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CRTC Mulls Canadian Content On the Internet
PsiCTO writes "The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is going to weigh Internet content regulation — this could mean requiring some amount of Canadian content coming across Canadian pipes. The CRTC is akin to the FCC. They get that they can't 'regulate' the Internet, but are proposing to promote additional Canadian content in some way, as is currently done with radio and TV content. Likely they will discuss tax credits, subsidies, grants, or other traditional mechanisms. What do people think about this? Are there similar efforts, existing or proposed, in other countries?"
This is net neutrality in action. Once you hand over responsibility to the government, your service is only as good as those in power see fit. Internet censorship becomes a political whim, to be used when it is politically profitable for campaigns.
So are we now going to get goverment subsidised canadian porn? For that matter, get the canadian goverment to ensure that canadian slashdot readers get the right percentage of canadian first posts?
I don't know what they smoke in canada but it got to be good.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Canadian Content laws may be controversial, but there is no denying that it has helped Canadian art and artists flourish. Personally, I don't mind paying a few extra bucks each year on my tax return, if it means I get to live in a richer, more interesting society as a result.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
What is special about "Canadian content" anyhow? The whole notion of nationalism needs to begin fading into the background. If there is something unique of value that the Canadian gov't brings to its citizens, fine, but an attempt to promote the Canadian brand by the government is not really useful in the big picture. If there is something great to publish, then there is no real barrier to its being published. This is just branding and it's a waste of time.
Currently hooked on AMP
Are there similar efforts, existing or proposed, in other countries?
Of course, the BBC is a great example that I can think of quickly.
As Shatner no doubt realizes, this is a crude attempt to censor him personally.
What is special about "Canadian content" anyhow?
Quality cultural content
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
As a Canadian, I'm ashamed that our tax dollars are being wasted like this. The WORLD WIDE web is GLOBAL. Attempting to enforce (or even encourage) Canadian content on the WORLD WIDE web is simply stupid. Even with their alternate methods (tax credits, subsidies, grants, etc.), it's simply stupid. I have troubles supporting CanCon on radio and TV but on the WORLD WIDE web? Nah. That's just a waste of time and money.
Of course this sort of thing exists in other countries, at least for broadcast media. France, for example, has quotas on both television and radio content.
I'm not sure that it makes as much sense for the Internet, though. The French idea is that you have limited broadcast time, and without a quota, they'd be playing American music and television shows 24/7. Maybe that makes sense, but with the Internet, you don't have the same broadcasting limits. People choose what they want to listen to with ease, actively seeking out their preferred content from any number of sources.
They can promote domestic content all they want, and it might even be a good thing, but it's not going to have the same "cultural preservation" effects as with broadcast media.
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
Simple solution: host spam zombies in Canada. Also google.ca can serve Canadian ads.
Now I can expect to be spammed by Alanis instead of just hearing her screatch.
If the CRTC wants to encourage Canadian Content on the net, maybe they could lobby Ottawa to create tax breaks for using local companies and carbon-footprint shrinking solutions. I just recently changed my host to a Canadian provider who uses Green Energy for their datacentre and I feel pretty happy about that. I suspect plenty of personal and professional Canadian users would do the same if there was even the most reasonable incentive to do so given out by the Gov.
And best thing about this plan: it wouldn't even require 1 out of every 100 homepages to be an Alanis Morsette or Celine Dion tribute page. (thank God...)
They'll simply impose a 'content' tax on ISPs and then funnel part of that money to 'artists' like the copyright board does with the piracy tax.
Let me translate this for you:
Dear Canadian-based content providers....
We in the government would like very much if you would kindly move your servers and business operations to another country, and create a holding company that remains in Canada to distribute the income from the foreign operations.
We of course, will not make you do this, so we are now adopting regulations to make it very clear that we really want you to do it.
Thank you for your consideration.
We live in a predominantly capitalist society.
Canada has about 30 million consumers, and the US has about 300 million.
