Slashdot Mirror
Behind the Scenes of Canada's Movie Piracy Law
An anonymous reader writes "Michael Geist's latest Toronto Star column features a behind-the-scenes look at how Canada got its movie piracy bill based on internal government documents obtained under the Access to Information Act. Few will be shocked to learn that Hollywood lobbyists provided draft legislation months earlier as part of their barrage of lobbying, though the documents show that advisers to the Minister were skeptical that the proposal would accomplish anything. From the article: 'The industry's lobby efforts were clearly successful. Ignoring the inconsistent claims, the absence of evidence that Canadian films are being affected, the contrary internal advice, and the bracing reality that Hollywood has acknowledged that the U.S. is by far the largest source of illegal camcording worldwide notwithstanding its movie piracy legislation, Bill C-59 is expected to sail through Parliament. In doing so, Ottawa is sending Canadians two messages. The first is what drew the industry standing ovation - unauthorized camcording will not be tolerated in Canada even if it means diverting law enforcement resources from health and safety issues to movie theatres. The second is that private meetings, foreign pressures and lobbyist drafted bills is how law gets made in Canada.'"
All it means to me is that it will be harder to smuggle food into the theatres.
"Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)
Exactly - it is a Work Reservation bill. Something that one would expect a Trade Union to create. It ensures that managers can keep their monopoly on pirating of movies. The provinces will just ignore this silly bill - as with most things coming out of Ottawa. Canada is a weak federation. Ottawa has almost no power inside the country.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
And who do we vote for? Liberals? They're not in bed with big media companies? Please enlighten me.
Then we will get the do-nothing liberals, and that's what htey wil do - nothing.
Well, when I look at the laws created recently, I dunno if a government doing nothing would be such a bad alternative. We have sensible laws in place, so executive and judicative would be enough for my tastes. Generally, when you look around, you only see more and more incredibly insane laws spring up which are either unenforcable or just against the interests of the general population.
So yes, a government that is unable, unwilling or just plain too lazy to create laws does have its appeal to me...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.