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Copyright Expert Uninvited From Canada Policy Forum

Posted by kdawson on from the not-our-kind-of-public dept.

earthforce_1 writes "The vested interests of restrictive copyright are stacking the deck in Canada. The Public Policy Forum Symposium on intellectual property reform has bowed to pressure from certain interests and dis-invited noted copyright scholar Howard Knopf. The forum's stated mandate is '...to strive for excellence in government — to serve as a neutral, independent forum for open dialogue on public policy, and to encourage reform in public sector management.' For some reason, the US Ambassador to Canada and the former head of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry Association have been invited — apparently they are perceived to have a more neutral view of what Canadian copyright laws should be? More information at Howard Knopf's blog."

6 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Dear RIAA, get your d*ck out of Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    I just hope that McTeague knows that this could very well cost him his job, just like his predecessors have found. I wonder why Jim Prentice isn't getting on the stump about this. Maybe he doesn't want annoying citizens to crash his parties anymore.

    The copyright levy wasn't enough, and I still haven't seen any evidence that a cent from the levy has been given to an artist that would have been hurt by the potential infringement that blank media could cause. I sure appreciate paying more for blank CDs so I can give my friends Ubuntu CDs to try out (because they're too lazy to go download it themselves and they're already scared of this Linux thing), knowing happily that my money is not supporting any Canadian artists that are not being harmed anyway.

    1. Re:Dear RIAA, get your d*ck out of Canada by theheadlessrabbit · · Score: 4, Informative

      i have to say, i do support the levy, because it means i can download all i want and never get sued.

      but here is the part where the levy is a miserable failure:
      independent bands.

      many of my friends are in unsigned bands, playing bar shows on a regular basis, and they are actually making a living off of it. not a good living by any means, they are just scraping by, but they are doing it on their own.

      But...lets say they want to burn some of their songs and sell them at their shows. every black CD has that nice levy on it, they pay it, but because they are unsigned, they get nothing back for it.

      IF any of the money does make it past the labels and into the artists hands, it's going to acts like nickleback.

      thats right, supporting independent music helps the big guys, too.

      thank you, blank media levy!

      --
      -I only code in BASIC.-
    2. Re:Dear RIAA, get your d*ck out of Canada by Tuoqui · · Score: 4, Informative

      Here's a little advice for you and your friends

      The blank media levy does *NOT* apply to the importers. If your friends are able to purchase blank CD's from outside of the country in bulk (like 1000's) then the levy does not apply to them since they are the importers. Also recording onto the blank media and then selling it ensures that the purchaser does not have to pay the blank media levy as well thereby bypassing the entire corrupt blank media levy system.

      Seriously, tell your friends about this. It should help them.

      --
      09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
      +2 Troll is Slashdot's way of saying groupthink is confused
  2. Re:no wonder, hes a troll. by Reed+Solomon · · Score: 5, Informative

    He was merely doing the opposite of what the PPF did, stacking the deck to get answers they wanted. He merely rephrased their questions to get the opposite answer. As a Canadian I'm rather disgusted in this. Luckily I'm in a Conservative riding, and can easily change my vote if they ever try anything stupid.

  3. email your MP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    email your MP. This forum is a result of previous outcry over proposed legislation. The bill was supposed to slide through parliament but MP's were scared by the backlash. Now they've arranged a fair & impartial (??? with the US ambassador offering the opening remarks, and the VP of the motion picture industry 'moderating' the first panel ???) symposium to garner support for the US-based and backed bill. U.S. copyright laws are so messed up that the president didn't even know he was breaking his own laws by listening to the Beatles on his MP3 player! http://torrentfreak.com/george-bush-vs-the-riaa/ These are essentially the same laws they are trying to bring to Canada!

    1. Re:email your MP by belmolis · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes, Knopf likes classical music and doesn't like pop, but that's a side issue. He mentions it on his blog, but it has nothing to do with the main issues he discusses concerning copyright. As far as copyright goes, he isn't extreme at all. He doesn't propose abolition of copyright or anything really radical. Much of what he does is just point out the facts. The talk that he was going to give is on the same topic as a recent post in which he pointed out various ways in which Canadian copyright law is actually stronger than US copyright law, contrary to the US propaganda. I've seen no substantive response to his points. Indeed, the highly respected Michael Geist recently pointed out that according to the far from radical World Economic Forum, Canada ranks well above the US in its adherence to and enforcement of copyright norms.