on, it's Shaw.
3. Set up a neighbourhood network. Get a good router and let your neighbours in on it. Keep the network open. Keep no records of who has what IP address. Then they have no idea who's doing the infriging since you don't know either!
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
http://www.downhillbattle.org/ is an extraordinary organization that does just that.
Look them up here
What is the robbing of a bank, compared to the founding of a bank? -- Bertolt Brecht
Normally, I would post this anonymously to avoid being a "karma whore", but since it's late in the day and the story has been up for a while...
The following is mentioned every time a Slashdot story is posted about Canadian copyright law, but it deserves to be repeated: fellow Canadians, if you want to do something constructive about this, there is a website set up to lobby against this bill, at http://www.digital-copyright.ca/
According to that site, there is a Member of Parliament (MP) with an interest in this issue, who presented the first petition against this bill back in April 2005 around the time the first Slashdot story broke, and a second petition in May: Peter Julian, New Democratic Party (NDP), MP Burnaby-New Westminster.