Slashdot Mirror
Canadians Battling Proposed Canadian DMCA
An anonymous reader writes "CTV reports on how Canadians are fighting back against the Canadian DMCA. Led by Michael Geist, the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group is nearing 90,000 members. There are local chapters, a YouTube contest, wikis, and people writing letters and organizing rallies against the copyright bill. Geist said, 'When you get tens of thousands of Canadians speaking out like this, there's big political risk for any political party who chooses to ignore it.'"
Prentice and the Tories don't need to worry about voters. I'm sure they've been paid handsomely by American media giants for their co-operation.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Despite the conspiracy theories you're likely to hear about this, the reason why the DMCA sailed through Congress is the same reason it'll sail through Canada's legislative process... media companies are responsible for a nice chunk of GNP (and whatever they call it in Canada), and neither side, liberal or conservative, is willing give up that wealth. And both sides believe that things like high technology for consumers and piracy is a danger to their broadcasters and publishers.
The reason opponents are going to lose on this is that all major parties will be on board with the copyright holders. And average voters don't give a rat's ass about copyright reform crusades.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
The problem is that this doesn't seem to have any escape path. Or rather, it doesn't matter what side you vote. The (new) Republicans are for big government and cracking down on whatever perceived crime exists, not to mention that "those intarwebs" and the uncontrolable spread of information, opinion and propaganda is usually not really something the new kind of Rep enjoys.
The Democrats otoh have traditionally good ties with Hollywood and the media.
In other words, you're fucked either way. The DMCA is on both sides' agenda.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
That's because there really is only one side in US politics, the one with the money.
As long as TV advertising is the way to get voters this will not change.
MP3 Search Engine
Michael Geist is a shining example of why academics are critically important in society - and why governments detest them. His running analysis of bill C-61 has been eloquent, straightforward and polite. He has earned a loyal following be clearly explaining what the flaws of the legislation are and how they will impact Canadians in everyday use (for example, how the Government is touting the clauses that grant timeshifting and device shifting rights while glossing over the fact that other parts of the legislation effectively neuter consumer rights where DRM is involved).
Dr. Geist's blog posts and editorials in several major Canadian newspapers encouraged me to write to several members of parliament after a lifetime of political apathy. More importantly, I've done my best to explain the legislation's flaws to others, too, in the hope that they will take action. Several have, also for the first time.
So, if even slashdot users can't remember who caused the original DMCA to happen, what hope is there that any Canadian politicians would be worried?
Wikipedia is at your fingertips... Introduced by Howard Coble. Of course, that illustrates an even more interesting problem. This is his district. Now have a look at district 12. Howard Coble is only in office because of unconstitutional gerrymandering. The only way that bastard is leaving office is in a casket. He can shove whatever shit he wants right down your throat and there's not a damn thing you or anyone else can do about it. Of course, that isn't a problem in Canada, so anyone fool enough to push a DMCA up there can expect to lose their job.
I wrote a real letter to my MP (who happens to be Stephen Harper himself) expressing my disagreement with this bill. He replied with the standard form letter listing all the 'benefits' of the bill, and how my life will be so much better when it passes. I am seriously thinking of writing back saying that I was not asking for his opinion, I was telling him mine, and that if the bill passes, I will never vote Conservative again. (No need to mention that I have not voted conservative yet...).
This guy and his corrupt party just make me mad...
Perhaps I can explain why you recall a level of sneaky-ness. At the time it got very little attention, as everyone was breathlessly awaiting more news about BC getting a blow job or diddling Monica with cigars... Certainly the dog and pony show drew attention away from the geeks crying foul.
ehintz
I think he means educated and informed about the issues they're voting for, not IQ or whether they're 'school' educated.
It just struck me, reading this thread, how really fucked up the implied procedure at work here is.
We have a bill, moving forward, over which the citizenry seems to be divided between those opposed and those apathetic. And, nevertheless, the bill has a credible shot at passing, and this is treated as a fairly unremarkable occurrence. The fact that legislation can happen, in absence of popular support, unless some(large) quantity of displeasure materializes, is a seriously broken imitation of representative government.