Even among Canadians there are many distinct cultures that are truly Canadian.
But attempts to produce content that appeals to any fraction of Canadians can quickly get drowned out by whatever drivel all the US teenagers are interested it.
As far as North America is concerned, Canadians are a minority, and the government is trying to do it's part to make sure that the minority voice is loud enough to be heard over the endless drone of American consumerism.
I hope this doesn't mean they expect me to download nickleback mp3's
We just had to prove that America wasn't the only country with morons in high places :-(
We already can't access any of the fun streaming content from the states (pandora, hulu, etc). See, international copyright law is working it all out for us.
I don't think anybody would object to you paying a few extra bucks each year to a charity that produced Canadian content if you think that makes your society richer and more interesting.
But do you really think Canadian content would die if Canadians weren't forced to pay for it? If not, why do you think it needs to be funded by taxes? If yes, doesn't it mean most of you don't think it's a worthwhile investment in your society?
-- Support a free market in the field of government
With a name like "smallfurrycreature" you should know that Canada's national emblem is the beaver. Problem solved.
read this as - taxes from working Canadians will be used to support corporate media
same ol, same ol, just the rich getting richer by leveraging the poor via corrupt governance
I'd argue that it's one of the few things we here in Britain have going for us nowadays- the BBC.
The BBC produces some excellent content and shares it worldwide such as Planet Earth and gets involved in various co-productions with foreign companies such as HBO in the US. Some people love BBC news, others hate it but overall the BBC is a top notch content producer when it comes to (lots of people love Top Gear, Doctor Who etc.).
The situation with the BBC isn't quite the same as that described but it is similar. I think the BBC is largely quite respected worldwide for the content it produces to and whilst many things make Britain look like an awful country nowadays, I'd argue the BBC isn't one of them and in fact is one of the few things that shows us in a positive light.
It may sound bad but really it's not, we pay a TV license here which funds the BBC and they also have BBC Worldwide a commercial arm that sells DVDs of their content and such on the world stage to help fund international content too. As such if your setup follows the latter model- by charging reasonable amounts for some, but not all of the foreign content the cost isn't going to be much, but more people will become aware of Canadian culture.
It does have benefits.
And it's on-topic, too (at least after 1:20).
When it comes to the Internet, though, I think this is completely wrong (as has probably been stated here). When we're watching TV, we can either watch the American channels, with 99% American programming, or the Canadian networks, with about 75% American programming. The Canadian shows will always end up on the Canadian channels. With the Intertubes, wouldn't we really just be choosing to watch American or Canadian content directly?
I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
The real story here is that there's Canadian content on the internet.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
They've been there before, where they concluded the whole exercise would be pointless. They will look at it again now, where they will decide the whole exercise is currently pointless. And then they will move to look at it again, in the future, in case something changes in the meantime. That's what these kinds of regulators do.
If anyone doubts any of the above, may I point out that they have in the last year refused to address Net Neutrality and Traffic Shaping, leaving it to remain wholly unregulated. Which basically sums up the only technology that has any hope whatsoever of doing anything of the sort.
Can I post my next Slashdot story now? I'll date it February 16, 2014 (five years from today).
I'm thinking of entitling it "CRTC Mulls Canadian Content On The Internet".
..some incentives for Canadian companies to use the .ca domain that goes mostly unused because of the thought that a .com domain is what everyone will remember? The "content" might not be Canadian, but I'm not about to get into a Marshall McLuhan discussion...
provided anyone from the limited demographic of public servants can define "canadian" in any meaningful way - unfortunately, it's near impossible, and probably why many canadians spend so much time asking people from other countries what they think of us.
now even teh internets is going to be saturated by Nickelback!
I'm going to the casino. Don't gamble.
Stupid Stupid idea.
Mandatory Canadian content in Radio and TV are also stupid ideas.
I understand the reason. We Canadians are BOMBARDED by US culture, radio, tv, etc... I see the need to have some Canadian identity in there.
