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US Group Wants Canada Blacklisted Over Piracy
An anonymous reader writes "Following up on an earlier story, the IIAA wants to add Canada to a blacklist of the worst intellectual property offenders. A powerful coalition of U.S. software, movie and music producers is urging the Bush administration to put Canada on an infamous blacklist of intellectual property villains, alongside China, Russia and Belize. 'Canada's chronic failure to modernize its copyright regime has made it a global hub for bootleg movies, pirated software and tiny microchips that allow video-game users to bypass copyright protections', the International Intellectual Property Alliance complains in a submission to the U.S. government."
- Copyright Law
- Business Model
Modernize one.What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
Apparently the editors of that press release got it backwards...its the US that has a "copyright regime". What they meant to say was Canada has "realistic and fair copyright laws, and we cannot accept that".
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
'Canada's chronic failure to modernize its copyright regime has made it a global hub for bootleg movies, pirated software and tiny microchips that allow video-game users to bypass copyright protections'
Translation: "We have a stranglehold on the music and movie industries, we want control over video game consoles, as well."
Wizard Needs Food, Badly
... and all other people of the world, when I say that we just LOVE having Americans try to police us and control our affairs!
I just fail to understand why we should care (from a Canadian point of view). Why should we let the Americans control our internal policy?
I'm offended and frankly would be extremely angry if Canada bowed to this pressure.
David Wilkins ( US Ambassador to Canada), who states that Canada doesn't dictate US policy should now go put his head back in his ass. Read about Maher Arar and the ass hattery that came out of David Wilkins mouth.
If Canada doesn't dictate US policy, so too should the US not concern themselves with Canadian policies.
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What is a "crisis level" for camcorders in movie theatres? Is that where the people behind you start attacking you for using a camera that makes too much noise (or gives off too much light, or what)?
Nonetheless, if this sanction was imposed, Canada could retaliate by putting the Yanks on the list of countries to whom they won't export oil or uranium. Then the Americans would have to nicer to Chavez ... (This won't happen. By "this" I mean Canada blocking energy exports. The Canadians put up with a lot.)
.. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
"failure to modernize its copyright regime" ??
Canada's copyright system is MORE modern then the US. Common sense tells us that there is no difference "If I loan a CD to a friend to listen to", or "make a copy for him to listen to." I guess we should ban libraries too since the artist is not getting "his fair share."
Copyright & Intellectual Property Rights (which are neither property nor rights) are artificial rights from a world where only people care about greed, instead of sharing knowledge.
What price do you put on a patent that could cure cancer? Why is it OK to profit off the sick & dying? Have we really made that little progress in the past million years, that we still cry & whine like a 2 year saying "mine" -- simply because we were the first to come up with an idea, that we could care less about our fellow human beings??
Copyright: Because it's _such_ a crime against humanity, that people want to share what they find entertaining with others, for free!
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Because its easier to get mod'd down for having the courage to look at the facts, then ignore Forgotten Christian History.
To the best of my knowledge, copyright infringement going on in other countries in no way affects our safety (besides the weak "it funds terrorists" argument that seems to be the defacto excuse for everything around here anymore).
The only people that would benefit from the massive expense and sacrifice of civil liberty that would be necessary to enact such a stupid idea would be the media fat cats..... And they can go and (insert witty thing here) themselves for all I care.
It's only paranoia if your wrong...
Really that is exactly the point, some industries would like as many countries as possible to have almost identical copyright and patent policies. Lately those industries have had the most luck influencing U.S. law so they have decided to make those laws the template. It isn't the "Americans" that are pushing this, it is a collection of huge corporations that are trying to keep from having to fight the same court battles over and over. If they can convince the U.S. government to pressure other countries to bring their laws "in line" with the U.S. laws they make their own lives a lot easier. If Canada keeps it's own laws it will be a force these industries have to deal with directly, if Canada bows to pressure they fade into the background, another "me too" country they never have to work with. Australia should think about that too.
Insert pithy comment here.
So they want Bush to blacklist Canada, their biggest trading partner (last I heard), their NATO ally, whose troops are now fighting in Afghanistan against the Taliban, possessor of the second largest petroleum reserves in the world, and whose government is one of the very few who are not overtly hostile to the Bush administration?
Over video games?
Cool.
