Slashdot Mirror
'Canadian DMCA' Copyright Bill Dead Again
An anonymous reader writes "Like some kind of B-movie horror series, the latest attempt to revise Canada's copyright law and introduce DMCA-like provisions, Bill C-32, has again died on the order table as Canada's minority government has fallen after a non-confidence vote. This makes it the third copyright revision bill since 2005 to have died. Although this version was regarded as better than previous ones, it still contained awkward anti-circumvention provisions. We can be confident that some kind of DMCA-style copyright bill will be resurrected, but it will have to wait for the next government sequel."
While I think it's good the bill died.. as a canadian I'm a little pissed that we're having another expensive election. All of the parties suck. The conservatives (currently in power) are probably the best of the bunch, and that's not saying a lot.
Gotta credit Canadian politicians for not selling out wholesale like they do in the US.
So I could hack PS3, jalbreak iphone, download pirate files All of above is legal in canada. Yay!
Today, featuring Alabama State University Cafeteria Brawl
Seriously. Canada, Australia and the UK all currently have minority governments/hung parliaments. In Australia and the UK particularly, this is a very rare occurrence (at the national/Federal level). From what I've heard, it's a bit more common in Canada though.
Anyway I totally agree with the 'all as bad as each other' sentiment. In the Federal election last year here (Australia) I honestly found myself completely disliking EVERY candidate for one reason or another ... first election I've ever felt that way. Apparently many in the UK and Canada feel the same.
They can fail a thousand times, they only need to pass once. They will probably try again in a year and keep trying till people get tired of hearing it or they are distracted by something else until it gets passed and then the government will just refuse to repeal it or drag it out till people forget about the old ways.
What they need to hurry up and pass is a bill that makes it a law that ALL bills made past that point must have an expiration date where it must come up for review at least once every 10 years and if they miss the review or deny it, it is automatically taken off the books and will put a 10 year time table for all the current laws on the books so they must review each and every law passed and renew/revoke them as needed and check them again every 10 years and make sure they votes are on public record on every issue.
It would really cut down on the bad, useless and redundant laws already there and force politicians to reevaluate their laws every 10 years under the public scrutiny and their vote will be public knowledge.
http://www.pirateparty.ca/
While I think it's good the bill died.. as a canadian I'm a little pissed that we're having another expensive election.
Expensive election? Give me a break. I'm hearing numbers like 200 million dollars to run an election for the whole country.
In 2008 there were 23,677,639 registered voters in Canada. If the number of registered voters remained the same (hint: it has likely increased!), that puts the cost per registered voter at about $8.50.
I don't know about you, but I would pay $8.50 to have a say in my democracy any day.
The media in Canada has gone into "nobody wants an election, waaaah waaah" mode for each of the past four elections. I'm a Canadian, and just about everyone I know wants an election. Everywhere I turn online though, someone is bitching about how nobody wants one.
I know that the media is largely run by conservative businesspeople, but this broad-based attempt at reducing the duties of citizenship to an inconvenience is sickening.
Stop complaining and vote responsibly. It's all we have. We've had lots of elections in the past 7 years, and that's because the government is weak and Canadians are divided. It's a good thing we keep getting to weigh in.
This law would be superfluous anyway, it's already illegal to distribute and sell anything copyrighted without consent. Trying to pass this bill is wasting taxpayers' money.
Twinstiq, game news
And the bill came back... the very next day. ....
We thought it was a goner,
but the bill came back...
It just wouldn't stay away.
Not in Canada now, but will nevertheless be voting for Libertarians once again. If there is no Libertarian candidate in the riding, will vote Conservative.
You can't handle the truth.
I'm one of the very large group -- one might say the majority, by the way -- who refuses to vote. This is another great example of why that's the case.
Certainly each party promisses something different, and has differing priorities and differing desires. But in the end, the actuall end-result difference between one party and another is totally and complete insignificant. A few more dollars in this direction, a few less in that direction.
In the end, at the end of the year, my taxes sumto roughly the same amount plus or minus 5%, the roads have roughly the same number of holes, there's about the same amount of construction, public transit still begs for money that I don't think it should have, the same number of hookers are on the same corners, and the same rocket-powered homeless person manages to get from the theatre performance to the stadium faster than I can.
With no difference of any substance, I care, but don't see any value in voting.
be a bigger, better citizen, vote more than once.
You can't handle the truth.