However they are going about it all wrong. I know some radio has a hard time meeting the content quota, and what happens is a lot of the same crappy songs get played, really only because they are Canadian. This isn't what we should be promoting.
What we should be doing is having programs and money from government to sponsor the arts. The rest will follow.
On top of that, the internet is much different than radio and TV and it makes even less sense in this context.
and I completely disagree with the CRTC's actions on this issue. The way I see it is there is currently a plethora of Canadian content available on the internet and if the CRTC is concerned with this issue maybe it should be up to the individuals to produce better content that people want to actually see.
There are very few quality Canadian programs currently available on TV, Radio or yes, the internet and this isn't because of the lack of availability but because the government dictates that a certain percentage of airtime must be dedicated to Canadian programming. This leads to absolute crap being thrown together just to take up airtime instead of developing good programming.
We need more shows such Red Green, Little Mosque on the Prairie, Tete a Claque and less shows like Degrassi the new generation.
Canadian porn: now with 15% more beaver.
Firstly: appeal to popularity. Check your fallacies.
Got any facts to back up the assertion that nobody wants CBC's content?
The BBC is an example of how tax-payer funded content works. Maybe CBC should just be made more independent of the government. Or are you going to try and claim that: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or Doctor Who aren't massively popular on Slashdot?
As a Canadian citizen, I believe this issue raises serious questions.. like where to apply for the grants and tax benefits. And what is a good ISP for hosting my web pages (is GoDaddy bilingual?). And where can I get mp3's from nickleback.....
Since much of what people download is smut, I encourage my fellow Canucks to work on lots of HoserPorn.
Toques, boots and perky nipples, oh my!
The CRTC needs to have its mandate drastically reduced to making sure spectrum is allocated properly and keeping telcos in line.
Levying a fee against ISPs is no better than corporate welfare, except in this case, the welfare recipients are Canadian "artists" [sic] who somehow feel entitled to tax Canadians who wouldn't otherwise watch their "content".
If this does go through, though, I'm going to apply for my share of the welfare handouts. My Web site offers original Canadian content (I'm Canadian and I post the odd short story or rant), so surely I qualify? (Oh, wait, I don't. I probably need to join a good old socialist "collective" to collect.)
What a bunch of idiots..
Cthulhu Saves -- in case He's hungry later.
Moose pr0n?!?!?
A moose once bit my sister!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
dirt roads? I mean come on... I can't even get a decent fiber connection at home. Without paying,
yup, you got it $500k.
as is currently done with radio and TV content
Wrong. Canadian content in radio and TV is essentially 'legislated' - you can't get/keep a broadcast license unless you include the minimum amount of Canadian content (~ 30 hrs/week for tv). This is one reason the Canadian broadcasters are loosing money hand-over-fist, and one reason my employer has been petitioning the CRTC to reduce/eliminate that requirement. So far, no luck. So we have to sell a bunch of TV stations that can't make money because they're forced to broadcast a significant amount of material that doesn't draw noticeable advertising revenue.
Now it looks like they want to screw up Canadian participation on the Internet. I sincerely wish these self-important politicians would retire before they cost more families their income.
- The Kessel run is for nerf herders. I can circumnavigate the entire Central Finite Curve in a lot less than 12 parse
I can see the advent of 'beaver packets' containing strings like the following:
"Loonie ranks, greenback tanks"
"This is Geddy Lee and I approve this datagram"
"We have REAL toilets not those six litre flushing frauds that clog with four sheets of TP"
"This packet constructed with hydro electrons"
"Can-Tyre Money rules!"
"Tim Horton's powers Canada"
"Larger field, fewer downs, more kicking, two slotbacks, now that's REAL gridiron football"
"We don't need to pronouce our O's"
"Francophones swear naming church hardware"
"Hear O Canada, Hockey is our Sport, Hockey alone!"
Submission as evidence constitutes plaintiff and/or prosecutorial misconduct.
