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Canadian Record Industry's Secret Lobby Campaign

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the backroom-deals-just-everyday-life dept.

CRIAWatch writes "Michael Geist has an editorial published in the Hill Times, a Canadian political newsweekly, about a secret lobbying campaign by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. The report details how days after the last Canadian election CRIA lobbyists worked with officials to plan an event featuring speakers on the CRIA payroll who are promoting a DMCA for Canada, dozens of government officials from seven departments, an expensive lunch with senior government executives paid for by taxpayers, as well as a private meeting with the Canadian Heritage Minister who is responsible for copyright law."

2 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Plutocracy by Umbral+Blot · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I for one welcome our wealthy overlords. In all seriousness many democratic countries are effectively ruled by the rich already. (For example consider the amount of money needed to win an election, ensuring all candidates are either independently wealthy or in the pockets of their campaign contributors) Why should it surprise anyone that the people in power are making laws that benefit themselves? See Plutocracy and tell me with a straight face that isn't almost every modern "democratic" government.

    --

    Philosophy.
  2. Telling Statistics of their Piracy reports by failedlogic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Something seems a bit fishy about the motives of CRIA and its not just this Canadia-taxpayer funded meal.
    Not only have most of the Canadian labels pulled out, but they don't seem to easily identify which labels they represent.

    More telling though is this site http://www.cria.ca/stats.php which has their industry statistics on CD and DVD sales. I'm not an accountant or trained in business, but doesn't it feel funny to read this sentence? "Sales information is supplied by members of CRIA and tabulated by Grant Thornton without audit." I take their said statistics with a grain of salt.

    Politician: So are you saying movies and music are being pirated? Do you have less sales records as proof?
    CRIA: Yes.
    Critic: So who tabulates the records? Is there an audit trail?
    CRIA: One person. Sorry no audits available.
    Politician: Enough! The proof is in the records!
    Critic: But they're not even responsibily tallied! We need more information.
    Politician: We're passing the law.

    Ah, Democracy!! (sigh)