Most of the musicians/artists that sign to these labels do so under duress, being compelled and or coerced to sign soley because of their need for money. So, as we all know, its not about the musicians'/artists' rights, but how these companies first illegally obtain these rights and then continuously exploit them to their end, regarding very little about the musician/artist. Its Tom Foolery by a select few over the masses. Someone should have the balls and 'lawful' wherewithall to step up and stop this for good.
Meh, that's Harpers fault. When you have such a precarious minority you have to work with the other parties to get things done. Harper doesn't.
Harper's government has been found in contempt of parliament because he would not disclose certain information about decisions that were made.
I have no problem with conservative governments, if they are indeed conservative. But Harper's government is the antithesis of everything he has ever said he stood for. It's not a conservative party anymore - it's a King Harper party, where MPs can't even stand up for their own constituents. And I'm even ignoring the criminals that have plagued his caucus...
Remember when Liberals were hounded by the conservatives because of some ads for Quebec referendum to keep the country together? That was few million. The G8/G20 was well over a thousand million - the party (Harper, the King) is as conservative as Democratic Republic of North Korea is democratic.
Sadly, the last fiscal conservative we've had in Ottawa was named Paul Martin - a Liberal. The one that balanced the books, but was awful politician (the guy wanted to be too honest and people got confused!). But in the last 20 years, all the conservatives have been racking up Canada's debt at record pace and Harper beat records once more with 56 billion deficit ..... *sigh*
It's not that we don't want it... it's just that we spend millions on replacing one turd with another turd, and in the end are no better off, just short a few million. *sigh*
Speak for yourself... I wasn't willing to flush billions down the toilet over the G-mess.
The more people lax on it, the more the elected won't Listen. if you keep voting people out, it's bound to get better. Problem is you get voting the same people in. But giving up is just childish. For someone who doesn't like the candidates, how many good alt candidates have you actually gone out of your house and supported? I don't mean to your friends who think like you, I mean actually trying to convince the other sides. But keep complaining because I'm sure if a voted in group is corrupt, a Non-voted in group is going to be sooooo much better. /sarcasm
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The upside to minority governments is that they get so busy fighting and posturing that they have little left to go about interfering with their countrymen. Anything that gets passed has to be done with some consensus from the other parties. Eh, can't get along well with others then down you come.
We get a regular chance to vote the b*stards out, which of course is the main purpose of any election: vote out the incumbent before they get too ensconced in their positions of power. Even if they get back in as a minority, they still have to mind themselves or they have to go back and roll the dice again.
The only downside is the cost of each election. That is an issue... but a lot of out of work folks make some money working temp for Elections Canada. Better than other money hand-out programs.
Canadian campaigns tend to be limited in length, from min 36 days to the record of 74 days. Usually about six or seven weeks. No year long brain damaging onslaught of political party dogma and drivel.
And we mark paper ballots with pencil. No voting machines. Close results have meaningful and accurate recounts.
Here's hoping for another minority government! Cheers!
You don't like what your nation's politicians do but you don't even take the simplest step to have a say in it. Do you ever write to or meet your elected representatives to talk to them about what's important to you? Have you ever tried to organise people in a campaign to bring attention to the things you care about?
It's the "Digital Milennium Canada" bill. Or as they abbreviate it, "DMC, eh?"
I'll be here all night, folks. Don't forget to tip your waitress.
Maybe this time the Canadians will elect politicians who are going to do whats best for Canada and not whats good for the United States or whats good for large US companies.
The only downside is the cost of each election. That is an issue...
You're the same kind of person who would give up sovereign currency because "the cost of currency conversion is too high". An election, like a currency, is a keystone of a sovereign democracy. The cost has no bearing; without it, we're not a nation.
Find out here: http://federal.votecompass.ca/
Seriously, go answer the questions, and see where the various parties agree/disagree with you. You may be surprised.
"The empty vessel makes the greatest sound." -- William Shakespeare; Henry V, 4. 4
The only downside is the cost of each election. That is an issue...
You're the same kind of person who would give up sovereign currency because "the cost of currency conversion is too high".
Don't be saying I'm that "kind of person". I never said the cost was too high; I just said the cost was a downside... and it is. Elections aren't cheap and when you have a bunch in a few years the question has to come up about value. That is all part of the democratic dialogue.
I thought I was pretty clear that I support elections and I don't mind greatly if the minority government in power has to go back to the electorate to check to see if they still have confidence in them. I think its a great way to put a check on the excesses that are inevitable with anyone who stays in power for too long.
