Canadian DMCA Coming This Spring

An anonymous reader writes "The Canadian government is reportedly ready to introduce copyright reform legislation this spring, provided that no election is called. The new bill would move Canada far closer to the U.S. on copyright, with DMCA-style anti-circumvention legislation that prohibits circumvention of DRM systems and bans software and mod chips that can be used to circumvent such systems."

Comments

the answer is clear...

[feepcreature]

...call an election!

Re:the answer is clear...

[Anonymous Coward]

The trouble with calling an election is that as much as people want the conservatives out of power, we're also comfortable with the minority government, because they simply can't actually follow up on their platform, or do anything rash, as the opposition will, in that event, call a vote of non-confidence, thus toppling the minority government, and send us back to the polls.

However, the opposition isn't ready to go back to the polls, as the liberal party is still in shambles, and Stephane Dion has yet to prove his competence as a leader. The Bloc Quebecois can't hope to pull of a repeat of 1994 and ed up as the official opposition, unless there is a clear majority; given the state of the liberals, it would have to be a conservative majority, and nobody (save the prairies, Canada's equivalent of the bible belt) wants to see that. The NDP is still between 4 and 8 years away from realistically making the elections look like a three-horse race, and the Greens/Communists/Marxist-Leninists, well, they barely even count as political parties.

Politics is a delicate situation in Canada. Its not as easy as voting no-confidence, not as long as there is still the threat of the conservatives goes in as a majority. We're still rather sore from Mulroney's stint as prime minister. And frankly, many are waiting for Harper to fuck up like Mulroney did, before toppling the government. (For those not familiar with Canadian politics, the conservative party imploded after Mulroney's time in power, falling from a clear majority to, if I recall correctly, not even managing a double-digit seat-count in the next elections).

Frankly the DMCA doesn't scare me even remotely as much as the thought of a conservative majority does, considering the later not only sold out our lumber industry, send troops to Afghanistan against the people's wishes, seeks to abolish our beloved gun registry, and seeks to semi-privatize our beloved public healthcare, but to add insult to injury has so much as stated that they'd even so much as consider repealing the charter of rights, to force through a ban on same-sex marriage, if they had to... Given the choice between dealing with the DMCA, or giving up my civil rights, I'll take the DMCA, thanks. And I kindly ask that anyone who places greater importance on copyright than on civil rights, to kindly get the fuck out of my country. Thanks.

Screw calling an election, fear of the DMCA doesn't justify the risk of 4 years of aconservative majority. Petition the Governor General to veto the bill if it goes through senate, instead. Its a little known fact of Canadian politics: Provincial PM -> Lieutenant Governor General -> Prime Minister -> Senate -> Prime Minister -> Governor General -> Prime Minister -> Queen Elizabeth II.

(Yeah, its a tad complicated: our senate is an appointed one, although it can reject bills the government can pass, the prime minister can simply flood the senate with new senators to force a majority vote (see Mulroney's stunt with passing the GST), but the governor General, being the representative of the Queen, can overrule the senate, but the Prime mister can challenge the GG's ruling, calling for his or her resignation, and finally in such as situation, the true head of state, the queen, can either side with the Prime Minister, or the governor general. Although there is precedent for the lieutenant governor general to overrule the provincial PM, and there is precedent for the Governor General to overrule the ruling Prime Minister, as far as I can tell, there has never bee a case in which the queen has been invoked directly, though our constitution does grant the ruling monarch, as constitutional head of state, the final word in all political affairs).

Re:the answer is clear...

[grimr]

"beloved gun registry" Huh? All of the people I know think it's a waste of money. 2 billion dollars to make people 'feel' safe? First of all, the criminals won't register their guns. And second, I just read in todays paper which quoted a cop saying the police were told not to use it as it contained stale data. Beloved my ass...

Re:the answer is clear...

[kilrogg]

The Liberals have had similar legislation in the works for at least the past 6 years, there's no doubt that a DCMA-style law will eventually pass in parliament, its only a matter of time. As for the rest of your random partisan attacks:

considering the later not only sold out our lumber industry,

The provinces and lumber industry agreed to the deal, they agreed it was a good compromise. (and besides, with the export tax, this means more money going to the governments and therefore less tax that us taxpayers need to pay. As well, there is possibly now less pressure to clear-cut our beautiful forests to satisfy American demand).

send troops to Afghanistan against the people's wishes

The Liberal's sent them there, and the majority of parliament agreed to extend it by 2 years.

seeks to abolish our beloved gun registry

The registry is a waste of money. I've yet to hear of a case where the registry saved a life, yet many cases continue to occur with registered guns despite the registry (Dawson shooting being a high profile example). Let's spend that 2 billion on policing and prevention instead.

and seeks to semi-privatize our beloved public healthcare

Now your just making stuff up. The conservatives have continuously expressed support for healthcare, including the recent wait-time guarantee initiative (although not perfect, its at least a step in the right direction).

but to add insult to injury has so much as stated that they'd even so much as consider repealing the charter of rights

What are you talking about here? They've talked about strengthening it by adding property rights to the charter.

to force through a ban on same-sex marriage

They had an open vote on it, it didn't pass, case closed. (and incidentally, it was supported by a small number of liberals and opposed by some conservatives).

indeed, haven they been trying for 6 years?

[plasmacutter]

for the past 6 years ive been hearing nothing but rumors about how certain elements (puppets) in the canadian government have been trying to "harmonize" canadian copyright with the US, and every time theyve tried they've met with ever stiffening resistance from very vocal and powerful anti-dmca groups, from a powerful coalition of canadian artists to the canadian papers and the public at large.

I expect to see such a bill die a public, horrible death. If it does not, however, i'll look forward to the business many developing nations will see as the modchip makers and circumvention tool developers jump ship.

Michael Geist wrote an essay on this....

[8127972]

.... topic and why it's a bad idea here:

http://www.caut.ca/en/bulletin/issues/2004_nov/com m_copyrightreform.asp

Highly recommended reading for Canadians who wish to see why the House Of Commons should bury this idea today.

For those of you who don't know who Michael Geist is, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Geist for more info.

Re:Odds are... (election could alter DCMA)

[WillAffleckUW]

An election will be called within the next month or two, after that, it all depends on who gets into office

A friend of mine who was the current Secretary of the 43rd District Democrats in Seattle has gone up there to help with the elections, so she at least thinks it's fairly certain.

But I'm not sure I agree with your statement on all political parties loving the money that comes with lobbies - IMHO this does not normally include either the NDP or the Green Party in Canada.

But what do I know, I used to be active in BC politics ...