Given that the CRTC hasn't gone on a hiring binge in the last little while, it's certain that the "ideas" will come from the same gang that are responsible for Canada's current disfunctional regulatory environment. Whatever they propose will be ambiguous where it's not unintelligible, won't do what they say they want it to do, and it will be gamed by the same big players that make Canada's cable and cell services the most expensive in the free world.
I don't know what they can do to wreck the Internet, but Canadians have learned not to underestimate their creativity.
I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
While I actually like the fact that Canadian content was forced on me growing up in Canada, and I agree with having the broadcasters have to give some breaks for Canadian-produced stuff. It makes sense - and it's easy to do at the broadcaster level.
There is no way to do this on the internet, without some kind of draconian filtering methods - which are totally and completely unacceptable.
With TV, there is a limited set of channels, and the worry was that Canadian content could not compete with larger American producers - larger market and budgets and all that. The end result, without content regulations, would have been basically no Canadian produced TV- no room for them on the dial.
The internet does not have this problem, and therefore there is no need to attempt to regulate it.
Endless reruns of "How It's Made", 24/7. Kinda like Discovery already is outside of prime time.
Mal-2
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
Its not the CRTC that came up with this admittedly stupid idea, its Canadian "content" ( I.E ACTRA) producers that have come up with this.
Essentially they want more money given them for stuff that nobody is willing to pay them for in the first place. The idea is to somehow get money to produce so called Canadian content and throw it on a server in the hope that someone will actually request it.
One idea for getting the money is to get the ISPs to give money, which of course means all their customers are paying to produce something that only some will actually look at ... maybe ... sometimes. The ISPs are fighting this one, since they aren't broadcasters. There are other ideas as well.
But wait there's more, ISPs want to do traffic shaping to the benefit of content providers who have paid the ISPs for this benefit, much like radio and TV companies give benefits to advertisers. That means that in the case where the ISPs get to charge someone and keep the money they are broadcasters, when they have to give the collected money to someone else then they aren't.
Don't you love it when lawyers get involved with what should be a technical problem?
I don't understand the logic since there are no "broadcasters" on the internet, there are servers and clients. If people want to see the content then people will use their clients to request it from the servers. As far as I am concerned I am paying for a certain amount of bandwidth every month, what I do with it is my business and I don't want to subsidize something I'm not consuming.
First, the government will require that all Canadians view at least 75% Canadian content, then someone will make a Firefox plugin that downloads Canadian web sites in the background, letting Candians ignore the ruling. The result, more traffic to Canadian sites, more ad revenues, and even more Canadian superfluosity.
Put bluntly, Canadian content is so piss-poor that it has to be forcibly rammed down the throats of Canadians. The irony is that Canada considers itself to be an artistically-gifted country. In actuality, from the literature to stage to screen to music, there's damn little that's Canadian and worth a damn. Take a look at the crap pumped out by the Film Board of Canada.
Ordinarily, this would be laughable, but the thing that makes this continual demand for a certain percentage of content to be mandated Canadian, is that some technologies simply will never be made available in Canada.
CRTC? KYFHO.
i only hope it's not like our radio.
i've heard enough rush, kim mitchell and the tragically hip to fill 4 lifetimes, i only hope that it's not crammed own my gob on the internet as well.
If your gonna mention Canadian content don't forget about the older stuff like Kids in the Hall.
I'm Canadian (sort of... I live across the river from Detroit). This effort is a waste of my tax money. If I want some content on the net, I go retrieve it. All the shit about Canada is already out there, I don't need legislation that will create useless, info-lite sites that are just shells to stay in compliance. There's no benefit to be gained by forcing people to make content that isn't in demand! WTF. I blame Stephen Harper, that Conservative moron who has decided to park himself on top of our nation and make sure nothing improves. Hopefully our next election will kick the BUMS out of Ottawa the way America cleaned up Washington (again, sort of).
What??? What we should do is make sure they put a
Beaver Icon on every show.
Uhh that is of the rodent variety BTW.