It shouldn't take mass protest to kill legislation that has near zero popular support, it should simply die as a matter of course. How did we come to accept a situation where that isn't the case?
I think by "20" you mean "5".
Idiot, the point is that even the LEGAL copying becomes outlawed with the new bill.
Got a home stereo?
Got an MP3 player?
Got a computer?
Got a car?
Got all four?
Want to buy four copies of everything because the new law says format shifting is illegal*?
OR would you rather pay once for a song that you can listen to where every you happen to be?
The bill isn't just about file sharing, thats already illegal anyway (keep in mind the differnce between Canadian and American law at this point please. Things like the blank media levy make a big difference), this bill is trying to make DRM and Trusted Computing a governmentally enforced way of life.
*Technically the law says format shifting is legal, however is also makes cracking any DRM illegal, so if your music came with DRM format shifting is illegal. Nice catch there eh?
And to those of you who think this is rhetorical:
In the 60's, one presidential candidate supported a guaranteed income of 1,200$ per year minimum to every citizen, regardless of whether they worked or not. (That was enough to buy a new Mustang convertible back then). That same candidate supported government price fixing for all major commodities, and worked hard to establish closer ties with a major communist country once elected. That candidate had a plan to fix up decaying inner cities that would have assigned up to five union carpenters, electricians and plumbers just to training roles for each new laborer inducted from the local areas into those unions, with most of the actual work being done by the local hires (and this plan failed to be implemented only because the unions wanted even more trainers per new hire and another politician promised them up to a 17 to 1 ratio). That same candidate ran on a promise to pull troops out of an unpopular war, and did so. He set time tables for withdrawing and winding down the war in many cases, and was widely characterized as being out of touch to the far, far right when he insisted upon keeping even some of his plans for withdrawing secret.
That candidate was Richard Nixon, the guy seen then as moderately right of center only because Barry Goldwater was 'even farther right'. By todays standards, Nixon would score about as far left as Dennis Kucinich or Ted Kennedy, maybe even farther.
Who is John Cabal?
Caveat: There's a lot that I don't know well, but I'm going to spout off about some of it anyway.
Have we really entered an age where the number of names on a petition are used as some kind of measure?
Of course a petition is "some kind of measure" - and that's hardly new. At the very least, it's a list of people who DIDN'T tell the petition writer to f*** off. It would be shocking if petitions had become some kind of final arbitrating value, or were given equal credence as polls, or letter writing campaigns, or the ultimate poll - voting.
Obviously petitions can't be given any kind of absolute authority, but still they indicate that there's more than one crazy with a vote out there that might hate you. That's worth considering, if you're in politics. And a Facebook group doesn't end with the petition - there are 90,000 communicating to each other, receiving updates, and already connected in case someone wants to mobilize on the issue. It's certain that most of them won't - but it's also certain that many of them will.
You should see the look on peoples faces when I tell them that the Bell Canada is promoting a new feature on their PVR which would be illegal under the new law. Or that the proposed law is such that the record labels will have the teeth to decide which CDs they can copy to their MP3s. Mostly, all I need to say is "like the American DMCA, and maybe worse", and the light goes on. On every petition are names of people who will work damn hard to sway votes when the time comes ... a large petition or Facebook group is something an intelligent politician must consider. It is a measure of collective will in the voting populace.
And unlike the "One Million Potato Lovers Can't Be Wrong" groups, this one hasn't just popped up and filled right away - it's been growing steadily over weeks, which hints to me and may suggest to a politico that people are considering the issues and getting on board. Those people might have decided to vote based on the issue. It's not final, it's not quantifiable, but it's also not insignificant.
Specifically to the significance of this petition/group - there's a Canadian federal election coming (not yet announced, but imminent). It's going to be nasty. They're going to be measuring and gauging the collective sensibility by every marker they can get their hands on.