Just wait until they come to "liberate" you from your outdated copyright regime.
Biggest trading partner? Haliburton is ready to take over that.
NATO ally? Pay attention to how well they treat their EU allies lately.
Fighting terrorists? So did Saddam, didn't want any religious fundies opposing him.
Oil? And that's a.... con?
Friendly government? Wasn't that a WMD pointing at the US I saw, I'm sure I did.
And the five-year forecast: Civil war between eskimos, quebecois and english-speaking canadians.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
More to the point from my perspective as an American, most of the companies involved in this are not American, or even based in the United States. Personally, the very idea of our political leaders accepting bribes^H^H^H^H^H^Hcompaign contributions from foreign interests in exchange for modifications to our legal system smacks of high treason. Of course, that doesn't make this any less the responsibility of the citizenry of this country to fix ... as soon as we figure out how. Voting doesn't seem to work so well anymore.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
I'd like to see what the reaction would be. It might surprise many Americans, but there is a fair amount of anti-american sentiment here north of the 49. I know we seem friendly and all, but really we're just polite. (Note: I like American's just fine... well all the ones that aren't the president... and a few others...)
I believe all this "Canadians are dirty rotten thieves" stuff the "IP proponents" are pulling is due to the fact that the current government is working on revising our copyright law. I suspect that they are trying to pressure the Canadian government into getting their way.
It might even be at the behest of the government who seems to be intent on listening to only one side (guess who?). The Conservatives campaigned partially on "repairing the damage that the liberals did to US - Canada relations" (not that most Americans pay much attention to Canada anyway...) The copyright reforms are likely to be very unpopular no matter what's in them. If they say, "Oh we need to crack down to keep our relations happy with the Americans", maybe they think that will smooth things over.
If that's the case, I think they are terribly misguided. Canadians have always had a low tolerance to being stepped on by the elephant that is the US. We have a chip on our shoulders. In fact, one of the defining principles of being a Canadian is that "We aren't American". For some people, that's their only definition of being Canadian.
Pressure from the US to do *anything* to our laws will likely doom that idea, whether it be good or bad. Hence it would be nice to see what happens if the above characterization would be on the front page of the local newspapers...
Our "friendship" with the US is often cited as a reason why we should put up with a lot of things not the least of which was going to fight in Afghanistan. It's probably second only to the excuse "but they're our biggest trading partner!" When a foreign country is such an important trading partner that it's used as an excuse for letting them meddle in your internal affairs that says to me that it's time to find some new trading partners.
Sure, we shouldn't stop sending you guys oil, but we should definitely be looking to sell more of it (along with other things) to places other than the US. They've proven over and over that they can't be trusted not to abuse their position as primary trade partner.
Except that it's not a random group, it's a powerful copyright lobby that has a history of getting exactly what they want.
Not to mention the US government (which is even less of a random group) has already pressured several other countries into changing their copyright laws and has been hard at work on Canada for some time already.
And more to the point: Why does the American government allow corporations to dictate foreign policy?
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
Its too late for Australia. Problem is John Howard is so far up Bush's ass he wont be able to taste anything but shit till his 80'th birthday (next week I think) He has been pushing so hard to pretty much make Australia another US state, which sucks because so many Aussies hate America, but our ruler loves those yanks and wants us to be just like them
Make SELinux enforcing again!
"When will you Americans learn you cannot have it both ways," you say, after citing a case where the Americans continually have it both ways.
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
Do they hate America, do they hate that for which America has traditionally stood, or do they just hate George W. Bush and his cronies? Just in case it's news to you, a lot of us Americans aren't all that enamored of GWB and Co.
... but I don't say "I hate Australia". I just express distaste for those particular idiots.
In any event, saying "we hate America" means you're doing one awful lot of hating. I've known some Australians that were complete jackasses as well
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Why does the American government allow corporations to dictate foreign policy?
1. Because they can.
2. Because they can buy the best lobbyists.
3. Because voters who don't pay attention let them.
Table-ized A.I.
It wasn't that long ago people would have thought you were crazy if you suggested Canada would make more money not selling cattle to the US.
Now we have meat packing plants of our own, and we can sell frozen steak internationally with all the associated markup.
Why the hell are we selling our oil?
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
Throwing the politicians in....
From the environment's point-of-view, this might not be such a good idea.