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Another Stab At a Canadian DMCA
whisper_jeff writes "News has come out that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is planning on bringing the DMCA to Canada. As a Canadian, this disgusts me. Watching Harper sell out Canadians in favour of US lobby groups is an affront. I am hopeful that enough Canadians write to Harper and their MPs to voice their disapproval of this effort."
I'm quite disgusted also. I've been emailing the office of the prime minister for over two months in regards to the ACTA. It is quite pathetic they cannot even take the time to address an issue in the active public eye. Even a generic spin would be nice. All I've been asking for is some information on the stance of my own government.
We as Canadians should lobby. This is a disgust that the Harper government is not taking into account the will of the people whatsoever.
Watching Harper sell out Canadians in favour of US lobby groups is an affront.
If it makes you feel any better, watching our own Congress sell out all of us who live in the United States to US lobby groups was just as bad.
This ain't rocket surgery.
Ok, looking at what the US DMCA has done, can you really say its improved the US in any way? Lets see here, thanks to the DMCA we now have judges wasting their time on victimless crimes, record companies still screwing artists and a rush of high-tech jobs out of the US.
The DMCA hinders education, harms jobs and makes developing in China and India even better. Why Canada would even consider such a terrible piece of legislation is beyond me.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Typically moreso than American
As a Canadian I am usually pretty nonviolent. But I have had enough of this asshole! Would somebody please take a stab at Harper?
He does not represent me, or anyone I know.
I think it is time for a revolution.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
It's got to suck to see all of those "Canada is a US state/protectorate/pawn" digs gain traction, eh?
I'm surprised this hasn't become a huge political liability for him. Wouldn't it take just one commercial showing how he bends the country over for his "American corporate masters" to get him out of office?
Canada, you're supposed to be the sane one in this relationship. Don't make us hit you.
Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
Since you have a British-style parliament, aren't you able to do things like votes of no confidence to get rid of a PM (or any MP, for that matter)? That's a far sight better than what most of the U.S. states have -- wait for the term to expire and hope like hell you can get another candidate with better name recognition on the ballot.
The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass. - Dogen
It's unlikely to do any good lobbying Harper. Harper's unfulfilled dream is to be President of the U.S.A. He's as much big business, especially big oil business, as any American President could be. Further Harper's modus operandi demands he serve the wishes of the copyright lobby. His use of the media to cast his opponents in the worst possible light is his guiding star as a politician. He's a consummate sophist, seemingly utterly without any philosophy, other than to win and hold onto power. He has done cameos in various popular TV shows in slick, self deprecating clips. A politician who relies as heavily on superficial, mass media self promotion as does Harper will cut a wink 'n nod, tacit deal with big media companies. I think it's critically important to note the heavy use politicians in all countries make of mass media to further their political agendas. In the U.S.A. a loop is closing around the American citizenry. Big government, the military industrial complex and big, mass media corporations comprise an unholy trinity. In Canada the military industrial complex is missing but the possible crippling of the rights of individual citizens remains as much of a threat as corporations are given greater entitlements while being able to shield themselves from just punishments for their wrong doings. Two main problems come from the need to create jobs and compete internationally. Politicians need job creation programmes to bring home the bacon to their constituents and big business can deliver massive job creation programmes as well as threaten massive job losses. Further the majority of advanced, industrialized countries seemed to have opted for promoting mega corporations as a new, privileged class akin to medieval knights whose resources better ensure successful international competition.
ideopath @ play
Canada already has a minority government and the alternative, a Liberal government, would be no better. Canadians already know this and this why the Tories they have been elected multiple times. The last time the Libs threatened a vote of no confidence they dropped in the polls to a near-record low. Canadians are sick of expensive elections too close together, and minority governments that only last six months.
If anybody actually thinks that putting the Liberals in power will really change anything, they are just fooling themselves. They would just cripple the armed forces then end up doing exactly the same thing the Tories are doing now with copyright law.
The pursuit of absolute tolerance leads to the most rigorous and ludicrous intolerance. - REX MURPHY
Since you have a British-style parliament, aren't you able to do things like votes of no confidence to get rid of a PM (or any MP, for that matter)?
No confidence would bring down the government. Then there would be an election, and because the left is split and Canadians collectively are too daft to vote strategically, even though the Conservatives only have 34% support last poll I looked at, they'd still get the most votes and we'd be right back where we are now.
What's required isn't a revolution, but a coalition such as that proposed after the last election. But the Liberals backed down. It's not difficult to see why they are so unpopular. A coalition would have represented the will of the Canadian people, the majority of which voted left of centre. The sooner the Liberal party gets rid of Ignatieff and replaces him with someone with some backbone, the better it will be for both the Liberals and the people of Canada.
Loose lips lose spit.
I am not advocating a change of government. I firmly believe that a minority government, such as we have now, at least prevents anyone from really fucking things up. Personally I advocate throwing the party leaders out on their collective asses. Lord knows they have proven time and time again they they can not work or play well with others.
I can not think of one that would be out of place working on a seedy used car lot.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
Obviously, the right to publicly hate on minorities (or majorities) is totally awesome! I love societies where you're allowed to publicly insight violence by repeatedly loudly shouting shit like: "Blacks are are lazy bums that cause all our problems"
and "Jews own the banks and they caused the GFC (The blacks told them to do it)" that kind of stuff should TOTALLY be legal!!
I wouldn't want to live in a country where I couldn't say that!!
