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'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."
When did choosing politicians become just about their bad qualities?
Gotta credit Canadian politicians for not selling out wholesale like they do in the US.
Actually, I think the Bloq are probably the best of the bunch. Except for that part about wanting to tear the country apart. I live in Ontario and would vote for the Bloq if they ran a candidate in my riding.
The conservatives are nothing more than a bunch of freedom-loathing ass hats. Remember, this is NOT the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. It's the Reform Party, with a new name specifically designed to confuse voters.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
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/
When did choosing politicians become just about their bad qualities?
When they stopped having any good qualities.
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.
All of the parties have more bad qualities than good ones. So, there's more to base your voting decision on.
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.
Probably because none of the parties seem to be able to come up with a platform, or slate of candidates that appeals to the majority of voters.
That said, I still want to see continued minority governments, until someone demonstrates that they can co-operate with the other parties for the common good of the nation.
Perhaps a more narrow minority, though. One where any opposition party can hold the balance on any day.
Coalition isn't a dirty word, It implies being able to put aside your differences and play nice with others in a mature pragmatic way.
That's not something I have seen in Canadian politics for a long time. Certainly not in anything that involves Harper. He doesn't seem to even be able to be anything less than dictatorial within his own caucus.
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"I can't complain, but sometimes still do..." Joe Walsh
I suspect that if the new Pirate party had enough people to have a chance federally, they'd get quite a few votes from all the people sick of the same old crap from each of the current parties. I'll echo what's been said below - WE NEED FRESH BLOOD!
Evolution - Est. 4500000000 B.C. Don't piss in the gene pool.
I excluded the ndp since the candidate in my riding is kinda delusional. I excluded the green since they still a fringe party and I don't like their social conservativeness. The bloc want to separate from the rest of the Canada so I excluded them to. I also excluded the communist party of Canada since they are composed of lunatics that plan for a revolution. I can't vote for the pirate party since they have no candidate in my riding so to me it feels like a two party system
Jehovah be praised, Oracle was not selected
Actually, I think the Bloq are probably the best of the bunch.
I think you should be aware that the Bloc says that the "3 copyright infringement claims and you're off the internet" is too lenient, they think 2 complaints should be enough to have someone cut off. They think that schools shouldn't get a rebate when using copyrighted work for educational purposes, and they think that money should be taken from all sales of devices capable of storing music and given to the industry.
The bloc's position on copyright is: Whatever the industry want, we give.
You can't take the sky from me...
If ten years go by, and six elections go by, and voter turn-out is below 10%, you won't get what you've described. In this country, you'll get something totally different. You'll get a new form of government that isn't based on majority, seats, opposition, and ridings. There will be the understanding that the system doesn't work.
You know why? Because there's something in the current laws that say that you can't hold a seat with zero votes -- I'm guessing. If no one votes, things can't continue at all.
By not voting, and by convincing others to not vote, I'm presenting the opportunity for someone to step up to the podium with something radical. By playing along with the current system, you're allowing the system to work as intended, so you'll get the system. That's great if you like the system. It sucks if you don't.
Here's the example. If the election weren't for government, but were instead for religion. We'll all vote between Catholic, Muslim, and Hindu. And the majority will determine which deity you pray to, and how you run your daily life, and which morals you'll follow. Again, there's very little difference from one religion to the next. 2.5 gods, 1 god, or 6 gods, doesn't change anything. happy god, sad god, vengeful god, angry god, doesn't change much. pray once, pray six times, treat your neighbour, treat your friend.
You're choosing between three flavours of ice cream. One's is so much better than the other, for you, and so much worse for the other guy. Because it's just a preference. Vanilla is refreshing, chocolate is endearing, mint is revitalizing. Way different. And sherbet comes with sprinkles. Once in a while, there's an independent milkshake -- it's still ice cream, but you don't need a spoon.
I'm an atheist, and I eat steak. But those weren't options on the ballots. So I'm not going to vote for my religion nor for my ice cream. Because that's not the way I want to live my life, and that's not the nutrition I need today.
Seeing as I'm Canadian as well I'll give up modding in this thread to say this. We have fresh blood in the green party. (witch happens to agree with a lot of what pirate parties have traditional stood for.) Win or lose, voting the party you truly have the most ideals in common with is more important than ever. In Canada each party now receives funding based on what percentage of the vote they receive. As opposed to the way it was a few years ago, where they only got funding based on the number seats they won. No vote is a throw away vote any more.
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!
The people of Quebec can have their grievances heard, in turn, just like every other province.
Indeed - and every other province is similarly free to create their own Bloq - if they have a broad enough consensus over their grievances that enough people would vote for such a party. This is precisely how democracy works.
Oh, and what, exactly, is wrong with secession, provided that it's done right and proper (with referendum etc)? That is democracy also.
The freedom of corporations from contributing to our tax money?
The freedom to be forced to pay for more useless prisions? (and the anti freedom laws that come with them)
The freedom to go to war with iraq as harper wanted in 2003?
The freedom to be held in contempt due to fixing elections?
The freedom to put arbritrary spending timelimits on stimulus money to encourage waste through overtime and poor planning?
The freedom to pay 5x the amount fighter jets should cost just to have a bigger e peen?
Oh and also these things (only up till 2009):
http://www.canadaka.net/forums/canadian-politics-f17/thread-for-compilation-of-conservative-scandals-and-misdeeds-t63234-630.html
But yeah I guess they are doing a heckuva job! amiright?
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