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Canadian DMCA Won't Include Consumer Rights
An anonymous reader writes "As protests
mount over the Canadian DMCA, law professor Michael Geist is now reporting
that the government plans to delay addressing fair use and consumer
copyright concerns such as the blank media tax for years. While the
U.S. copyright lobby gets their DMCA, consumers will get a panel to
eventually consider possible changes to the law. Many Canadians
are responding today with a mass
phone-in to Industry Minister Jim Prentice to protest the policy
plans."
That's funny. The majority of people in my riding didn't vote for the Conservatives either, but we got one anyway.
I know that the EFF has some kind of presence up here, but we really need a Canadian group that can do the leg work in Ottawa. (As great as the EFF is, anything American based will be ignored.)
I hope you don't mind if I use the above as a template and send a similar message to my MP's as well.
Snail mail of course.
And all Canucks out there, if you mail a letter to an MP - it does not require postage. Just drop it in the mail, and it gets delivered.
Where possible, choose snail mail over email, snail mail gets more attention.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
I made a call to Mr. Prentice's Ottawa office this morning. I got a reply instantly and left a polite note stating my extreme dissatisfaction with the direction in which they were going and noting I would drop my Conservative membership if this bill is even read. I've also been mobilizing my friends and my office (one of the ladies is the wife of a senator) to kibosh this bill if it's not kosher.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
those pesky rights of citizens are what got the bloody government elected in the first place. So they damn well better listen to us. Get this: The Minister, Jim Prentice refuses to answer over 250 questions posed by Canadians. How's that for pissing off your people? Not a good way to treat your future voters methinks. Esp. if you're a minority government. Hell, no I don't want some stupid American-style DMCA law in my country of Canada. We are the true north, strong and free, and we are going to get a FAIR copyright law. By hook or by crook.
Toria
I told Minister Prentice that as a former Progressive Conservative party worker, and business executive,I for one would vote with my wallet by donating to other political parties who better represent my views on this issue ... and I WILL!!
Lets see how badly they want to lose the next election.
However, I do agree that there's no need to panic yet. Stephane Dion is allegedly supposed to grow a pair over the long Christmas break, and says he wants a pre-budget election (i.e. ~February). Considering Harper is unlikely to ram this through committee, or Parliament for that matter (as there are bills much more important to him--namely, ones that will embarrass the Liberals), this bill is likely going to die on the order paper. So I agree with your final opinion, just for different reasons.
On the upside, we don't have a single alternative to the Conservative government. A couple other parties can and do get significant numbers of seats. Imagine if Liberterians down there got around 25-35% of the seats in Congress every election, and had a higher proportion of the popular vote. Makes switching from republicrats to them seem more reasonable doesn't it?
If you truly want the mental disability to stop... ... don't infringe on copyrights. Don't do it. Tell anyone and everyone not to do it. While we, as a society, keep infringing on the (MAFIAA|**AA)'s copyrights (whichever is less offensive to you), we will forever be repaying our debt to them we have accumulated as a society. Simply boycotting will just make the situation worse... etc.
See, dear mod, now you can mod me something other than flamebait, because I've removed all but all offensive material from my post. Or perhaps you find the idea that someone of at least moderate intelligence disagrees with you. In which case...
I like watching TV and can't wait for the next series of American Idol. I am part of an experiment of 1,000,000 dumbasses at 1,000,000 computers trying to create a work of genius. Unfortunately, this was all I could come up with.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
When some MP from maritime wanted a better deal for his area than was being offered (and the provincial gov't there wanted it as well), Harper threw him out of the party. Then under pressure, did the exact deal that MP wanted. When asked if the MP that was thrown out would be allowed to rejoin the party, Harper essentially said that he will *never* be part of his party ever again.
You could put any prime ministers name in above and it would still be materially correct. While Canada has a senate, it populated by inactive patronage geriatrics appointed by (and buy) the Prime Minister thus is just a high priced rubber stamp.
That is, in Canada we elect term dictators. No recall either. So MPs have to vote the party line dictated by the PM or they are so screwed. Senate reform has been talked about for years, but no one in Ottawa wants this democracy in Canada, they enjoy the plutocratic nature of our government body.