PS. I live in Australia. Seriously, getting busted for hate speech is hard. You *really* have to go all out and say some pretty ridiculous shit. And you have to say it a lot. You probably have to have it recorded on video too. And someone has to get offended and actually report it.
I think it is time for a revolution.
Oh please! Why don't you count the votes first? He didn't force his way in.. unless the CIA was somehow behind it
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
"Canada already has a minority government and the alternative, a Liberal government, would be no better."
Honestly, I don't particularly care which party is in power at this point, as long as they continue to be a minority government, because it makes the politicians more accountable than usual. They neither want to trigger an election nor pass legislation that too many people oppose. It's great because they have to pay attention to public opinion and they have to get along in parliament, otherwise we'll take it out on them at the polls.
Had it been a majority government any time in the last 5 years we'd already have DMCA-style copyright law in Canada.
You know what? Harper only represents two groups:
1) the members of his riding
2) the members of his caucus
Canada isn't the US -- we don't elect the Prime Minister; the other Ministers do. Until they elect him, he only represents his local riding.
What this means though, is that if enough elected representatives feel he has to go, they can get rid of him. So, if enough Canadians contact their representatives letting them know that this is the will of the people, they'll get rid of him and elect someone else to lead the cause....
oh well.
Yes, actually, it is. Now that doesn't mean actually doing it is awesome, or that I in any way agree with doing such a thing. In fact, most people find such speech highly offensive (and that includes many who are not members of the minority in question).
However, it means I can also say things, without worrying if people find them offensive. I can say "Religions are fairy tales for adults" or "The last president was a sack of shit and this one's only marginally better if at all" or "I wish all corporations larger than a certain size would be broken up". I cannot be prosecuted for saying any of those things, even though there are people who will strongly dislike each of those statements.
In exchange for that right, I'll gladly accept a few idiots wearing their white hoods and going around spouting crap. If anything, that educates the public on just how ridiculous and ignorant those people are. And a lot of people exercise the right they do have in that scenario-to point out just how stupid it is.
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
I don't think anyone will disagree that the gun registry was a huge flop. Poorly planned, poorly executed and half baked to begin with. The benefits of a gun registry are of course debatable.
The digital rights issues are of course a concern, but more is what has led to them: a government that panders to american politics, policies and worst of all american lobbyists (it's bad enough having to worry about our own lobby groups).
Another huge irk is when the conservatives brought up same sex marriage. We already did that one and decided on equal rights. Canada is supposed to be progressive and diverse (of course what do you expect from a group that calls themselve conservatives). In my experience Canada has been extremely good at recognizing the diversity of its citizens and making sure we all have equal rights (regardless of ethnicity, religion or even sexual orientation). In light of that the action of the Conservative party appears very un-canadian.
We definitely need more people out voting and we need the smaller parties to get more traction (such as the Green party, which is basically a throw away vote at this time). Don't even get me started on the provincial government and the HST they are shoving down our throats. Yes, we may need more tax revenue, but the way they went about it was all wrong.
"If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
Can you think of a country where the leader genuinely does nowadays? Governments stopped serving the people years ago. Give yourself a couple years after any replacement and you'll feel the exact same way, even if you voted them in.
It's not the public figure you're really angry with though, it's the ones pulling its strings. And guess what, you can't vote those in or out of where they stand. You honestly think Harper has any deep ideological views towards copyrights? He's just doing what he'll gain most from on a personal level.
You want things to change, shine a light on them like Michael Geist is doing. That's a principle you can apply to just about everything that's wrong with the way we are governed too.
Mind the frickin' laser...
Yeah..but if you go up there and and say publicly that "I think [insert racial, sexual orientation, etc type slang] suck" and you can actually get busted for "hate speech".
No you can't.
Hate speech requires that you make actual threats against a given group. In fact, even saying 'All ${FOO}s should die!' isn't enough to get you busted. It has to be clear that you are actually advocating for their collective demise. You could even say, 'I'm going to kill that ${FOO} right now!' and not be guilty of hate speech, because your hatred was aimed at an individual whom you incidentally were calling names.
But way, way before you get to the point of being arrested, you'll be shunned for being the bigot that you are, if you don't get punched in the face for your efforts. See, we Canadians value free speech so much that we try[*] to be polite and respectful when we use it.
If you want to be a know-nothing, racist fuckwit in Canada, you can. But it'll be a pretty lonely existence.
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[*] All bets are off at a hockey game.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
One of the most disgusting things about this situation is that assholes like Harper can just keep introducing DMCA-style laws over and over again. Didn't make it through the legislature? Too much public opposition? No problem! We'll give it 6 months then we'll just start all over again. Eventually they will succeed in sneaking it through, and once it's through it's pretty much there for good.
Sometimes I just hate the world we live in.
Murphey's fighting Occam, and we're in the stands.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/casualties/list.html
The pursuit of absolute tolerance leads to the most rigorous and ludicrous intolerance. - REX MURPHY
Can you think of a country where the leader genuinely does nowadays? Governments stopped serving the people years ago. Give yourself a couple years after any replacement and you'll feel the exact same way, even if you voted them in.
When did they ever serve the people? Or, depending on your POV, when did they ever not serve the people? Governments haven't really changed. They're the same as they've always been. It's inherent in the species to think we live in extraordinary times, but we really don't. Current politics is as ordinary as it gets. You could have witnessed much the same (or worse!) in the 1800's.