OTOH, a federal election in Canada costs the public about $250 to $300 million apiece. This will be our fifth election in eleven years. It is valid to question the expenditure and talk about it.
Take this election for example: both the conservatives and the opposition parties have acted in a manner that the non-confidence vote was almost a sure thing. It is like they were all playing political chicken. There are no burning public issues driving this election (May 2, BTW... so a 36 or 37 day campaign depending on how you count the days). I'm happy that the DMCA died on the table but there is a bunch of other legislation which is important that died as well. Some of it seems to have been deliberately delayed knowing it would die so that fingers could be pointed during the election campaign. Politically astute but not good management of our country.
It would be nice if they would all work at co-operating a bit more and put that money to better use. Pie-in-the-sky but a valid wish. After all, we (Canadians) are constitutionally entitled to POGG (peace, order, and good government), with my emphasis on GG. ;->
The bad thing about minority governments *when there are 2 large parties* is that some tiny party ends up with all the power. Look at the current Australian government - Labor is in power, but the Greens have them by the balls on anything that the Liberals don't agree with. End result is that we're going to get a carbon tax because the Greens (who hold only 9 of the 76 seats in the senate) want one, regardless of what everyone else thinks. If you want a decent government, you need to have lots of small, roughly equally sized parties (like Canada). If there's at least 4 parties vying for power, then one party can't hold the others hostage.
Most human behaviour can be explained in terms of identity.
Yes, true enough. There are various kinds of dynamics that can develop depending on sizes and numbers of factions. Some times less desirable than others. Still, a small swing party has to be careful as well: if they force something too unpopular they may just find themselves locked out completely.
Sure, but it's been a long time since politicians practiced long term thinking. As it stands, no-one wants to call for another election - the minority parties will lose their hold on the govt if that happens, and whoever calls it will be at a disadvantage since the public don't really like voting (it's mandatory here in Aus). The Greens will likely remain in power until the next election, regardless of the damage they do to the economy (esp. since Labor will bear the rap for it).
Don't be so quick to attribute common sense to politics - the myopia and self-interest that dominate it are incredible.
The cost has no bearing; without it, we're not a nation.
Strawman. What if you had elections every week at the $250 million a pop rate? Is $13 billion a year is reasonable? What about the inconvenience of weekly voting? Yes, this is reductio ad absurdum, but it is a legitimate line of inquiry. Don't just think inside the box here. If elections are coming too frequently, then perhaps some other system might serve you better.
This isn't an anti-democracy diatribe here, but rather a commentary. If the system is dysfunctional, are there better ways of going about it while still adhering to democratic principles?
The Bloc Quebecois stands for selling out to the Quebec separatists.
The NDP stands for selling out to special interest groups.
The Conservatives stand for selling out to the Americans.
The Liberals stand for selling out to the Liberal Party.
It's really not a wholesale versus retail issue.
Got that right! even if they are all fucked up, they still get a chance to moderate one another! At least Layton wants some improvements
hee.. hee... Canada has a statutory minimum campaign length of 36 days.
So... a max of 11 elections per year, but more likely about 5 given other procedural issues. Could we afford $1.5 billion per year on federal elections if it kept Ottawa busy and out of our hair?
Damn straight we could! We'll just take it out of the Quebec / Ottawa split from the "Old Harry" oilfield in the St. Lawrence.
To be fair, we can 4 elections for the same price as we paid for the G20. And the Conservatives plan to waste at least 20 elections worth of spending on the fighter jets they decided not to tender.
The burning issue is simple: Does the government have the right to hide important information from Parliament. You may notice the fighter jets, corporate tax cuts, and prison expenses were not included in the budget. There's a reason for that, the Conservatives are hiding the cost of each and have refused for months to provide any information on that. In the end the information they only provided some of the costs and continued hiding the largest parts of the cost. You can't expect the representatives of the majority of Canada to vote on policies when the cost is listed as "It'll be low, low, low - Trust me, Harper".
This minority parliament is so dysfunctional because the Conservatives refuse to work with any of the other parties. It's pure arrogance and it's why they need to be kicked out of power. If they're this bad with a minority government how insufferable would they be with a majority?
Fanatically anti-fanatical
These are all important issues all worthy of debate but I would bet money that if you asked people on the street if an election was required to settle these matters, the answer would be an emphatic no.
So I will stand by the statement that there are no burning issues in the public eye that are demanding a return to the polls this early.
BTW: the G20 security costs were outrageous.